Anni's walnut, apple & spice biscuits

This time last year my husband was preparing to travel to Turkey to support the Dept of Veterans Affairs in their preparations leading up to and including the ANZAC Day commemoration at Gallipoli. 

My dear foodie friend Anni had just gifted me with a cookie jar filled with her favourite recipes including this recipe for ANZAC biscuits. (http://missmayblossom.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/anzac-biscuits.html)

In the jar Anni also included this delicious recipe for apple, cinnamon and walnut biscuits. The spices, soft apple and crunchy walnuts make for a lethal combination and when you give them enough time (if you can resist!) to cool, they are chewy on the inside.  

I made these on Friday and my house smelled like spices and apple for hours. Bliss!

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1/2 cup caster (or preferred) sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tspn vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

1 1/4 cup oats

1/2 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn bicarb soda

1/2 tspn salt

1 tspn ground cinnamon 

Generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 medium apple, peeled (optional), finely diced 

1 tspn lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180°c. Line 3 baking trays with greaseproof baking paper. Toss the diced apple in the lemon juice. 

Beat sugar and butter for 3-4 minutes. Add egg. Beat for 1 minute. Beat in vanilla. 

In a separate bowl, mix together oats, flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, spices and salt. Add to butter mixture and beat slowly until combined. 

Stir in apples and walnuts. 

Drop tblspn sized balls of dough on to the baking trays (spaced apart to allow for rising) and bake for about 20 minutes. 

Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing them from the tray.... straight on to a plate with a cup of tea!

Thermomix recipe

90g butter, softened

80g caster sugar

70g brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tspn vanilla extract 

130g plain flour

115g oats

1/2 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn bicarb soda

1/2 tspn salt

1 tspn ground cinnamon 

Generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

135g chopped walnuts

1 medium apple, peeled (optional), finely diced 

1 tspn lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180°c. Line 3 baking trays with greaseproof baking paper.

Dice the apple into 5mm cubes. Toss the diced apple in the lemon juice and set aside. 

Place the oats, flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, spices and salt in the TM bowl. Mix on reverse/speed 4/6 seconds or until combined. Set aside.

Place the walnuts in the TM bowl and chop speed 4/4 seconds. Set aside.

Beat sugars and butter speed 4/6 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and repeat speed 4/6 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and add the egg and vanilla. Beat speed 4/4 seconds.

Tip the mixture in to a bowl. I find stirring the apple and walnuts easier by hand at this point.  

Drop tblspn sized balls of dough on to the baking trays (spaced apart to allow for rising) and bake for about 20 minutes. 

Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing them from the tray.... straight on to a plate with a cup of tea!

Notes

* You can peel the apples before you dice them. I prefer to leave the skin on because the apples I use are organic.

* Adjust the sugar quantities according to taste 

* You can do grate the nutmeg by hand with a spice grater or grate a whole nutmeg in the TM speed 9/ 12 seconds. A pinch of fresh nutmeg goes a long way! You could use ground nutmeg from a packet.

hot cross buns

Guess what our house smells like this afternoon?

Last year each batch of hot cross buns I made in the bread maker spent about four hours. With my Thermomix I can make a dozen in about an hour. 

I figured that if supermarkets can stock these weeks away from Easter then why can't I? Obviously these aren't strictly hot cross buns. 

INGREDIENTS

Zest of half lime/lemon (optional)

250 g full cream milk

1 tblspn dried instant yeast or 40 g fresh yeast 

500g baker's flour 

2 tsp sea salt 

70 g butter

50 g caster sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

100g sultanas

70 g currants

PIPING

80g plain flour

pinch sea salt

1 tsp olive oil

100g water

SYRUP

2 tblspn water

2 tblspn sugar

METHOD 

Buns

Place lemon or lime zest (if using) into mixing bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 9. Set aside 

Place milk and yeast into mixing bowl and heat 1 Min/37°c/speed 1. 

Add flour, salt, butter, sugar, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix 6 sec/speed 7, then knead 2 - 3 min//.

Add sultanas, currants and reserved zest (if using) and combine 10 sec//speed 5. 

Preheat oven to 220°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside. 

Transfer dough onto ThermoMat or a lightly floured bench lop and work into a ball.
Wrap in the ThermoMat, or place into a bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave in a warm place to prove for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. 

Knock down dough and divide into 12 equal-sized portions. Form into rolls and place close together onto a prepared baking tray. Set aside to prove again whilst you prepare the piping. 

Piping 

Place all piping ingredients into mixing bowl and mix 30 sec/speed 4.

Pour into piping bag and pipe out crosses onto the top of buns. 

Place baking tray into oven and bake 10 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Syrup

Place water and sugar into mixing bowl and cook 2 min/IOO°c/speed 4. Brush buns with hot sugar syrup while still warm. 

gingerbread cinnamon thingies

Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2 came to the rescue again today. (check out that price tag. I couldn't go past it!)

B decided that he simply needed to make gingerbread thingies. I halved the recipe and reduced the amount of sugar. For that reason I have omitted the icing part.

125g butter, softened
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c golden syrup
2 1/2 c plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons ground ginger (we had none so we used cinnamon)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 190°c. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with electric beaters until light and creamy. Add the golden syrup, flour, ginger and bicarb and mix to form a smooth dough.
Refridgerate for 10 minutes or until the dough is firm.
Roll out the dough between sheets of non-stick baking paper to 4mm (1/4 inch) thick. Cut out shapes from the dough using a gingerbread man cookie cutter (or giraffe, frog, hearts and stars as we did). Place on baking trays lined with baking paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on trays. Makes 25.