I’ve discovered a new meme called Weekend Cooking. It’s hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Since I often post recipes, this is a happy find for me. Follow the link above to Beth’s blog for further info on the meme.

And now to my recipe…

Hunter Blair, one of the heroes from my upcoming release, Eye on the Ball is having trouble in the romance field. He wondered if a box of these truffles might help his cause – at least that’s what he said in my hearing, but this conversation didn’t make the final draft of the book. Here’s the recipe Hunter uses:

Hunter’s Decadent Truffles

Ingredients:

250 g/1 cup/9 oz cream cheese, softened
500 g/2 cups/18 oz icing sugar (powdered or confectioner’s sugar)
375 g/1.5 cups/13 oz dark chocolate
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Place the softened cream cheese in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Sift the icing sugar to remove any lumps and gradually add to the cream cheese until well blended. Melt the chocolate and add to the cream cheese mix until well combined. Refrigerate for about an hour. Once the mix has hardened shape into balls. Roll in nuts, coconut or sprinkles. Refrigerate until eating.

Shelley’s notes.

1. I always make these for Christmas, and since it’s summer down here in New Zealand, the refrigerate until eating instruction is important.

2. I’ve given measurements in grams, cups and ounces. Follow the relevant measurements for your country.

3. For the chocolate – my husband and I like hazelnuts so we use a bar of hazelnut chocolate as part of the chocolate measurement. You could add a few nuts or pieces of dried fruit to the cream cheese mix if desired.

4. I rolled my truffles in coconut, cocoa powder and cupcake sprinkles. Check out the cupcake bling section at your supermarket for different sprinkles. Use your imagination

5. Eat and enjoy with friends.

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1. Mug Cake
2. Easy Chocolate Mousse: Little Pots of Yummy Goodness
3. The Big Cheese

Scotland immediately comes to mind when I think of shortbread, and my next thought is always Christmas. It’s said that shortbread developed from a medieval recipe, with the modernized recipe attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots. Over time the ingredients changed, with butter replacing the yeast. Butter was an expensive ingredient, which meant shortbread was only baked on special occasions. Butter has become very expensive down here in New Zealand, so nothing has changed in that respect!

I tend to bake shortbread at Christmas. It’s one of my favorite biscuits to eat, a trait I fear I inherited from my father because it’s his firm favorite too.

The recipe I use comes from Jo Seagar’s Easy-Peasy Summer Entertaining recipe book.

Shortbread

250 grams softened butter (1.1 cup American)
3/4 cup icing sugar/confectioners sugar
1/2 cornflour/cornstarch
1 1/2 cups flour

Beat the butter and icing sugar until creamy. Mix in the cornflour and flour. Roll into teaspoon size balls with your hands. Place on a tray lined with baking paper. Flatten and press with damp shortbread mold. Bake at 150C for 25-30 minutes until the shortbread is pale but crisp. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Shelley’s notes:

1. The original recipe says to roll out the dough and cut out star shapes. I’ve always found the dough too soft to do this–maybe because I tend to make this recipe during the heat of a New Zealand summer–and after experimenting I’ve found teaspoon size balls work best for me.

2. If I feel in the mood for a variation with bite I add 1 tablespoon of cocoa and 1 teaspoon of chili powder just before I add the flour and cornflour. Sometimes I’ll also add chocolate chips-the small kind.

3. If you doin’t have a shortbread mold, press down with a fork. Dip the fork in a cup of cold water after flattening each biscuit to avoid sticking.

Here’s a photo of the Chili Chocolate Shortbread.

Are you a shortbread fan?

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1. Raspberry Surprise Muffins
2. Delicious Orange Muffins
3. Spice Biscuits: Perfect for Those Hard-to-Buy-For People

Ingredients:

Wheel of Camembert cheese
Fresh thyme or rosemary sprigs
Clove of garlic cut into slivers

Optional:
Slivers of toasted almonds
Runny honey

Unwrap your camembert and let it warm to room temperature. I left mine for about half an hour.

Slice the white rind off the top of the cheese, leaving the rest intact. Poke slivers of garlic and fresh thyme or rosemary into the top of the cheese.

Wrap your cheese in cooking paper, twisting it at the top for easy removal once cooked.

Place wrapped cheese into a pre-heated oven at 200C (400F) and cook for ten minutes. Take care unwrapping the cheese because it will be very hot.

Place on serving plate. Drizzle with a little runny honey and sprinkle with toasted almonds if desired. Serve with slices of French bread or crackers.

Notes: I didn’t bother with the honey and nuts, but I think I’ll try them next time. The garlicky, herby smell of this is wonderful!

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2. Recipe: Easy Beer Bread
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SPICE BISCUITS

250 g butter/ 2.2 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons mixed spice

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. Add the egg and the golden syrup, then mix in the dry ingredients. Roll balls about the size of a teaspoon and place on a cookie tray (greased). Flatten with a wet fork. Bake at 180C/350F for 12-15 minutes until they are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Shelley’s notes:
*These bicuits spread during cooking, so don’t put them too close together on the tray.
*This is a Jo Seagar recipe from her Easy-Peasy Summer Entertaining book
*This recipe makes 36 biscuits

Do you have a favorite biscuit (cookie) recipe that you make at this time of the year?

Related posts:

1. Recipe: Easter Biscuits
2. Savory Biscuits: Sesame Crackers
3. Can’t Catch Me…I’m A Gingerbread Man!

Here’s the recipe:

Half a cup of salt
Half a cup of water
One cup of flour
Olive oil
Rolling Pin
Old shirt or apron

Put the salt and flour in a bowl, then add the water slowly until the ingredients come together into a ball. Knead the dough for about ten minutes until it is a soft, pliant ball. Roll out and cut into shapes using cookie cutters.

Place cut-out shapes on a plate covered with a piece of baking paper. Place in the microwave for two – three minutes until the shapes harden. Let them cool and decorate with paint.

Shelley’s notes:
1. The above quantities make the perfect amount for each child.
2. If the dough is too wet add a little flour. If it’s too dry add a little more water.
3. The olive oil can be used during the rolling and cutting out stage if your dough dries out. I didn’t require any.
4. When I make these again next year, I’ll go for slightly bigger shapes and keep the dough a bit thicker.
5. We cut our letters and the tree freehand, using a knife.
6. If you want to hang the completed decorations on a tree, make a hole in the top. I’d make a bigger hole next time because it closed up a little in the microwave and also with painting.
7. You can also dry them in the sun for a few days or cook them in the oven on a low heat. Don’t burn!
8. Use any paint you have on hand. We had some old acrylic paint in the cupboard. Glitter would also be good, but we didn’t have any.
9. The finished result is rustic and fun.
10. Enjoy making your own decorations!

These are the ones we made:

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1. Can’t Catch Me…I’m A Gingerbread Man!
2. Recipe: Easy Beer Bread
3. Stained Glass Cookies

I have to admit that I’m not a fan of fruit cake, unless it’s iced with brandy icing, but I bet this fruit mix would smell wonderful. During my teenage years, we made fruit cakes in our home economics class. Since we were all underage, we soaked our fruit in ginger ale, but only for about a week. I’m not sure if you have this in the US, but it’s a soda. A non-alcoholic ginger beer would probably work well too.

You know, I’m almost tempted to make a cake this year…

Do you like fruit cake? Do you make your own Christmas cake each year? How far in advance do you make your cake? And finally, do you ice (frost) your cake or do you prefer just the cake?

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Raspberry Surprise Muffins

This is an Alison Holst recipe, and one that I make frequently because I really like the combination of raspberry and coffee.

2 cups self-raising flour (or 2 cups plain flour & 2 teaspoons baking powder)
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
100 grams butter (3.5 ounces or 1 stick butter)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon instant coffee
Rind of 1 lemon
½ cup raspberry jam
¼ cup sifted icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1 – 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Place flour, sugar, cinnamon and cloves in a large bowl. Melt the butter. Dissolve the instant coffee in the milk and add the beaten egg and lemon rind. Add the liquids (butter and milk mix) to the dry ingredients. Fold together but don’t overmix.

Fill a 12 muffin pan with muffin cases. Half fill each case then make a tiny well in the center. Place a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the well. Divide the remaining mixture between the muffin cases, covering all the jam.

Bake at 200 C for 10 – 12 minutes. Once the muffins are almost cool, make the icing/frosting. Mix the icing sugar with just enough lemon juice to make a thin icing/frosting. Drizzle over the top of the muffins.

Serve with a cup of coffee and enjoy!

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Sesame Crackers
1 cup white flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon butter
¼ cup plain unsweetened yoghurt
½ cup chilled water

Put the flours, salt and baking soda into a food processor. Toast the sesame seeds in the butter until lightly golden and add to flour mix. Mix the yoghurt and water together and with the motor running pour the liquid down the feed tube. Process until the mixture forms a soft ball of dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead lightly. Cover with a clean towel and stand for 10 minutes.
Roll the dough out very thinly. Cut into preferred shapes and place on a greased tray. Prick the crackers all over with a fork.

Bake at 180C for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool on a cake rack. Store in an airtight container.

Shelley’s notes:
Our crackers weren’t rolled thinly enough. Next time I’d roll them much thinner.
We added poppy seeds to ours as well. You could add just about any type of seeds or herbs. I think ground black pepper or rosemary might be nice.
We had salmon and cream cheese plus olive tapenade on our crackers

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Here’s a very easy recipe for homemade Chocolate Bath Salts. Maybe a good school holiday project for children?

Chocolate Bath Salts

1 cup Epsom salts
1 cup sea salt or kosher salt (coarse grain)
3 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp oil (almond, olive or sunflower will work)

Combine all the dry ingredients in a clean bowl. Add the vanilla extract and oil. Mix well to ensure oil is completely blended. Transfer to small clean jars or cello bags and close tightly. Sprinkle 1 – 2 spoonfuls in your bathtub, lie back in the water and relax.

Notes:
* I added some baking soda to my mix to make my bath salts fizzy.
* I also omitted the vanilla extract and added 5 drops of peppermint essential oil.
* I gave jars to family members for Christmas.
* The Epsom salts and sea salt is good for soothing sore muscles and aches and pains.
* Make sure you read the recipe properly. My chocolate salts were a bit more chocolately than they should be because I put 3 Tablespoons of cocoa instead of 3 teaspoons. Duh!

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Double Pea Curry

1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons of crushed garlic
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 cinnamon quills
3 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 x 300g (10.1 oz) cans of chickpeas
1 diced red pepper (capsicum)
400g (14oz) can of chopped tomatoes in juice
1 cup green peas, thawed if frozen
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped toasted cashews
2 tablespoons chopped coriander

Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the garlic, spices and tomato paste for 30 seconds.
Add the chickpeas, red pepper, tomatoes, peas, salt and pepper.
Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add water if the mixture appears too dry – it should be moist but not sloppy by the end of cooking.
Mix in the cashews and coriander.
Serves 4 – 6

Shelley’s notes:
I halved the recipe.
I decided to add chopped onion, which I fried off with the spices.
I didn’t worry too much about precise measurements for the chickpeas and tomatoes, adding one can of each. It all worked out in the end.
Ms. Langbein notes that this recipe freezes well.

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3. Vegetarian Nicoise Salad