Cinnamon & Ginger Thumbprint Cookies

02-12-2016 Local Black Book12 biscuits of Christmas, biscuit, biscuits, Christmas, cinnamon, cookie, cookies, ginger, recipe, snack, treat1 Comment

J-23 guys! 23 more days til the most wonderful time of the year and I cannot wait! And really, what better way to get in the festive mood than a plate of spicy, cinnamon-ey cookies?

Nothing. My point exactly.

For me, that first bite of something sweet, crumbly and unmistakably cinnamon-ey is what marks the official start of the festive season.

Most years, mince pies are the way this happens (and I absolutely love it that way!).

But this year was different. This year, that ‘first bite’ was one of these gorgeous, homemade Cinnamon & Ginger Curd Thumbprint Cookies.

Flavoured with the warm aromas of cinnamon and ginger, they are the super Christmas-sy version of the already quite Christmas-sy jam thumbprint cookies.

They’re super easy to make (absolutely no need to be a smart cookie!) and with all these spices, they definitely make for the perfect seasons’ greetings!

Cinnamon & Ginger Thumbprint Cookies (makes 30)

For the cookie dough:

200g flour + some for dusting
100g granulated sugar
125g soft unsalted butter
4 egg yolks
a small pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

To garnish:

100 ml (about 1/3 jar) Granny Cool Ginger Curd (this thing is the absolute BOMB!)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. In a big bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the sugar and salt until it becomes fluffy and doubles in volume.

2. Add in the flour and cinnamon and mix. You should get a crumbly texture, not dissimilar to that of crumble, only much finer.

3. Incorporate the butter and knead lightly until the dough comes together, adding more flour as you go if necessary.

4. Wrap the dough in greaseproof paper and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 min.

5. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Take the dough out of the fridge and shape into balls the size of a large cherry.

6. Place the balls about 5cm apart on prepared baking sheets. Press a thumbprint into the center of each ball, about 1 cm deep.

7. Bake for 15 min.

8. Let the cookies cool entirely. Fill each indentation with about 3/4 tsp ginger curd, then dust the cookies with ground cinnamon.

Chocolate Madeleines

26-09-2016 Local Black Bookbiscuit, butter, cake, chocolate, cocoa, French, madeleine, madeleines, vegetarianLeave a comment

There are few dishes that everybody loves.

And while I have met a few of those people with rather unusual dislikes (apparently, some people do find ice cream repulsive. Shocking, I know!), I am still to come across anyone that doesn’t like madeleines.

But then this small, bite-size cake originating from the Lorraine region in northeastern France is utterly irresistible.

With its distinctive shell-like shape, domed top and light, delicate sponge-like texture, madeleines are commonly served as a mid-afternoon snack in France and make for the perfect bite-sized treat.

Based on a light sponge batter, madeleines can be made into many different flavour variations, from plain vanilla to more extravagant combinations such as chocolate & orange.

The chocolate-enriched version below lays somewhere in the middle and makes for a brilliant, indulgent tea-time treat.

Chocolate madeleines (makes 30 small madeleines)

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
130g granulated sugar
60ml milk
75g melted chocolate
185g self-raising flour
3 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp chocolate extract
175g melted unsalted butter

1. Prepare the batter: In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar. Stir in the milk and melted chocolate, then fold in the flour, cocoa powder & chocolate extract. Add the melted butter and mix until well combined.

2. Cover and refrigerate for at leats 2 hours or overnight.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 230°C (gas mark 9) and grease a madeleine tray or tin.

4. Scoop the batter into the prepared tray, filling each mold to about three quarters (about a small tablespoon in each).

5. Insert into the oven and immediately lower the heat to 180°C (gas mark 6). Bake for about 15 minutes, until the madeleines are domed and set, then remove from the oven and unmold immediately.

6. For subsequent batches, get the oven temperature back up to 230°C before inserting the tray, then down to to 180°C after inserting.

(For an even more indulgent version, dip the cooled madeleines into melted chocolate and allow to set on a sheet of baking papper before serving)

PIN FOR LATER:

Apricot + Passion Fruit Scones

11-08-2016 Local Black BookAfternoon Tea, apricot, baking, biscuit, British, classics, dessert, food, passion fruit, recipe, scone, sconesLeave a comment

I’m a bit late to the #afternoonteaweek (totally a thing!)… but no way I was going to miss out entirely on the opportunity to use the best excuse there is to have scones and cake and call it a meal!

Scones are my favourite part of afternoon tea, and having never baked any myself, I thought it was about time I give them a go.

The word on the street is that a good scone is actually more tricky to bake as you’d think, so I wasn’t really sure how it’d end up. Add to that the fact that I’m truly terrible at following recipes and had decided that adding fresh passionfruit to your dough was the way to go and it looks like a recipe for disaster!

Add yet, my Apricot + Passion Fruit Scones worked a charm, so I thought I’d share the step-by-step recipe below.