Bill's Biscuits

I know that I have been absent for a couple of weeks. I really haven't been feeling tip-top of the past couple of weeks. I had a run in with a person at work and it shook me up a bit and my mood plummeted afterwards. I decided to take a bit of time out for some self-care where I cooked, slept, went to work and not much else. Oh, except for reading trashy romance novels on my new Kindle. I am starting to feel better now though so will have to get busy and post all the stuff that I have made over the past couple of weeks. 

Happy Easter to all those out there. I find holidays a difficult time of year. This one even more so as it would have been my Mum's birthday today. I usually don't deal with these days well at all. Tend to just hide away a bit. Today, while hiding out, I decided that I would just do some baking. What better way than this to get through some of the multitude of sweet recipes in Bill's Sydney Food. So today I made half recipes of Chocolate Chip Cookies, Granny Mac's Shortbread, Chocolate-dipped Shortbread and Anzac Biscuits. 

Anzac Biscuits 

• 1 cup plain all-purpose flour 
• 1 cup desiccated coconut (I only had shredded) 
• 2/3 cup brown sugar 
• 1 cup rolled oats (I used a combination of oats, barley & rye) 
• 125g unsalted butter 
• 1 tbsp golden syrup 
• 1/2 tsp bicarb soda 
• 2 tbsp boiling water

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170C. 
• Place flour, coconut, sugar and oats in a bowl. Mix well. 
• Place butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over medium heat and melt. 
• Place bicarb soda in a small bowl and add hot water. Stir to combine. Add bicarb mixture to saucepan and stir. Pour over oat mixture and stir all ingredients together. 
• Roll teaspoon of biscuit mixture into balls and place on a greased and lined baking tray, leaving room for spreading. Flatten each ball gently with your palm. 
• Bake biscuits for 15 - 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown at the edges.

Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread 

• 1/3 c (60 g) icing sugar 
• 250 g unsalted butter, softened 
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1 1/2 c plain flour 
• 1/2 c cornflour 
• 125 g dark chocolate, in small pieces (I only has some choc chips which didn't work well) 

Method: 

• Beat butter & icing sugar in a bowl until combined. 
• Add vanilla, flours & a pinch of salt and mix until a dough forms. 
• Form dough into a log with a 6 cm diameter and wrap in gladwrap. 
• Chill for 30 minutes. 
• Pre-heat oven to 180C 
• Slice dough into 1 cm rounds and place on lined trays. 
• Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until golden. 
• Cool completely. 
• Melt chocolate in a small pot and dip shortbread in so half of the biscuit is coated. 
• Leave to set. 

 Chocolate Chip Cookies 

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cup tightly packed brown sugar (I would use less, they are very sweet)
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 c plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 c chocolate bits 

 Method:

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. 
• Add vanilla and egg and stir to combine. 
• Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. 
• Fold through chocoate chips. 
• Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a lined baking tray. 
• Bake 15-20 minutes or until they turn pale gold. 
• Allow to cool on the tray for 15 minutes before placing biscuits on a wire rack to cool further. Makes 16 (I got 12 from half the recipe) 
  

Granny Mac's Shortbread

• 2 c plain flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 c caster sugar 
• 125 g butter, softened
• 1 egg, lightly beaten 
• 1/3 c jam (I used homemade strawberry) 
• 2 tsp cinnamon 

Method: 

• Combine flour, baking powder & sugar. 
• Rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 
• Add 1 - 2 tbsp cold water and mix in, it should start to form a dough
• Add egg and mix until you have a firm dough. 
• Roll out on a sheet of baking paper to for a 20 x 30 rectangle. 
• Spread with jam and sprinkle with cinnamon. 
• Roll up starting with the long side. 
• Wrap in gladwrap and chill for 30 minutes. 
• Preheat oven to 180C. 
• Slice dough into 1cm slices and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until lightly browned. 
• Cool on wire rack.