Monte Carlo biscuits are the bomb!

THESE biscuits are the BOMB! You have to make them.

If you don't your family and friends will never forgive you. As long as you don't show them this post, which I totally want you to do.

Monte Carlo biscuits

125 grams butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups SR Flour
1/4 cup custard powder
1/3 cup desiccated coconut

Jam and icing filling
75 grams butter
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon milk
1/3 cup strawberry jam

Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
Add the milk and beat to combine.
Sift the flour and custard powder, add with the coconut to the bowl and mix in to form a soft dough.

Roll about 2 teaspoons worth to make small balls.
Place on baking tray and press with a fork to flatten. Dip the fork in flour first, to stop it sticking to the dough.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

Let the biscuits cool while you make the icing.

To make icing, beat the butter and icing sugar in a small bowl, Beat in the milk.

Spread one biscuit with half a teaspoon of jam, and half a teaspoon of icing on another, then join the two together.

Donuts

Izzy loves getting a donut from the bakery. Ones with icing, usually chocolate, with sprinkles on top. 

During the week she whined at me as we drove past the bakery, I had no money in my purse. I said no. With more whining coming from the back seat, I said we would make some at home, hoping to hell we had the ingredients. She didn't let me forget either, reminding me we were making donuts when we walked in the door, bugger it.

It's been a little while since I made these ones, I have it hand written in my almost falling to bits, book of recipes. Lucky for me we did have everything, it doesn't require too much of the extraordinary, but some nicer jam on my part wouldn't have gone astray.

The only jam we had was something I made up a couple of years ago, all still good, but not very tasty. Crabapple and muntrie berry. It's ok, but not up there with strawberry or something equally as yummy.

Not sure whether she would go a donut with jam in the middle, we are not big jam eaters, I made some plain ones, with a hole cut out the middle. If I had icing sugar, dammit, I would have iced some when they cooled and added sprinkles. Another day.

Either way it was a bugger the diet day, they are freakin' deeeelicious. Better still Izzy was happy.

1 1/2 cups SR Flour

1 tablespoon margarine

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

jam of choice

Rub margarine into flour, stir through sugar.

Beat egg and milk together, then add to flour mix. Combine into a dough.

Roll out to a 1 centimetre thickness and cut into rounds, I used a 6.5 cm cookie cutter.

Put a teaspoon of jam in the centre, dampen edges and press another round on top.

Deep fry until brown. Drain.

Roll in cinnamon sugar(half a cup of caster sugar with a tablespoon of cinnamon mixed in)

Cumquat and Kaffir Lime Marmalade

Mum offered me some cumquats. Along with the deal were a few kaffir limes and leaves. People are always giving her stuff. 

I am always up for a challenge and love learning and trying new things. After much deliberation and surfing of the gastronomic net, I opted for marmalade. Never made that before, now I have five jars of toast tantalising gold. 

I am enjoying a tea spoon of it in my black tea as I type, delish. 

Cumquat and Kaffir Lime Marmalade

1 kg cumquats

5 kaffir limes 

3 kaffir lime leaves

1 litre of water

900 grams sugar

Slice cumquats and limes very thinly into a large pot, collecting and keeping the seeds in a cup. Finely slice the leaves and chuck them in the pot too.

Tip the litre of water over cumquats, cover and leave to soak overnight. Fill the cup of seeds with boiling water and leave overnight too.

Strain the liquid from the seeds into the pot, it will be like jelly. Bring the pot to a gentle simmer and leave until the skins are soft, about 30-45 minutes, depending on how thick your slices are.

Add the sugar and stir to dissolve, turn up the heat a little and gently boil for about 30-45 minutes, stirring often. Place jars in the oven at 150 degrees to sterilise them now.

To test if the jam is ready, place a small amount on a cold saucer(I put it in the freezer beforehand), if it is gelling(like jam) then it is ready. You should be able to run your finger through it without it running back into one blob, if not keep boiling and test again after 10 minutes. It should be ready now, the marmalade will thicken up when it is cold.

When it is ready pour into hot jars and seal. Be careful, I use a dry tea towel to hold the jar and a ladle to pour the jam in. 

Ways I will be enjoying my marmalade

• on toast(no brainer)
• in black tea
• in marinades for pork and chicken
• in sauces for fish
• salad dressings
• swirled in yogurt
• in cakes and puddings
• glazes for cakes
• with cream cheese

Jam Drop biscuits

The weather has cooled down a bit, from 40 on Tuesday to 23 yesterday. It's more baking friendly, plus the bickie barrel was bare. While Summer slept, Izzy and I whipped up a batch of these beauties. We used the same recipe to make all the biscuits, it made about 65ish, possibly more. Izzy ate the occasional ball of cookie dough.

I remember making these with my mum when I was a kid. She used to call the jam drops 'sore eyes', and they kinda look that way.  In past experience Izzy hasn't gone nuts for jam drops, so I made most of the mixture into plain biscuits and joined them together with icing.

Mum taught me to use the fork to make the pattern(dip the fork in flour) for the top of the biscuits and join them together. I made more of these sort(with pink icing, at Izzys request). They would totally give a Kingston biscuit a run for their money with a good chocolate icing, if I hadn't been out of cocoa I would have made some. Probably a good thing, I ate about 5 or 6, too darn many. There goes the diet. I put on a kilo and a half on our long weekend away, I can't afford to be taste testing biscuits!! 

Jam Drops

350 grams SR Flour (about 2 & 1/4 cups)

250 grams margarine

180 grams sugar (3/4 cup)

jam of choice

Sift flour, add sugar. Melt butter and mix in.

Roll into balls, place on greased tray and press finger into centre to make a hole(not all the way through).

Spoon a little jam into the holes.

Bake at 180 for 12-15 minutes.

Instead of making a hole and adding jam, you could press a blanched almond in the middle and then bake. Very tasty.

The icing I used to join the biscuits was just icing sugar and water with some colouring.

Scone anyone?

I made scones, and I can't stop eating them...help!

Jam and cream, butter and vegemite, I've had 6, cut in half, that's 12 halves!

How do you like your scones?

2 cups SR Flour

pinch salt

2 tspns butter

3/4 cup milk

Sift flour and salt. Rub in butter.

Add milk, make into dough.

Roll out to 2cm thickness and cut 

Put in a hot floured tin and bake for 7-10 minutes in hot oven.

enjoy