Father Christmas Cookies….

Vanilla & Butter Cookies (Father Christmas Cookies)

Christmas to me has become all about the so many things I can do with my children (and should be doing more of)…because I am often rushing around and not taking as much time as I could do at other times. 

I have a singular point of view when it comes to my kids as well – I want them to grow up knowing things….how to do things, make things, create the life, food, home and work they would most like to do.

How to follow their dreams and listen to their hearts as they walk through a better world we have worked so hard to create on their behalf. Because, well, I have long felt as if I was misinformed (or uninformed) and certainly ill prepared with life as I have come to know it.

With this in mind (nothing small around here!!! LOL), I wanted to bake some treats together with them this week for our Solstice and Christmas celebrations (I know, it’s a big cookie to bite off!).

We decided on some sort of butter cookie….well, it had butter in it (lol) and flour, almonds and then the greatest flavour of the season – homemade vanilla extract. I make mine in a large bottle of bourbon – using 8 or 10 vanilla bean pods as well as some scraped out vanilla beans.

These sit for several weeks and then months until you can’t walk by the bottle without smelling wafts of vanilla perfuming the air (available in the market stall on occasion)….lovely!

So, these are butter and vanilla cookies, right? 

Back to the story or recipe….which is really a tale of how to create something magical from ingredients that seem rather ordinary on their own.

To make these cookies we used:

500 g flour (whole wheat/strong white ½ and ½)

250 g raw cane sugar

380 g butter (soft)

125 g ground almonds

 2 – 3 tablespoons  Bourbon vanilla

¼ teaspoon sea salt

dark chocolate (melted in double boiler)

imagination!

Blend the butter and then slowly add the sugar, almonds, flour, salt and finally vanilla – keep mixing until soft and crumbly. Add extra vanilla if this seems too dry. You should be able to squeeze the mixture together into a soft dough.

Onto a floured board or baking paper, knead some of the dough  and then roll it flat…let the children take over with cookie cutters, shapes and fingers to make the cookies into whatever shape they need to create.

At this time of the year we all like stars, ginger bread men, hearts and trees. Once you have enough shapes to cover a large baking sheet – place them onto parchment paper and into an oven set at 180C or so for 10 to 12 minutes.

Watch them closely because they will brown quickly. 

Once done and out of the oven, cool slightly then remove with a palette knife onto a cooking rack. When completely cool, dip in the melted chocolate and decorate with some coloured bits from the organic shop….

They taste as good as they look! We like to make different sized star shapes and stick them together using dark chocolate in the centre….we refer to these as Father Christmas cookies here, because these are the ones we leave out for him on Christmas Eve.

Happy Holidays!

April

Father Christmas Cookies

Jam Jams with Date & Raisin Mince Filling

On to further adventures here this week...I tried my hand at making some Jam Jams. For those of you who may not know what these are - these are cookies with some jam baked inside. Actually it can be jam or jelly or some other yummy filling - but it's basically a filled cookie.

I am digging back into my long distant past here - these would have been a childhood treat made with partridge berry and apple jam traditionally, as well as lots of molasses as a sweetener. They were lovely and even better when homemade.

When I had decided to make them, I wasn't sure what kind of jam I would use as a filling - but I wanted something very sticky. So that leaves out most of my jams because they do not have any sugar in them. But what I did have was date and raisin mince meat and this would do very nicely.

To make the cookie dough I used about 3 cups of spelt flour, 1 cup molasses, 3/4 cup goat's butter, 1 duck egg, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt.

I mixed all of these together - using softened butter and warm molasses - then crumbling this into the flour (dry ingredients). After a few minutes a soft dough was forming - usually this recipe is made with brown sugar and wheat flour....

However I avoid these items and it always comes out just fine. As well, the dough is often chilled for a few hours before cutting into cookies. But with spelt flour it can become quite hard (though not impossible) so unless this is really too soft - I would just make the cookies right from the soft dough.

I rolled out the dough onto a floured surface and then cut some round cookies out to be baked in the oven at 175C for about 9 or 10 minutes. Once these were done enough I removed them and placed a spoonful of the mince in between each one to make a sandwich. But I let them cool down a tiny bit first..they were quite soft.

These went back into the oven for about 3 or 4 minutes further....and then came out to cool onto a rack.

They were big! Almost like giant Jam Jams - but were they ever good!

April

Jam Jams....Very tasty!

Homemade Fig Newtons!!

Last week during our cleanse, my son kept asking for Fig Newtons for our feast - it was funny because I don't think he has ever tasted them, but he did see some friends of his eating them and was curious as to what they were....

Well, this weekend, true to form, I stepped back and thought - I can make them, and they will taste even better then anything that comes from a shop. So, I did, and they were better then any fig newton I have ever had....

In fact they were so delicious - we ate them all before I even had a chance to snap a quick photo. But, all was not lost - I simply made another (and bigger) batch. LOL Right now I am sitting here, smelling the aroma of cooling fig newtons.

And boy do they smell nice - perhaps the nicest of any cookie I've ever had the pleasure of baking. The combination of figs, orange and cardamom - is nearly intoxicating. And just as flavorful, tasty or mouth wateringly delicious as you can imagine anything to be.

This is my own recipe here - I am still tweaking it a little - however - it makes an awesome Fig Newton, so give it a try for yourself at home.... you won't be sorry and perhaps you might be pleasantly surprised!

2 1/3 cups spelt flour

2 tablespoons honey

12 to 16 large figs

boiling water

8 - 9 tablespoons goat's butter

1 egg

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup goat's milk

1.5 tablespoons orange zest

2 tablespoons orange juice 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

pinch salt

In a small bowl place the figs with stems removed - then pour boiling water over top - enough to cover them. I then let them sit while I prepared the rest of the ingredients. Break the egg in a bowl big enough to mix in the milk and maple syrup.

In a small saucepan place the butter - allow it to gently melt or if already at room temperature add this to the egg, milk and maple syrup mixture - stir well to blend. 

Using a deep mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, cardamom and salt together. Once the figs have soaked for about 10 to 15 minutes, transfer to a food processor (or cook on stove top) to blend with 1 tablespoon of the soaking water, 1 tablespoon orange zest, plus 1 or 2 tablespoons honey.

Once the figs are well blended, set them aside. Then add the liquid butter mixture to the flour in the deep mixing bowl and stir until a soft dough forms. Add a little orange juice and the rest of the orange zest here. If the dough is too soft you may chill it for an hour or so - but I never had that problem so far. 

Turn out the dough (I did this in 2 smaller balls of dough) onto floured parchment paper and flatten into a rectangle shape. Spread some of the fig mixture down the middle of the dough or along one side, so that you can either roll it into filled cookies or layer 2 pieces. 

If there is too much fig mixture this is lovely on bread or toast....

Once the dough is filled and ready - cut into individual cookies and place onto a baking sheet. Put into a preheated oven at 180C for about 18 to 20 minutes or until gently browned. 

These are absolutely a treat!

April

Fig Newtons....Yumm!!

Creamed Coconut Macaroons - Sugar Free!

I am always trying to improve on a recipe - and when I think of some ingredient that will make an already good recipe taste great, I can't wait to try it out. These past few days I have been waiting until my cleanse was finished so I could play around with some ideas I had for my macaroons.

We are people who enjoy coconut but probably don't eat that much of it. Maybe that's why we still really like it - it's a treat to find it added to a dish or in a cake or cookie. My husband grew up eating coconut macaroons and would name them as one of his favorite treats.

As for me, my available treats would have been far more traditional with fruit cakes, pies and oaty squares being the usual fare. In our house now, we just want to eat well, try new things and improve on the old ones... so with this in mind I have been working on the macaroon.

I like a chewy cookie, it's not a biscuit - it also needs to be sweet but not overly and distinctive without being overwhelming. This type of cookie lends itself to this situation because it can easily be made the way your family likes it.

This morning I made some Creamed Coconut Macaroons using the following recipe;

Creamed Coconut Macaroons

1 ¼ cups whole spelt flour

½ cup ground almonds

1 ½ cups desiccated coconut

1/2 cup grated creamed coconut

1 cup goat’s milk

¼ cup maple syrup or apple concentrate

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)

1/8 teaspoon salt

Turn your oven on to 180°C and prepare a large flat baking sheet. You can butter and flour it or cover with parchment paper. 

In a deep mixing bowl, measure out the flour, desiccated coconut, grated coconut, ground almonds, nutmeg and salt. Sift together until well mixed. Then pour in the maple syrup and milk – continue stirring until mixture is thick and sticks together well.

Using a wooden spoon, drop medium sized amounts onto the baking sheet until you have used up all the batter and these are evenly spaced. If making smaller ones you can space them closer together. 

Bake in the hot oven for 14 -16 minutes until golden brown on the outside. These are spicy and chewy, great as a snack anytime....

Enjoy!

April

Creamed Coconut Macaroons

Cooking and Baking - The Approach

It has been another fasting day for me here - and a welcome break from all that eating and cooking - well sort of a break because I am still cooking for everyone else here and baking bread most days. Recently I came across mention of how if you like cooking, usually you would not like baking - and vice versa.

I was floored by this - mainly because there probably isn't one aspect of food, cooking, baking, preserving or eating that I don't enjoy. I even like the washing up after wards - because I like a clean kitchen and to have everything back in it's place.

Of course, you know me, I have been mulling this over ever since. How might someone enjoy baking and not cooking....hmmm. Then it hit me! It was because they have put these two activities down as being separate from each other.

That baking is somehow separate kitchen magic from ordinary cooking of meals for instance. So, I guess it must all be in the approach. I would bake up a storm before any feast days. Baking bread is something I do nearly every day, and I would use the oven to cook some meals such as stew in the Tagine.

Baking therefore is not separate from any other meal for me. But there is more than this - for others baking conjures up visions of sweets, chocolate dripping off of cakes and cookies that make you fat just by looking at them.

It is an entire separate food group (which would not even register as food as far as I am concerned) crammed with as much sugar and other nonsense as possible for your enjoyment and dining pleasure. Then, that would depend on your idea of pleasure. 

Giving children sweets full of sugar and other junk and watching them act up and get a sugar rush - is not something I would take pleasure in. I know enough teachers and others who work around children who would say the exact same thing. 

The poor child would then be yelled at or some other negative response because of this behaviour and we are well into a vicious cycle here. 

So, I  enjoy baking yes and cooking - what I enjoy far more is the fact that any of my cooking can be eaten without concern of sugar or other nasties. It is certainly not a behaviour altering experience to eat good, wholesome organic food - unless having extra energy changes your life!

April

Cinnamon Cake 

Nut Butter Cookies

I came home late tonight from a day out and of course, everyone was feeling a little peckish after our long day. No one was really overly hungry (we had taken food with us for our picnic) but you know how it often is....

You would like something to nibble on, without being a disaster or going off the rails. Of course, in my house now, there is no room for a disaster, because absolutely everything must be made from scratch or we have nothing. Once I was in the house and getting everyone settled - my mind was already turning over the possibilities of what I could make quickly enough...

I wanted to have a light snack, tasty, nice with a dandelion coffee yet filling and still a treat of some kind. My thoughts were going to some kind of cookie - and I knew just the right one to make.

Going back to my basics of baking guidelines, this time I used 2 cups of oats instead of flour, some baking soda, a little salt, and it took off from there - I put all of those things into a deep bowl and looked around the kitchen for something quick to add in.

Nut butter cookie dough

Next went in a 1/2 cup of flour, then some cinnamon, 2 mashed bananas instead of an egg (for texture) and 1 cup of nut butter. I combined half tahini and half cashew nut butter because those were both on hand and needed to be used up. 

After I started mixing this up I added more liquid as needed, in total about 6 tablespoons of milk, and 4 tablespoons of maple syrup. This mixture was stirred around just enough to make sure the flour had been well blended in and then dropped onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

Nut butter cookies ready for the oven

They were in the oven for less then 20 minutes - and before anyone knew it, we had a batch of nut butter cookies to go with a hot cup of coffee. This is a tasty and fairly healthy snack too, it can be made sweeter if wanted or you can omit the maple syrup all together and just add more milk or water to get the cookie dough consistency.

All in all, to make these cookies it took less than 30 minutes, they are so easy and straight forward to make. The best part about this type of recipe is it's versatility - whatever nut butter you have on hand or want to make, can be used in the cookies. 

Right now, I am working my way through a couple of them, so good!

Have a lovely day,

April

Nut butter cookies - just out of the oven!