Category: cookies/biscuits

Blueberry & Lemon Yo-Yo Cookies

Let’s get fresh, fruity and just right for the holidays. These yo-yo biscuits are are classic Antipodean staple and are perfect for warmer climes as they don’t have the tendency to melt like my favourite chocolate cookies! Talking of melting, this cookies have the wonderful melt in the mouth feels of very short shortbread, enhanced with a rich buttercream filling. It really is a wonderful combination.

I was in the mood for colour so concocted some delicate lemon biscuits (coloured with custard powder for a lovely yellow hue) and filled with bright purple blueberry filling. This biscuits will certainly get people talking, whilst also reaching for another one 🙂

Blueberry and Lemon Yo-Yo Cookies

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

makes about 20 sandwich biscuits

150g dairy-free margarine

65g icing sugar, sifted

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp lemon extract

pinch of salt

55g custard powder or cornflour

175g plain flour

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade/Gas mark 4
  2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment
  3. Beat together the margarine, sugar, zest and essence until light and fluffy.
  4. Sift in the flours and salt to form a very soft, but not sticky dough.
  5. Make large marble sized balls and place on the baking sheet (try to make an even number). Flatten with the back of a fork.
  6. Bake for 12 minutes
  7. Cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before moving to a wire rack.
  8. Once completely cool, sandwich together with the blueberry cream.

Blueberry Cream 

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, gluten-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

60g dairy-free margarine

200g icing sugar

1 tbsp blueberry coulis

  1. Make the blueberry coulis by cooking down 100g blueberries with 2 tbsp sugar and 1 too lemon juice. Cook until eh blueberries have burst and the mix is saucy. Sieve to give a luscious sweet sauce.
  2. Whisk the margarine  with the icing sugar and  1 tbsp blueberry coulis until it is all incorporated. Place in the fridge to firm up before using.
  3. use the remaining blueberry coulis for ice cream, waffles or fruit salad

lucylox4 Comments

Trail Mix Picnic Bars

If you’re heading outside this weekend you’ll be wanting to make these trail mix picnic bars to fuel your adventures. They’re full of the energy giving goodness (and fun) of trail mix packed into gooey chocolate coated crispy bars, perfect for sustenance on the go.

The pretzels add a salty, savoury note to the biscuits and cereal which is most moreish. You could almost say these along with a large drink of water could replace the sugars and salts lost during strenuous exercise – then again you could just say they’re yummy!

I’ve added dried fruit as I think it’s an important addition into any trail mix but it is fully optional. However, photographed bars don’t contain any dried fruit as my children would have refused to eat them if they had! Feel free to substitute nut or seed butter for the Biscoff spread if you can wish/can, which will give another dimension to the bars.

Ideally made the day before, these bars can also be made at the last minute as long as they have some setting time in the fridge or freezer.

Trail Mix Picnic Bars

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegan, vegetarian)

makes 16 small bars, multiple recipe for more

40g salted pretzels, roughly crushed – keep 10g aside for the topping

30g biscuits, roughly crushed (I used Lotus Biscoff)

60g cereal of choice, I used an old pack of Cocoa Pops

30g dried fruit of choice (optional)

100g golden syrup

50g Lotus Biscoff spread

25g sugar

85g dairy-free dark chocolate

Handful of sprinkles

  1. Line a 2lb loaf tin
  2. Melt together the syrup, sugar and biscoff spread until it’s a smooth caramel consistency
  3. Mix in the crushed biscuits, 30g of the crushed pretzels, the cereal and dried fruit
  4. Tip into the lined loaf tin and press down, making the mixture nice and level off. Place in the fridge to set.
  5. Melt the chocolate and spread over the set mix. Sprinkle on the extra pretzels and a handful of sprinkles. Return to the fridge. When the chocolate has fully set, cut into 16 even sized bars. Keep covered in the fridge.

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Summer Berry Sorbet and Arlettes

Summer is here (at last!) and the shops are full of delicious ripe berries, so much so I’m constantly popping them into my shopping basket. Whilst you can’t beat a bowl of fresh berries, a homemade sorbet is a close second (especially now it’s hot), and a great option when you’ve managed to squash the whole punnet on the way home, like I did this week.

Whilst the dairy-free ice cream ranges are constantly improving, I’m more of a sorbet fan. A good sorbet is utterly delicious and so packed full of flavour that’s it’s perfect on a hot sunny day. Even before we were catering for food allergies, D and I would always choose sorbet for pudding.I’ve served this sorbet with these wonderful little wafers called Arlettes. They’re puff pastry spirals, rolled out very thin, coated in icing sugar and baked until golden. They’re the perfect caramel flavoured crisp accompaniment for any kind of pudding.

Summer Berry Sorbet

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

serves at least 6

150g caster sugar

200ml water

juice of 1/2 a lemon

400g berries

  1. Roughly chop the berries and then whizz up in a food blender. Sieve if you like a smooth sorbet, don’t if you like some pips.
  2. Dissolve the sugar in the water and lemon juice by bringing the syrup to a rolling boil. Immediately turn off and stir in the berry puree.
  3. Pour into an ice cream machine and churn as instructed, or pour into a Tupperware box and place int he freezer. If using the Tupperware method, remove from the freezer ever hour or so and give the sorbet mix a good stir/whisk, to break up any large ice crystals. The whole process should take 4 or 5 hours.
  4. Serve with this wonderful caramelised, crispy Arlettes for a show stopper dessert.

Arlettes

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

makes about 20

1/2 pack puff pastry

lots of icing sugar

  1. Roll the puff into a neat rectangle and then roll up to form a tight cylinder. Wrap and freeze for at least half an hour so it is very cold. Once chilled cut into 1/2cm slices
  2. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.
  3. On top a mound of icing sugar, roll out each circle until very very thin and totally covering in the icing sugar. Stamp out fluted circles, or traditional leaf shapes
  4. Place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 5-6 minutes until totally golden. Keep a close eye on them, a burnt Arlette is not nice! Once golden, turn over and bake for a further couple of minutes.
  5. Cool on a wire rack. These are best eaten on the day they’re made.

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Easter Rocky Road

Happy Easter (or just long bank holiday weekend) everyone 🐣

We’re been so lucky this year with a glorious sunny weekend, filled with plenty of time outside enjoying the countryside, having Easter Egg hunts or just gardening. It’s been a really joyous and sunny way to spend a long weekend.

Chocolate is everywhere at easter time, which certainly poses it’s problems for the food-allergy family. Things have definitely improved, but still the majority of Easter treats (and particularly child oriented ones) have to be avoided. Oh to be able to buy candy shelled mini-eggs just like everyone else!

To ensure the chocolate quota is at maximum for everyone I’ve made wonderfully spring-themed rocky road, decorated with homemade mini-eggs (melted dairy-free chocolate set in a mould with a glitter coating) and the obligatory mini fluffy chicks! Also called tiffin or chocolate biscuit cake, this combination of roughly crushed biscuits, rice crisps and marshmallows enrobed in chocolate will delight nearly everyone.

This is also the perfect recipe to use up any leftover chocolate, take away the Easter adornments and you have the perfect teatime treat for any time of year 🙂

Easter Rocky Road

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, can be soya-free, sesame-free, can be gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

makes 12 or so bars

160g dairy-free dark chocolate, roughly chopped

60g dairy-free margarine

25g golden syrup

100g chocolate biscuits, roughly crushed (I used Lotus biscuits that are (currently) dairy, egg and nut-free)

25g Rice Krispies

50g mini vegetarian marshmallows (or use normal if you’re not vegetarian/vegan)

homemade mini-eggs, jelly eggs and sprinkles to decorate

  1. Line a square brownie tin with non-stick parchment
  2. Melt together the chocolate, margarine and syrup, either in a microwave or over a bain marie
  3. Stir in the crushed biscuits, Rice Krispie and marshmallows.
  4. Evenly spread into the tin and press down.
  5. Scatter over some sprinkles and press the mini and jelly eggs on top for an extra dose of fun
  6. Leave to set in the fridge.
  7. Cut into bars.

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Easter Biscuits

 

Easter is such an exciting time of year; spring is finally upon us with all it’s delights of cheeping birds, frolicking lambs and beautiful flowers and it feels like everything is just starting again after the fallow winter months. Easter seems to literally put the spring into everyone’s steps, and we start to look forward again. I feel this in terms of cooking as well as nature, suddenly fresh inspiration hits and there are so many more options open to me. I can’t wait to use all those spring flavours in the next few months. 🙂

I have many Easter themed recipes on my blog, and not surprisingly lots of them feature a lot of chocolate. However, even though they’re a personal favourite, I’ve never made traditional Easter biscuits. These customary cookies are a celebration of Easter time combining a subtle ‘hot cross bun’ spice with pretty decoration or dried fruit. These biscuits lend themselves equally well to the addition of the traditional juicy currants and crunchy caster sugar topping, or the somewhat fancier crispy yet soft cover of pretty pastel hued icing. Serve these to make a nice change from the chocolate overload and everyone will be happy come Easter weekend!

Easter Biscuits

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

 

makes lots, at least 20 large cookies

300g plain flour

2 tbsps cornflour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

115g vegetable fat (I used Trex)

115g dairy-free margarine (Pure)

225g sugar (either caster or granulated)

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

60ml dairy-free milk

60g currants (if making fruited variety)

  1. Sift together the flour, cornflour, spices, salt and baking powder.
  2. In another bowl whisk together the fat, spread and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the dairy-free milk and whisk again.
  3. Add the flour mix and carefully combine. Stir in the currants if using.
  4. Roll out and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place on a lined baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden round the edges
  5. Cool on the sheet before moving to a wire rack.
  6. if making the fruity variety, sprinkle with caster sugar whilst hot.

for the royal icing:

3 tbsps aquafaba (water from a tin of beans or chickpeas)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

3 cups icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

dairy-free milk to thin the icing

food colouring as desired

  1. In a stand mixer, or an electric whisk, whisk together all the ingredients until a smooth thick paste is created.
  2. Colour as desired. I split the mixture into two, and then coloured each with natural food colouring.
  3. Thin each colour with a splash of milk to make the icing a good consistency to coat the biscuits (thick, but thin enough to pipe!)
  4. Pipe as desired
  5. Let set but leaving at room temperature for a good few hours. If you dare, return the iced biscuits to the oven for a couple of minutes for a smooth shiny finish and then leave to set.

lucylox4 Comments

Marshmallow Filled Chocolate Cookies

Cookies are a perennial favourite in this household, and for the majority chocolate wins every everytime. So as you can imagine, I spend a lot of time thinking up new exciting cookie ideas. I can think of a lots worse ways to spend my time!

So picture a deep, intense freshly baked chocolate cookie, with crisp edges and a soft and slightly chewy interior? Sounds good? Well, let me make it even better….. Now picture a deeply chocolatey freshly baked cookie, with crisp edges and a soft and slightly chewy interior, wrapped around a sweet vanilla melted marshmallow with has remained gooey even once it has set. That does sound better doesn’t it!

These mallow stuffed cookies are a revelation, they’ve quickly become a firm favourite. Little S took one into school in her packed lunch and her friends all asked for a nibble and then asked where to buy them. High praise indeed 🙂

Marshmallow Filled Chocolate Cookies

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan [if using vegan mallows])

makes about 9

200g (1 cup) soft brown sugar

115g (1/2 cup) dairy-free spread

2 tbsps golden syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla

30g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder

150g (1and1/4 cups) plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

For the filling:

9 standard size marshmallows

  1.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade/Gas mark 4
  2. Cream together the spread, sugar, syrup and vanilla. Sift in the flour, cocoa, bicarb and salt and mix to a stiff dough.
  3. Take tablespoon or two sized amounts of the chocolate dough and pat out to a small round. Place a marshmallow in the middle of each and bring the sides up and around to form a chocolate ball with no gaps.
  4. Place on a lined cookie sheet and slightly press down with the fronts of a fork.
  5. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool for a couple more minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
  6. These cookies keep well for a few days in a sealed container, and are lovely warmed for 20 seconds in a microwave before eating.

 

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