Banana Muffins
Preheat the oven to 200°C
3 very ripe bananas
2 tbsp soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts *
Mash bananas in a bowl and add rest of the ingredients. Stir just until blended.
Pour into greased muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes.
* For variety use dried cranberries or cherries.
I love Parsnips. They were on offer this week so I couldn’t resist.
Roasted one day and in soup another.
The other day I tried adding them to biscuits and now I am hooked. Because there is icing sugar in the mix they cross the line from savoury to sweet. Just as nice with a cup of coffee or with a new duck pâté I made (recipe coming next week) to try with the biscuits.
Now, will someone please put the lid on that tin and hide the biscuits in the cupboard.
Parsnip Biscuits/Cookies
Preheat oven to 180ºC
125g Unsalted Butter
100g Icing Sugar sifted
200g Plain Flour
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
100g Parsnips, peeled and grated
Line two baking sheets with baking parchment paper. Cream butter until soft & mix in the sugar until blended then drizzle in the olive oil & mix until combined. Add the flour & salt and mix gently but thoroughly until smooth, then add the parsnips & mix until thoroughly incorporated into the mixture. Cut 2 sheets of parchment paper and spread a sheet out on the work table, place the dough in the centre and cover with the other sheet. Roll out the dough until it is about ¼ inch thick (the dough is very sticky thus the parchment). Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or overnight. Cut into 2” rounds and place them ½” apart on prepared baking sheets. Form trimmings into a log, cut into rounds. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
Coconut Lemon Bars
Preheat the oven to 170°C
Base:
6 ozs plain flour
4 ozs soft butter
1½ ozs icing sugar
Topping:
2 ozs desiccated coconut
5 ozs granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
Grated rind & juice of 1 lemon
Mix the flour, butter and icing sugar and press into a greased Swiss roll tin. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile beat remaining ingredients together. Pour over the base and continue to bake until the top is set and a light golden brown.
Cool and slice into bars.
Apple & Cinnamon Fingers
Preheat the oven to 180°C
6 ozs Self raising (cake) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 ozs soft butter
6 ozs caster sugar
3 eggs beaten
12 ozs dessert apples, peeled, cored & grated
Topping :
12 ozs dessert apples, peeled, cored & grated
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
3 ozs caster sugar
Sift the flour, baking powder and ground cinnamon into a mixing bowl or food processor, then add the remaining cake ingredients except the apples.
Beat together until light & fluffy (I remember doing this by hand. 🙁 ), then stir in the grated apple.
Spoon the mixture into a greased and lined 7×11 traybake tin and spread evenly.
To make the topping:
Mix the grated apples with lemon juice and scatter over the cake mixture & sprinkle with the sugar.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is firm to touch.
If the cake begins to brown to quickly, cover loosely with a layer of greaseproof.
Leave to cool for 15 minutes in the tin, then carefully remove and strip away the lining paper. When cold cut into rectangles.
Almond Buns
Preheat the oven to 200°C
100 g short pastry
For the Filling:
50g caster sugar
50g ground almonds
1 egg size 3, beaten
Raspberry jam
Roll out the pastry thinly and cut into 7.5 cm rounds. Line the base of paper bun cases with the pastry and set into patty tins. Place a little jam on the centre of each pastry base.
Mix the almonds and sugar with sufficient beaten egg to make a soft mixture. Cover the jam with a spoonful of the almond mixture and sprinkle with some caster sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack.
Fruity Slices
Preheat the oven to 180°C
4 ozs butter
3 ozs caster sugar
9 ozs digestive biscuits, crushed
6 ozs sultanas
2 ozs cherries
1 teaspoon mixed spice
2 small eggs, beaten
Melt the butter and sugar. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Press into a greased swiss roll tin. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin.
For Icing:
3 tablespoons orange juice
6 ozs icing sugar
Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and add the orange juice and mix well. Drizzle over the cold tray bake and cut into squares.
Preheat the oven to 190°C
Pastry to line a traybake tin.
Jam
4 ozs butter
4 ozs Sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Almond Essence
6 ozs oatmeal
Line a prepared tin with pastry and spread a layer of jam over it. Melt the butter and remove from heat. Stir in the sugar, egg and almond essence. Add the oatmeal and mix well. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden. Cut into squares while still hot and leave in tin to cool.
Peanut Butter squares
for the base:
50g dark muscovado sugar
200g icing sugar
50g unsalted butter
200g smooth peanut butter
for the topping:
100g milk chocolate
200g plain chocolate
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Line a 23 cm square brownie tin with baking parchment.
Whizz all the ingredients for the base together in a food processor until smooth
Press the mixture evenly into the lined brownie tin.
To make the topping, melt the chocolates and butter together in a bowl over hot water, then spread on the base. Put the tin in the fridge to set. When the chocolate has hardened, cut into small squares.
These tasty little numbers look festive and disappear quickly.
Bake ahead and store UNfilled in an air tight container until you need them.
Cranberry stars
Preheat oven 180°C
100g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
2 egg yolks, medium size
225g plain flour
3 tablespoons Cranberry Jam *
Icing sugar to dust
Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
Beat the butter, caster sugar and lemon rind in a bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the egg yolks then stir in the flour and mix to a fairly stiff dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. If the dough is very soft, chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 6mm or ¼ inch. Cut into 24 rounds with a fluted cutter, re-rolling the trimmings to make up the number. Cut the centres from half the rounds with a small star shaped cutter. (bake these little stars too, children love them!)
Place the rounds on the baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes until pale golden.
Transfer to a cooling rack until they are cold.
Spread the jam on the plain biscuits, dust the star biscuits thickly with icing sugar. Sandwich together. Eat on the day the jam is added, if not they will become soggy.
* I bought a small jar of Cranberry and Port in Lidl recently, (I think it was with the sauces) I use it to fill the biscuits. Yum yum! I see it won a Silver Award at Blas na hÉireann.
A few weeks ago Marianna Paulson, also known as Auntie Stress tempted my taste buds with these ginger biscuits made with grated root ginger. They are just right for this time of year. 😀
Marianna’s Ginger Biscuits
Preheat oven to 180°°C
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon ground ginger
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses/treacle or golden syrup
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
Sugar for tossing
Sift flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves & ground ginger into a bowl.
Cream butter and sugar and add egg, molasses/treacle or golden syrup & grated ginger, I did this in food processor. Add the flour to the creamed mixture and pulse to mix thoroughly.
Chill dough in the fridge to for 30 minutes.
Form dough into small balls and toss in white sugar. Marianna suggested putting the sugar in a food bag and tossing the dough balls a few at a time, it is faster and cleaner.
Place on greased cookie sheet and press each one with a fork. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Check after 10 minutes, under-bake slightly, then leave on cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Try not to eat them before they are cold. 😉