So Margeruite here, having made all of Lorraine's biscuits I thought I would share with you some of the other biscuits I also make.

Cinnamon Stars  -  fiddly but delicious

2 egg whites

6oz (175g) sifted icing sugar

1 level teaspoon cinnamon

8oz (250g) ground almonds

2-3 tspns lemon juice

star cutter

oiled baking sheets

Whisk egg whites until stiff.  fold in cinnamon and sugar, whisk to a dropping consistency.

Remove 8 tblspns of mixture and reserve in a covered bowl.  Continue to whisk remaining mixture until stiff peaks form.  Add almonds and lemon juice, Mix to a smooth paste.  Wrap in cling film and chill for 1 hour.  Set oven to Gas 6 (180-200) roll out paste between sheets of non stick paper to 5mm.  cut out stars and place on baking sheet.  bake 7 - 8 mins remove and reduce heat to very cool.  paint reserved meringue mix carefully on the biscuits making sure the surface is smooth.  Return to oven and allow meringue to harden without browning - 15-20 mins.  Cool on a wire rack.

Triple Nut Chews - I made these for the first time this year.  They are very very nutty and only just hold together.  When I make them again I will probably reduce the amount of nuts.

1 1/2 cups of chopped brazil nuts

1 cup of chopped hazelnuts (filberts)

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans (I used almonds)

8oz (1 1/4 cups) chopped dates

1 1/4 cups copped dried apricots

1/4 cups candied copped peel (optional - I didn't use this)

1 !/4 cups plain (all purpose) lour

1/2 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tspn salt

1/2 cup room temp butter

1/4 light brown soft sugar

1 egg

mix nuts and fruits with 1/4 cup of the flour and set aside.  In another bowl stir together remaining flour with baking soda, making powder, cinnamon and salt.  In a mixing bowl beat butter and brown sugar until light and creamy.  Beat in egg.  Add dry ingredients mixing until smooth.  Minx in fruit and nut mixture.  Drop rounded teaspoons onto a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 180 (350) for 10-12 mins or until lightly browned.  Cool on wire rack.

Cheeselets - just delicious  (you can vary the cheeses and the seeds)

115g/(4oz)/1 cup plain flour

2.5ml/1/2 tspn salt

2.5ml/1/2 tspn cayenne pepper

2.5ml/ 11/2 tsp dry mustard

115g/4oz/1 cup butter

50g/2oz/1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

50g/2oz/1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese

1 egg white

15g/1 tblspn sesame seeds

preheat oven to 220/425/Gas 7  Line baking sheets with nonstick baking paper.

Sift the flour salt cayenne pepper and mustard into a mixing bowl.  Cut the buyer into pieces and rub into the flour mixture.  Divide the mixture in half, add the cheddar to one half and the gruyere to the other.  Using a fork or your fingertips, work each mixture into a soft dough and knead on a floured surface until smooth.

Roll our both pieces of dough very thinly and cut into 2.5cm/1inch squares.  Transfer to the linked baking sheets.  Brush the squares with beaten egg white, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 5-6 mins or until slightly puffed up and pale gold in colour.  Cool on the baking sheets.

Hi Lorraine here with another biscuit recipe.

Nougat Biscuits

280 g Flour(plain)
180 g Butter
80 g   Icing sugar (sieved)
a pinch of salt
1 packet of vanilla sugar (8g)
2  egg yolks
250 g nougat
50 g Chocolate

Rub in the flour with the butter,add sugar, salt, vanilla sugar and egg yolks and knead to a dough.
Put in the fridge to cool for 1 hour.
Roll out and cut out small rounds with the cookie cutters (approx 3cm)
Bake for 7 minutes at  -- 200° electric
                                        gas mark 6
Melt the nougat over steam and spread it onto half of the biscuits.Set the other half on top.
Melt the chocolate over steam and then pipe an 'N'on each biscuit.

Enjoy :-)

Margeruite here,  Hope you don't mind Lorraine - I couldn't cope with the dag so I've updated it to grams!

Lorraine again

to avoid confusion  10 dag is 100 grams

Lorraine here again, if you want photos of what the biscuits should look like I can send them via whats app.

Hi Lorraine here, well its time to start thinking about making the Christmas biscuits so I have put 3 recipes which I hope you all like.

Linzer Eyes

600g  Flour (plain)
220g Sugar
2 packets vanilla sugar (16 grams)
4 egg yolks
400g butter

Redcurrant jelly
Icing sugar

Sieve the flour onto the working surface, add the sugar,vanilla sugar egg yolks( mix with a small amount of the flour).Add the cold butter and knead it all to a smooth dough.Cool in the fridge for 1/2 an hour.Roll out and using cookie cutters for linzer eyes cut the same number of bases as tops.(tops have 3 holes,but you can also use cutters with just 1 hole).
Bake in the middle of the oven for 10-12 minutes.
Electric -180°
Gas  mark  2-3

When cool spread the recurrent jelly on the bases(without holes).Cover the tops with sieved icing sugar and then put them together.



Walnut biscuits

250g  Flour (self raising)
140g Butter
80g   Sugar
1/2 packet vanilla sugar(4 grams)
50g ground walnuts
1 egg
Zest from 1 lemon
1 pinch of cinnamon
1 tsp rum

35 walnut halves
1 dsp icing sugar
1/2 packet vanilla sugar

80g icing sugar
1/2 egg white
lemon juice

raspberry jam

Make a dough out of the flour, butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, ground walnuts, egg,lemon zest,cinnamon and rum.Place in the fridge to rest for 1/2 an hour. Roll out about 4 mm thick and cut out using plain round cookie cutters (ca 5 cm).
Bake for about 10 minutes at 170° (look pale).
When cool set them together in pairs using the raspberry jam.
With the icing sugar egg white and lemon juice make a thick icing and cover the tops of the biscuits.
Shake icing sugar and vanilla sugar mixture onto the walnut halves and set onto the biscuits before the icing sets.


Lebkuchen Biscuits

600g Rye flour
2 tsp baking powder
350g icing sugar
Lebkuchen spices  --- all ground  -- 35 g cinnamon,
                                                          9 g   cloves
                                                          2 g   allspice
                                                          1 g nutmeg
                                                          2 g coriander
                                                          2 g cardammon
                                                          2 g ginger
                                                          1 g mace
5  eggs
160g honey

To Decorate
1 egg
Nuts -- skinned almonds,hazelnuts etc
Candied fruit, glace cherries
Icing

Mix everything together except the honey.Add the honey and knead into a thick dough.
Roll out to about 4 mm and using various cookie cutters cut out different shapes (e.g. stars,hearts, santa's angels etc)
Put them on the baking tray and using a pastry brush baste with the beaten egg.
Decorate as wished--eg cherry in the middle, nuts pointing out star shaped.
                                       icing decoration after baking :-)

Bake for 20-25 minutes
 Electric  150°
Gas    mark  1

Lebkuchen biscuits are often hard to begin with but soften up after a week or 2, if not, a slice of apple in the biscuit tin helps ( I have never needed to do that though)

Have fun baking, I always put Christmas music on and light a candle when I am making Christmas biscuits, just makes a nice atmosphere :-)

Curried Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

So yet another recipe for tonight. This was tonight's dinner, we had it with some naan bread but I often just have regular bread. It is really easy to make and not too many ingredients. I use an immersion blender to purée it but if you use a regular blender do it in small batches.

Curried  Roasted Butternut  Squash Soup

1 Butternut Squash

 Olive oil

4 cups( 32 floz) chicken or vegetable broth, (I use low sodium)

1 medium onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

2 tsps curry powder

1tsp garam masala

Salt 

Pepper

Sour cream

Cut the butternut squash length ways and scoop out the seeds.

Drizzle some olive oil over the cut side then place cut side down on a baking tray and roast in the oven at 350F until tender - about an hour.

When it is cooked, cool enough to remove the skin.

Sauté the onions and garlic in some olive oil and when softened add to the broth with the curry powder.

Add the squash and bring to the boil. Cook for about 15 minutes add the garam masala add the salt and pepper to taste.

Blend the soup to a smooth consistency and serve immediately with a spoonful of sour cream on top.

Enjoy😀

Jerk Chicken Salad

I made this last night and it is adapted from Hungry Healthy Happy. The Jerk seasoning is really good and much better than purchased seasoning.
If you don't like avocados they can be omitted. I also had some of the left over chicken on my sandwich today and it was just as good cold:)

Jerk Chicken and Avocado salad

– 2 chicken breasts ( or enough for 4 people)

– 1 tbsp fresh thyme

– A pinch of cinnamon

– 1/2 tap chilli powder

– 2 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro)

– 1 tbsp honey

– 3 garlic cloves, crushed

– 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

– Juice of 1 lime

– 1 tsp all spice

– 1 tbsp crushed black pepper

– A pinch of sea salt

– 2 tbsp olive oil

– 1 avocado, sliced

– 1 red pepper, diced

– 2 medium tomatoes, diced

– 4 handfuls of lettuce

- crumbled Feta cheese 

1) Put the thyme, cinnamon, chilli powder, coriander, honey, garlic, ginger, lime juice, all spice, salt, pepper and oil in to a blender with a couple of tablespoons of water and blend until it is a paste. If you don’t have a blender, then you can use a pestle and mortar.

2) Rub the paste over the chicken and put in the oven at 180C/350F for approximately 40 minutes.

3) Divide the lettuce, tomato and red pepper between 4 plates. When the chicken is cooked slice and put over the lettuce, top with the avocado and some crumbled Feta cheese

Enjoy😀

Curried Sausage Mac n Cheese

Here is my first recipe. If you try it hope you like it:)

Curried Sausage Mac n Cheese

Meat mixture:

1lb sausage meat

1 medium onion diced

2 garlic cloves minced

4oz mushroom cleaned and chopped

1 red pepper chopped

2 teaspoons curry powder or to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro/coriander

8-10 oz penne pasta

8 oz grated cheddar cheese

3 -4 tbsps milk

Salt

Pepper

Brown the sausage meat then add the other ingredients for the meat mixture and cook for about 20 minutes.

Cook the pasta according to the instructions. Drain and add the grated cheese, milk and salt and pepper.

When the cheese has melted add the meat mixture to the pasta and mix together well.

You can then put it in a casserole dish and top with more cheese and brown in the oven at 350 F.

Enjoy😀