Yummy Eggnog Nibble Squares (Advocaat Nibbles for the adventurous)

Eggnog, or rather its alcoholic version Advocaat, is one of my favourite drinks. Advocaat is just heaven in a glass as far as I am concerned !

And it has to be Warninks Advocaat - no other comes close.

MMmmmMMmmmm

Shame I can't drink alcohol now ! Well not often...

Being English, I was naturally raised with eggnog and advocaat. Eggnog is a very old English medieval traditional drink which has now spread around much of the world. It was an upper class drink which often also had brandy or rum added (hence the later development of advocaat). The lower classes could not have even afforded the milk, let alone the rest of the ingredients.

It crossed the Atlantic in the 18th century and is now part of American traditions also.

Many years ago a friend (knowing how much I have a fetish for cookery books) sent me a very special book called Cookies For Christmas. It is a huge book devoted entirely to festive biscuits, tiny cakes and cookies ! A very fun book.

I got the idea for this recipe in that book and have used it since. I changed a couple of the ingredients and with just a couple of tweeks and changes I had something delicious to suit my tastes...

Eggnog or Advocaat Nibble Squares

2 cups Castor Sugar
2 Eggs
2 cups Plain Flour
1/2 cup ground Almonds
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2/3 cup Unsalted Butter
1 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground Nutmeg

1. Put the butter and sugar into a saucepan and melt them together, on a medium heat only. Stir whilst it is melting.

2. Once it is melted and combined - stir for 2 more minutes.

3. Cool the saucepan and its contents for 10 minutes off of the stove top.

4. After the 10 minutes, use a wooden spoon to stir in the eggs, one at a time.

5. Then stir in the vanilla extract.

6. Next stir in the flour, the baking powder and then nutmeg, until it is all well mixed in.

7. Now stir in the ground almonds.

8. Spoon the mixture into a greased 13" x 9" pan, which is 2" deep (" is inches).

9. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C (350F or gas 4) for 25 or 30 minutes (until the edges of the cake/slices start to pull away from the edge of the pan).

10. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

This should make roughly 36 bars or squares.

Syrupy Oat Crunchy Biscuits

I made these biscuits (cookies to my friends across the water) on Tuesday as I was very fed up with being marooned without a car.

They are based on a very old recipe used both in England and Ireland for generations, and are truly yummy if you like a subtle syrup taste. They are also great for children to make as they are fairly easy (not young children as they need to heat a saucepan and stir it).

Of course they are healthy too as they contain oats...

Well kinda - the oats are healthy...

Syrupy Oat Crunchy Biscuits (Cookies)

4 ozs Oat Flakes
5 ozs Butter
5 ozs plain Flour
3 ozs Caster Sugar
2.5 tablespoons Golden Syrup
1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

1. Put the butter, the golden syrup and the sugar into a saucepan and heat on a low heat.




2. Keep stirring the mixture gently until the sugar has totally dissolved and the mixture is smooth and syrupy.

3. Put the flour, oats and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Mix them in together.

4. When your syrup, butter and sugar mixture is as syrupy as the photo below, pour it into the dry mix in the bowl.

5. Mix it all in together well, until it is stiff but soft (if that makes sense) - malleable. If it is too dry or stiff - add a very small amount of milk (not much) to help it mix.

6. Form the mix into small walnut sized balls.

7. Flatten then slightly and place them well apart on greaseproof paper on a baking tray.

8. Bake in the oven at 160C (325F or Gas Mark 3) for about 30 minutes, but check them at 20/25 minutes just in case. You don't want them too brown, just a nice light brown.

9. Allow them to cool before moving. Keep them in an airtight tin or container if you want them crispy - otherwise if you want soft cookies, leave them out for a few hours before eating.

Orange Snowballs

A few years ago a very good friend of mine who knows of my addiction, errr I mean my joy, towards cookbooks, gave me an amazing book. It's called 'Cookies For Christmas'.

Oh My

Lethal

The book is American and not published over here at all, so I have no idea where she bought it, online maybe. Therefore the measurements are all American, so the stateside bloggers will love it ! If you would like to try and find it, it is written by Jennifer Darling for Better Homes & Gardens (a magazine ?).

Here is one of the recipes. I thought it would be good for Halloween as they are orange and round, and you can maybe pretend they are eyes or something equally gory...

They do also make a lovely present given in a pretty gift box.

Orange Snowballs

1 cup Butter (soft)
3/4 cup Icing Sugar (sifted) (powdered sugar in the US)
1 tablespoon finely shredded orange peel
2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel (keep these 2 peel piles separate)
1 tablespoon Orange Juice
2 2/3 cups Plain Flour (all purpose in US)
3/4 cup white granulated Sugar

1. In a big mixing bowl beat the butter until soft and fluffed.

2. Add the icing sugar and beat then together until they are well combined.

3. Beat in the orange juice.

4. Beat in the flour bit by bit until it is all completely combined, including 1 tablespoon of the orange peel with the last of the flour.

5. Shape the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls.

6. Place the balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking tray.

7. Cook in an oven heated to 325F for 15 minutes, or until the bottoms are just lightly browned.

8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes.

9. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor if you have one, a strong arm with muscles and a bowl if you don't, combine the 3/4 cup of white granulated sugar and the 2 teaspoons of orange peel. Beat/blend until this is totally combined. This really is better in a blender if possible.

10. While the cooked cookies are still a bit warm, roll them in the sugar mixture and place them on a wire rack to totally cool.

It is possible to buy edible gold glitter. This can be added to the blended granulated sugar and orange peel that you roll the balls in. They then look like glitter balls !

Great also for Christmas food...

Peanut Butter Cookies - A Special Request

Due to a special request by a parent desperate to placate ravenous sons, I am posting my recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies. The only problem is that you need to cook a lot of them, as they don't last very long...

Peanut Butter Cookies

4.5 ozs (half a cup) salted Butter
5.5 ozs (half a cup) crunchy Peanut Butter (very important you use the original American kind)
8 ozs (1 cup) white Sugar
1 egg - beaten
5.5 ozs (1.25 cups) plain white Flour (all purpose)
Half teaspoon Baking Powder (baking soda works too)
Pinch of Salt

1. Line baking trays with greaseproof paper, or alternately grease the trays if they are reasonably non stick.

2. Mix and beat together the butter and the peanut butter.

3. Bit by bit add the sugar and then beat it in well.

4. Add the beaten egg a little bit at a time. Mix it in well.

5. Add the flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture and mix well until blended completely.

6. Wrap the resulting dough and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

7. Make about 20 balls from the dough and place them on the baking trays, well apart as they will spread ! Flatten each one a small bit with the back of a fork.

8. Cook in an oven which is already at 190C, 375F or Gas Mark 5. Cook for 15 minutes.

9. Leave to cool for a bit (10 to 20 minutes) before transferring to a wire rack to cool. If you move them straight away they are still soft and will break up.