Condensed milk biscuits

Gosh I wish we could get this here! Just plain homebrand stuff for us.  That didn't stop Bowerbird dad from opening a tin and consuming 1/4 of it.  I couldn't believe it.  He just shrugged and said there was nothing else sweet in the house.  So the mystery of why there was 3/4 of a tin of condensed milk needing using in the fridge is solved.  All happened a couple of weeks ago apparently.

I found the perfect use for the leftovers, that were starting to go sugary, after reading Christine's blog post on her weeks eats, which included condensed milk choc chip cookies.  Apparently Mr Bowerbird is not alone in spooning sweet goo from the tin, Ms Slow Living Essentials also has a soft spot for the sticky stuff.   Everyone is going wild for these cookies including dad who ate 6 last night (or so) while we were at cubs.  We brought some to cubs to share for supper, and my son snaffled three even though there were more at home and plenty of other choices.

  

  

The little one helped cook.  Fortunately the recipe is very forgiving as: little one kept tipping in ingredients before they were measured, I had less chocolate, and was trying to add extra ingredients to use up the 3/4 tin of condensed milk (recipe only calls for 1/2 a tin). Little one stirred and did the very important job of licking the bowl.

I also found a use for the copha that has been sitting in the butter container forever....

Delicious chocolate crackles made with shredded coconut (as we didn't have dessicated), think I prefer it this way. Little one helped cook and lick and had a great time putting patty pans in the tin. I'd forgotten how super easy these are to make.

Little one is obsessed with not being dirty (and eating) at the moment, and always has the flannel at her side.  She took her shoes off outside today, because they were dirty and she couldn't bare to wear them - even though this meant walking on wet grass and dirt in her socks. Quite happy to eat the dirty carrots that aren't quite ready yet though, had a good mouthful of the brown stuff to spit out. She loves pulling out the carrots, I wish they'd hurry up and finish growing, looking promising as the roots have gone down to a good depth - just thin at present. If only the little one will let them fatten up.

Lemon Jumbles or letter biscuits

Sunday need something for the school lunches day.

Look in new book from Nanna. Lemon biscuits, we have lots of lemons - perfect!

Pull out my wonderful mixer gifted by Lisa who didn't need it anymore, gasp, really, I am in mixer heaven. It came with all the bits and two matching bowls.  A good mixer is a revelation.
Grate lemon rind off big lemon add butter, sugar and juice to mixer.

The little one hears movement in the kitchen and rushes in to help.

Push squeeeeze the lemons

oooh there's water in the sink, forget the cooking, time for water play

the recipe says shape into an s but the kids had a wonderful time making sausages and creating snails, pretzels and letters. Partner jokes we are making dog turd biscuits.

Dusted with icing sugar they are a little prettier.

Can we have one, can we have one, can we have one

Just need to make them last

Recipe from Simple and Delicious Baking

Love Food 2011

Nanna did well, this has been a bit of a favourite cook book of late. Most of the measurements are by weight which works really well with my electric scales.

I  sent an email to the publisher asking if I could include the Lemon Jumble recipe on my blog and they very graciously said yes, and said that it was a fantastic suggestion! Aw...., that makes me feel good for doing the right thing. So here it is.

the biscuits are keeping well, still crunchy lemon tastiness 3 days later.

Lemon Jumbles
makes 50 (or 48 in our case)

75g butter softened
115g caster sugar
grated rind of 1 lemon (we used a big one)
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 tbsp lemon juice (2 juicy lemons)
350g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp milk
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 160 C/325 F
Grease several baking sheets (we just used Teflon baking sheet and baking paper ungreased which worked fine)

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, caster sugar and lemon rind until light and fluffy

Add the egg and lemon juice a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift the flour  and baking powder (or do not sift in our case) into the creamed mixture and blend together.  Add the milk, mixing to form a firm dough.

CALL THE KIDS TO HELP - they'll love it

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into about 50 equal sized pieces. (good maths exercise for the kids - divide in half - then again...)

 Roll each piece into a sausage shape with your hands and twist in the middle to make an S shape (or any other shape you fancy- kids had a great time here)

Place the biscuits on the baking sheets (they don't spread much so can be pretty close) and bake in pre-heated oven 15-20mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dust generously with icing sugar before serving (we gave all of ours a good dust when cool and they have kept like this fine - a little goes a long way)