The best gingerbread cookies

Meredith and I did some baking last week and we made the best gingerbread cookies that I have ever tasted! I wanted to share the recipe with you because it's so easy and too good to pass up. It's by TastedbyTwo, adapted from Real Living. Enjoy!

NB: We replaced molasses with golden syrup because molasses isn't available in England.

Gingerbread cookies

Ingredients:

Gingerbread
125g butter
½ cup (100g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg yolk
2½ cups (375g) plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons all spice (or mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)
½ cup (125 ml) golden syrup

Icing
1 egg white
1½ cups pure icing sugar, sifted

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add the egg and beat until combined.

2. Sift dry ingredients and stir into butter mixture with the golden syrup. Mix to a light dough and knead gently on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

3. Roll out between 2 sheets of baking paper until approximately 3 mm thick. Cut gingerbread men from the dough with your chosen cookie cutter and place on baking paper on biscuit trays and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Re-roll dough as many times as necessary. Cool on trays.

4. For the icing, whisk together the icing sugar and gradually the egg white until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag or freezer bag with the corner snipped. Decorate biscuits as desired.

How to make macaroons

Here's the macaroon tutorial I promised.... good luck! They are totally worth it! This is a vanilla recipe and is just delicious. Once you've mastered it the variations are limitless... add raspberry coulis to the centre and colouring to the shell... the world - or should I say the macaroon - is your oyster!

Macaroon shells

250g ground almonds
450g icing sugar
200g egg whites (which have been left refrigerated for 5 days)
50g sugar
5g vanilla powder (you need a real vanilla pod for optimum flavour)

1. Mix 250g almonds with 450g icing sugar and the vanilla powder, and sieve the mixture so that you end up with a fine powder.

2. Put the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixture and beat until white and fluffy. (If you are going to experiment with other flavours and want to add food colouring to the shells, do so at this stage).




3. With a spatula, slowly add the almond-sugar mix to the egg whites and mix in the stand bowl until you have a smooth and somewhat shiny mixture.

4. Scoop this mixture into a piping bag, you will need a tip between size 7 and 10.

5. Rest the tip on the baking tray (covered with parchment paper) and form circles. The mixture should ooze out from the side of the tip (the tip should not be held vertically so that it's in the middle and the circle oozes from around it).




6. Form an even number of circular discs. This may take some practice! At first, your macaroons might be misshapen, but they'll still taste amazing!

7. Put your baking tray on top of two others. It is important to bake your macaroons on a tray that has two others below it for insulation purposes. Then put three trays into an oven at 160 degrees celsius for 12-14 minutes. Rotate about half way through.

8. As soon as you take the upper tray out, pour water in between the parchment paper and the tray using a measuring pot. This helps the macaroons to unstick from the paper.





9. Wait a few minutes, then remove the discs not by immediately lifting but by rotating them so that they come off neatly.

10. Arrange them in rows, flat side up.



Cream filling

Ingredients

75g full fat milk
30g sugar
60g egg whites
30g sugar
200g butter (room temperature)
1 vanilla pod

Boil the milk, the sugar and the contents of the vanilla pod (slice in two, scrape out the filling and add). Mix the egg whites and the sugar. Add the milk and stir at 82 degrees celcius. Cool down by whisking to 30 degrees celsius and add the butter. Beat, then leave in the fridge for about an hour.






Finishing off

Put the filling into a piping bag and pipe the cream onto the middle of half the discs. Then put another disc over the top to create beautiful macaroons.



Variations

Try adding fresh raspberries to the cream, or even chocolate. Feel free to experiment - that's how the most magnificent versions came to be!

Please tell me how you got on!

Paris recap

What can I say, I had a wonderful time! It felt as though I hadn't been there in 20 years rather than 8 months though - that was strange. Audrey picked me up from the station (can I reiterate how amazing it is to get on a train and be in Paris in little over 2 hours?) and we went straight to my favourite sushi place! We would go every Wednesday to get our fix, so it was only fitting that this be our first stop. Amazing menu: salad and soup, sashimi and skewers and rice all for 15 euros. Scrummy.

Then we went to Audrey's apartment which, like all great Parisian starter homes, is on the 6th floor without a lift! Once you get there you feel on top of the world. I lived in a similar space in 2003 in Saint Germain des Pres. Good times indeed and staying with Audrey took me right back to them.




The following day we had an early lunch with a lovely colleague (sushi again - love it) and then I went off to my pastry class at LeNotre. It was weird going around in the Metro on my own. It felt like my town, I was at home, except it was no longer my home. It is hard to explain.

At LeNotre I actually had the same teacher who taught my croissant class 8 months back, so that was cool. Macaroons are far more do-able than croissants and the results are so rewarding, so in the next few days I'm going to put up instructions. Watch this space. It was so fun to be back in a professional kitchen and to learn with people equally passionate about pastry. I mean, you can hardly discuss icing tip width with just anyone (unless you want to lose your friends as they slowly die of boredom).

I left the class on a high for sure. I found out that retraining as a pastry chef would take at least 2 years - such a long time. A part of me wishes I had done that in my early twenties, when there seemed to be so much time. 2 years was nothing. Anyway, I will definitely be making macaroons again, and I look forward to experimenting with different flavours and creating my own. Lots of fun and mess ahead!



Audrey and I met on the Champs Elysees after that and looked at books. I love French bookshops and can browse in them for hours! There is a new Laduree book out if anyone's interested. It looked very good indeed. Finally a book that divulges a bit of that Laduree magic.

I found a fascinating novel about Sephardic Jews. These are Jews who originated in Spain rather than Eastern Europe (Ashkenazic Jews). I am a mix of both, but am considered Sephardic as this goes according to the father's background. The novel is about a Sephardic Jewess whose family comes from Morocco but lives in Strasbourg. She is about to get married and it's meant to be one of the most important explorations of Sephardic culture ever written. It's a long time since I've been so tempted by a novel, so I bought it and am certain I'll talk more about it as I work my way through.

No stop at the Champs Elysees is ever complete without a visit to Sephora! We bought some face masks, took them home and enjoyed an evening of soup and makeovers. It's fun to be a girl!

The following day we started off at Mora and G. Detout, the professional baking/confectionary shops. Mora sells every conceivable item to make cakes and to decorate them. It is replete with chocolate moulds and the like. A sight to be seen to be believed. G Detout looks like a person's name but sounds like 'J'ai de tout' (I have everything). And this is true. Anything pastry-wise that you could want, G Detout has. I went to buy a few things that were recommended in the macaroon class.

Here we have a 7mm icing tip, a whisk, a mixture that is 50% ground almond 50% icing sugar, Tonka, and violet chips. The plastic things are bowl scrapers. The pastry chef told us how important it was not to waste anything and these are phenomenal at not leaving bowl and spoon lickers anything at all to taste! I wish we had equivalent shops in London.




We also went to an amazing ribbon and button store, 'la Droguerie', where we found supplies to make our own jewellery. I loved these profile discs and chose to mount them on these flower rimmed bases. I then stuck the earring attachment on the back. So easy and so beautiful in my opinion. I've already enjoyed wearing them.


Then we walked to and through the Marais, which you all know by now I love. I love all the little boutiques and the vintage finds. It's just a delicious place to spend an afternoon. Here are a few pics. 

As you can see, the cupcake trend has hit Paris. Of course, they are mini teeny cupcakes, for the teeny 'Parisiennes'!

Love Paris' rose shops



I spotted this dog, which might be the cutest thing that I have ever seen. And I love all the flower shops everywhere. It's easy to be romantic in Paris.

Then Audrey and I were ready for a break and a treat. We thought we'd head up to Le Train Bleu, a grand and highly esteemed Parisian restaurant which also serves tea and cake. Train stations don't tend to be the most salubrious places, so I didn't know what to expect. I knew about this restaurant because Marc nearly booked it for us when I was on secondment and because a blogging friend suggested it. When we got there it was like a faded glory: grand yet sad, somehow, and a little depressing.



So we didn't stay, and headed up to Laduree, which by now feels like my second home (what a privileged person I am). I tried one of their new macaroons: fig and date flavour. Since I am in love with both figs and dates, you could say that I was in heaven.

And that wrapped up a perfect two days in Paris. I loved my reunion with the city and with Audrey. But I missed home as well, and I was happy to see Marc again and delighted that he had brought me a delectable piece of chocolate cake... which I shall review next. Suffice to say that it was the best I have ever had. Au revoir Paris, je t'aime!

Dark chocolate-espresso cookies

These cookies are something I came up with in France when I wanted to make cookie bags for colleagues. They are a very dark chocolate biscuit, for real dark chocolate lovers (70% +). In my opinion there is a time for retro sweets, cupcakes with sweet frosting, cake pops, and there is a time when only a true dark chocolate fix will do. These are for those times.

Tomorrow night I will be having dinner with Ryan, Gavin and Mauritz. After dinner we will go to Ryan and Mauritz's new flat on Finchley Road, sip some wine and chatter. Now, Gavin and Mauritz appreciate the finer things in life, and when I was last over they treated me to some beautiful dark chocolate. I wanted to give them something to celebrate the move, and these popped into my mind. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and brimming with an intense chocolate flavour. They are just the thing.

Recipe

200g dark coffee chocolate, melted (Lindt - or if not then add 4tbsp instant coffee)
125g unsalted butter
185g soft brown sugar
1 egg
185g flour
40g unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (180 C). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy with electric mixer
2. add egg and beat until just combined
3. add melted chocolate
4. Sift in flour and cocoa, mi with mixer for 5 minutes
5. shape dough into 1 1/4 inch rounds. (you can flatten these, but I prefer them ball shaped)
6. Bake for 6-7 minutes
7. Do not move immediately as they will most likely fall apart - wait a minute or two before transferring to wire rack.
8. Drizzle with chocolate icing and/just with icing sugar for an extra touch of sweetness (optional).

Wanted: the perfect peanut butter biscuit

It's quite strange: I hate peanuts, can tolerate but don't love peanut butter, but LOVE peanut butter biscuits. I discovered this when I made Heather's Santa surprise cookies for my colleagues over Christmas. It was love at first bite. I can't get enough of those cookies (even though I prefer to omit the Snickers surprise). The problem? I'm not a patient baker. This is because I often bake at night, and I don't have two hours to let the dough cool in the fridge. Therefore, ever since, I have tried to find an equally good recipe. I tried one from a cookbook I received as a gift and it was honestly the worst recipe ever. The cookies turned out like salty rocks. Then I tried Dorie Greenspan's cookies. They were good, but didn't have the soft centre that Heather's cookies have. So the floor is open to you: what is your favourite peanut butter biscuit recipe?

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Dorie Greenspan: Peanut Butter Criss Crosses
makes about 40 cookies.

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
pinch of nutmeg (I threw in some cinnamon too)

Wet Ingredients:
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup of peanut butter (I used Smooth)
1 cup of light brown sugar
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of salted peanuts (I left these out.)

Extra 1/2 cup of sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or cooking spray. Whisk the dry ingredients together. Using a handmixer, beat the butter on medium speed in a mixing bowl until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and beat for another minute. Add the sugars and beat for 3 minutes more. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to fully incorporate the sugar and eggs.

On low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they just disappears.

Mix in chopped peanuts if you are using them.

our the 1/2 cup of rolling sugar into a small bowl. Working with a level tablespoonful of dough for each cookie, roll the dough between your palms into balls and drop the balls, a couple at a time, into the sugar. (My hands are rather warm, so the dough got really sticky when I was making cookie dough balls so cooling my dough in the fridge for a little bit helped to make the dough easier to work with. ) Roll the balls around in the sugar to coat them, then place on the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between them.

To make the criss crosses, use a fork and press down on top of the sugar crusted cookies.
Bake for about 12 minutes. When done, the cookies will be lightly colored and somewhat soft. Mine puffed up alot, but then deflated once cooled. Let the cookies sit on a wire rack to cool down.


Dorie Greenspan pb cookies


pretty but disappointing peanut butter biscuits

Harosset/ Haroset/ Charoset Hamentashen

Over the weekend I was flicking through my Martha Stewart cookie book and something caught my eye: date triangles.

These evoked in me a certain Proustian sensation. Just as the taste of a Madeleine melting on his lips recalled Proust's childhood, so this image awoke in me the desire to 'taste' two of my favourite Jewish holidays: Purim and Passover.

These triangles are essentially identical to Hamentashen eaten on Purim, minus the traditional poppyseed filling. I'm sure Martha's filling is good, but I knew what I wanted: Passover Charoset/ Haroset / Harosset (I'm going to go with the latter) filling. A sweet, datey, fruity preserve that is rich, fragrant and delicious.

It wasn't rational, this desire. I came home with ten contracts to review. Yet when the tastes of one's childhood beckon, they are to be obeyed. And so these came to be.

I only followed Martha's pastry method (and even then, only vaguely as I am sadly neither in possession of measuring cups nor a mixer). I thought her pastry was very good indeed, but it yielded about a third fewer triangles than it was supposed to (18), so I made it again. And I made my own Harosset filling.

Harosset ingredients

12 dates, pitted and chopped
1 1/2 cup grape juice
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 apple, thinly diced
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
4 tablespoons honey/maple syrup
2 tablespoons orange flower water (yes, two days in a row, but I'm in love)
juice of 1/2 lemon

Harosset directions

1. Place dates in saucepan and pour in grape juice. Allow to simmer.
2. Add diced apple and stir until soft but still has form
3. Add cinnamon and nutmeg, stir in ground almonds and chopped walnuts. Add lemon juice, honey/syrup and orange flower water. If result too think, add grape juice/lemon juice to taste. If too fluid, simmer for longer.
4. This should take about 15-20 minutes to prepare and have a jam-like consistency (should not be runny).

Pastry Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
half tablespoon of orange zest (I omitted this - too lazy!)
1/2 cup/ 1 stick butter
2 tablespoons orange flower water (not compulsory)
3 tablespoons ice water
1/2 teaspoon of whole milk
2 tablespoons honey

Pastry Directions

1. In food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt and half zest; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture is crumbly. Combine orange flower water (if using) and ice water; drizzle over mixture. Pulse until dough comes together. Chill, covered for 20 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Form dough into 1 1/2 inch diameter balls, flatten to 3 1/2 inch circles. Place 1 heaped teaspoon of filling on each. Fold sides towards centres, making triangles; press to flatten slightly. Place pastries 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

3. In a small bowl, whisk to combine milk and honey; brush on pastry. Arrange 3 sliced almonds on each pastry. Bake until golden, 30-40 minutes, rotating sheets half way through (I didn't - again, lazy). Transfer pastries to wire rack, brush with glaze again (I didn't, I didn't want the super glazed sticky look). Let stand 15 mins before serving.

I was really pleased with these: they are aromatic and rich, with a soft centre. Hope you enjoy them too!

PS: I ended up with extra Harosset: can't wait to have it on bread tomorrow for breakfast!

Orange flower biscuits

I have been craving a light aromatic biscuit, a particular biscuit that I ate last summer in Provence, where biscuits are made as I like them: not too sweet and delicately flavoursome. Sadly, I could not find the object of my lust so I decided to make it.

A wonderful ingredient to conjure up the fragrance of Provence or the desserts of Morocco is orange flower water. Have you come across it? I'd love to know. It comes in a bottle and can be added to a number of foods, but is most commonly found in desserts. I am crazy about it, and decided to use mine for biscuits to send to my Ima (and for me to munch on over the weekend).

I was really pleased with how these came out, so I wanted to share the recipe with you in the hopes that you might give this unusual and delicious aroma a try. I think these are perfect with some Earl Grey or real mint tea. They are crumbly rather than very hard, and their delicate flavour makes them utterly addictive.

ingredients:

2 small eggs
3 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup ground almonds
3/4 tsp baking powder
5 tablespoons of orange flower water (to taste)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
2. mix flour, almonds and baking soda
3. cream butter and sugar until fully mixed. add eggs and orange flour water.
4. mix dry and wet ingredients
5. line two baking sheets
6. roll the mixture out thinly and cut shapes
7. bake for about 10 minutes
8. devour!

makes about 40 biscuits