Snickerdoodles!

Mouth-sized pieces of perfection!

There is something about the name of this biscuit that sends me spiralling into an Enid Blyton book. I feel that I should be sitting alongside Moon-Face and Silky eating toffee shocks, pop-biscuits and Snickerdoodles. The name conjures up flights of fancy, whimsy and imagination...or that could just be me, with my head firmly planted in the clouds.

My children find the title hilarious..'We're eating Snickerdoodles!' They giggle, 'Snickerdoodles!' It's often a competition to see who can yell it the loudest....joy!

The biscuit lives up to it's fantastic name, it is really quite delicious. Perfect for popping into your mouth. They have a thin, crunchy, exterior with a cake-like crumbly centre.....mmmmm!

Ingredients;
3/4 cup of butter (some recipes call for shortening, but I'm a butter fan through & through)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups of plain flour
2 tsps cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

1/2 cup of caster sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon, combined on a plate for rolling the dough balls into.

Preheat oven to 200C.
Line 2x biscuit trays with baking paper.

Using a handheld mixer ( or a kitchen aid if you are lucky enough to own one.....soooo jealous!) beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well between each one.
Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
Roll the dough into small balls, then roll into the sugar mixture. Space out evenly on biscuit trays.
Bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes for a fairly soft biscuit (which is how I like them - almost like cake) or a few minutes longer for a firmer biscuit.

Now see if you can try not to eat them in one go....I have to say, I failed miserably.

Brown Sugar & Walnut Biscuits

I made these on Sunday afternoon and they were a huge hit. The kids, Hubby and I sat out in the sun with a pot of tea and devoured nearly the whole batch in one sitting.
Despite being deceptively simple they are also lovely, light, crispy and very yummy.

Feel free to substitute the walnuts with almonds or pecans....whatever takes your fancy really.

Ingredients;
1 Cup walnuts (plus extra for decorating)
3/4 Cup brown sugar, firmly packed.
1 Cup (250grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 Cups plain flour

Preheat the oven to 120C. Grease and line two cookie sheets.

In a food processor, process 1 cup of walnuts until coarsely chopped. Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar and process until you have a fine crumbed texture. Set aside.

Combine the butter, the remaining sugar, the vanilla and the salt in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to mix until light and fluffy. Add the flour and nut mixture and beat until just incorporated.

Scoop up spoonfuls of dough and then roll them into balls. Arrange the balls onto the cookie sheets, making sure to leave about 4 Cm's between each ball. Press a piece of walnut into the centre of each biscuit.

Bake until the biscuits are lovely and brown around the edges. This should take around 20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Lovely as a treat for morning tea, afternoon tea....or anytime for that matter!