chocolate chip beet cookies

sweet beet cookies

Ok, so i bought a 10lb bag of beets for $1.88 on the weekend and did some research into some interesting new ways to use them. First recipe i chose was from one of my favourite  bloggers! Weelicious!


Sweet Beet Cookies 

Original recipe from Weelicious - (Makes about 50 – 1 inch square cookies)

1 cup wholewheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup RAW beets, shredded fine

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees.
2. Combine the first four ingredients and stir to combine.

3. Using your hands, add the beets to the flour mixture coating the beet pieces with the flour.

4. Add the oil and work with your hands to bring the dough together (the salt and sugar will fall to the bottom of the bowl so make sure you knead the dough well to combine everything — the outcome will be a smooth dough).
5. Form the smooth, sweet beet dough into a flat rectangular disk and roll it out 1/2 inch thick on parchment paper or a dry clean surface. 

6. Using a knife, cut the dough into squares or use small cookie cutters to cut out shapes.

7. Bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for 15-17 minutes.8. Cool and serve.

When i made these i only had wholewheat flour, it's a little more crumbly than i imagined it would be with white flour, but i cannot believe how delicious these are! I think i found myself a new treat! I used a 1 1/2 inch heart cutter and made 24 cookies this batch, and i WILL be making more!! Next time i think i will cut them into sticks, the kid suggested it and i think it might just work! Success with beet recipe #1!

custard cookies

I found this recipe somewhere, sometime last year, printed it off and carried it around for a while. Finally whilst sorting through pages of scribbled down recipes, printed off recipes and torn out magazine pages i have started to work my way through the ones i REALLY want to try. Amazing how as time passes and your interest and tastes in recipes change! I now have a new "to-try" pile and a new scrap paper scribble pad.


These kind of....melt-in-your-mouth.....i really like that texture. Starts of as a crumbly soft mix that you roll into little balls, then press with a fork. I want to make a nice cream filling...custard creams...YUM!


Look at those little rolled, pressed balls all ready to bake, so well behaved!!


Custard Cookies

250g butter, softened
1 cup pure icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/2 cup custard powder

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Place butter, sugar and vanilla into a food processor. Process for 2 minutes or until well combined.

Add flour and custard powder. Pulse until just combined (don't over-process or biscuits will not have a fine texture).

Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into small balls. Place onto prepared baking trays. Press with a floured fork to flatten slightly.

Bake for 12 minutes or until light golden. Allow to stand on trays for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining biscuit mixture.

This mix said it would make 36 but i must have made smaller balls because i made 70!! =)

I also rubbed the butter in with all the ingredients by hand as i don't have a food processor, good old fashioned elbow grease! They turned out so smooth and delicious, now to find a nice cream filling recipe and make custard creams with these beauties!!!

chewy oatmeal almond & choc chip cookies

cornflake & raisin cookies

These delicious little cookies are one of the things i remember eating from my childhood. I do love cookies with raisins, bread with raisins....porridge with raisins.... and for some strange reason i had a hankering for them today and luckily enough had all the ingredients too!!

Look at that scrumptious cookie dough all full of raisins and yumminess!!

OK. Now for the recipe. (If you are reading this Jane i rushed over to put this on here after reading your comment on Flickr!!! hehehe)

Cornflake & Raisin Cookies - (i made 55 cookies from this recipe)

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes

Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy, pale in colour.
Slowly mix in the eggs, then flour and raisins. I usually mix the raisins in the flour first, makes for easier mixing.

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and evenly coat in cornflake crumbs.

Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes, they don't brown very much, at 10 minutes mine were ready with golden bottoms!

graham crackers

Graham Crackers. Heard of them. Never tried them, bought them or baked them....until now! It isn't something we have in Australia, but i wish we did! They taste really good....depending on how long you cook them for they can be crunchy like "crackers" or softer like a deep honey flavoured gingerbread type cookie.

A hit in this house! But of course i couldn't just make them in regular standard squares like they are supposed to be, i had to mess around and make them my own! So i pulled out the little crocodile cutter my mum sent me a while back and make "crocodile" crackers!!

The recipe i used came from one of my favourite bloggers, Smitten Kitchen who so far has never let me down recipe wise! Every one used has been a success. And as a lot of you know...you just never know when you try other peoples recipes!!

You can find the recipe @ Smitten Kitchen! Where she gives a great blog entry to go with a fantastic recipe! I made mine without the topping and they were delicious!!

maple syrup butter cookies

Our little man loves maple syrup! So when i saw this recipe in my Women's Weekly cookbook "Cookies & Cupcakes" i thought i'd give them a go!

Maple Syrup Butter Cookies

125g Butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cornflour (corn starch)

1. Preheat your oven to 180C
2. Beat butter, vanilla and maple syrup in a small bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in combined flours.
4. Spoon mixture into a piping bag or cookie press and pipe shapes onto a lined/greased tray about 3cm apart.
5. Bake for around 12-15 minutes, until just golden brown.

*Personal Note: I left the second tray a little bit undercooked for softness, just as they started to brown i took them out. We call them "pancake cookies", tastes liek you have been eating pancakes with butter and maple syrup on!!

neopolitan sugar cookies

I always loved neopolitan ice-cream as a kid. Admittedly the chocolate first, then strawberry and vanilla, if i had to. But lately i've seen cakes, cupcakes, cookies and desserts in this neopolitan theme! Fantastic! SO....i made sugar cookies =)

My standard sugar cookie recipe:
(if i make patterns and colours, i make the dough, colour it, shape it and leave it in the fridge overnight, it holds it's shape better when cutting and cooking!)

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp thickened cream (here i use 10%)

cream butter and sugar until light and sugar is dissolved.

mix in vanilla and egg, then gradually beat in flour, baking powder and salt.

dough should come together.

if it is still a bit crumbly i add a little cream, 1 tsp at a time only if needed.

bake at 180C/350F
for 10-12 minutes =)

just add colour, shape, mould, cut, ice!

I divided this batch into 3:

1 part Vanilla

1 part Chocolate (work in 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa)

1 part Strawberry (add a little colour and essence to taste)

Then i divided those parts each into three, to make 3 different designs.

The SWIRLY!

Basically roll out the chocolate dough, on a sheet of plastic wrap,

into a rectangle about 3mm thick.

Repeat with the vanilla and lay it on top of the chocolate.

Repeat with the strawberry and lay it on top of the vanilla.

From the long side, roll it up using the plastic wrap to keep it uniform and smooth.

You should have a long tube rolled up in plastic wrap.

Seal the ends and refrigerate overnight.

I checked in on it to make sure it stayed round.

To bake slice into 4-5mm pieces and bake at 350/180 for 10-12minutes.

easter sugar cookies

As you can see I had a lot of fun with my cookies for Easter! It is amazing what you can do with a batch of sugar cookie dough, some colour and imagination! I sent most of these in with my husband for him and his workmates, apparently there were fights over who got more and they lasted 5 minutes! 160 little cookies!!!

dulce de leche duos

Ok, so all i can say is WOW.
Thankyou Spork or Foon? for showing me these and leading me to your blog resulting in me making and eating these scrumptious treats! For the recipe to make them, i was redirected here to Beansy Loves Cake yet another awesome foodie blog! =)


I usually make this caramel by boiling the can, submerged in water for a few hours (depending on the consistency of caramel needed) BUT i couldn't find any cans that didn't have a "ring pull" top, and i didn't fancy having any messy explosions to clean up. It's a technique my dad taught us at home, he used to make it and keep it in the fridge and eat it straight out of the can! A very special treat!


SO after freaking out a little and checking online, i found this recipe where you simply just pour the can of condensed milk into a glass pie dish, snugly cover it with foil, place that dish in a larger glass dish that is filled with water half way up the pie dishes edge, and bake in an oven at 220C for as long as needed to get the consistency you desire, works a treat.

I baked mine (two cans so i had enough for the whole recipe) for 2 hours, which is great for adding to the biscuit mix, but i think it needed a further half an hour for the filling, as mine is just ever so slightly gooey enough for the tops to, not right away, but eventually sliiiiiiiiide off, heh. =)

These cookies have a wonderful colour.....
And i must admit the recipe was easy to follow and turned out perfectly!

Dulce de Leche Duos
by Dorie Greenspan from Baking From My Home to Yours

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups store-bought dulce de leche, plus more for filling
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until soft. Add the 3/4 cup of dulce de leche and both sugars and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Don't be concerned if the mixture looks a little curdled- it will smooth out when the flour mixture goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter.

Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets, using a heaping teaspoon of dough for each cookie and leaving 2 inches between them.

Bake the cookies 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front the back at the midway point. The cookies should be honey brown with a light sugar crust, but they will still be soft, so remove the sheets from the oven but don't touch the cookies for another minute or two. Then, using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remaining dough, making sure you cool the baking sheets before spooning the dough onto them.

When the cookies are completely cool, spread the flat bottoms of half the cookies with a small amount of dulce de leche, and sandwich with the flat sides of the remaining cookies.

Makes about 30 sandwich cookies

rainbow sugar cookies

What better way to celebrate St Patricks Day or any day for that matter, than with rainbow sugar cookies! Now i wouldn't have been able to do this if i hadn't have seen Cheeky Kitchen's fabulous blog! She did an amazing job on her cookies, colour, shape and that difficult little shamrock centre...which i gave up on and made plain green rounds instead =)