Window Cookies

You wait ages for a cookie post to come along and then three come along at once! This is my third cookie post this month...having previously only done one or two since I started blogging. I love these cookies, they're so cute! Most people have made stained glass window cookies at some point in their lives...but these are stained glass window, window cookies complete with flake window sills and skittle flowers...you can't go wrong! :-)

They are also my second entry into this month's Random Recipes hosted by Belleau Kitchen. You may have seen in my last post that once a recipe book was randomly selected, there was a choice as to whether to make the first recipe in the book or the last. The book I selected was Hamlyn's 200 Cakes and Bakes and the recipe on the first page was for these delicious Lemon and Limoncello Mini Cupcakes. On the last page...the window cookies.

The cookies tasted lovely, although there are more sweets and chocolate than actual cookie! I'm sure children would love these...and that obviously makes me a big kid as I love them too!

Ingredients

200g chilled unsalted butter
275g plain flour
100g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla bean paste

175g coloured boiled sweets
Royal Icing
10 chocolate flakes
12 skittles or M&Ms, various colours
Sugar sprinkles

To make the dough, dice the butter and then put it in a food processor with the flour and then mix until if forms a breadcrumb consistency. You can then add the egg yolks, icing sugar and vanilla paste before blending again until the mixture comes together in a dough. This should then be chilled for at least an hour, wrapped in cling film

Whilst the dough is chilling, line 2 baking trays with baking paper and unwrap the boiled sweets. Then when the dough is suitably chilled, roll it out quickly on a floured surface. I rolled mine to roughly the thickness of one and half pound coins. From this you should be able to cut out 10 windows, each around 10cm x 8cm. I made a template out of card before I started to make it easier. At this stage the dough was very soft, so I decided to put the baking trays in the fridge covered in cling film for a bout 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes in the fridge I used a 3cm square cutter to cut out the window panes before popping a boiled sweet into each one. The cookies should be baked in a preheated oven for 12 minutes at 180c/160c fan/gas 4. The sweets will melt and fill the panes, if they don't you can use a toothpick to tease it into the corners, although I didn't find this to be necessary. The cookies can then cool on the baking trays.

Once cool you can add the finishing touches. Use royal icing to attach a flake to the base of each window. This should be right along the very bottom, otherwise the cookies won't stand up. Finally, attach the sprinkles and skittles and use royal icing in a piping back to add the additional details. Then stand your cookies up and your finished!

* Adapted from Hamlyn's 200 Cakes and Bakes

Lemon and Limoncello Mini Cupcakes

Fancy a bit of zing...then these little beauties are for you! It would be difficult to get more zingy than a lemon and Limoncello cupcake. They're also mini cupcakes so they're perfectly bitesize and it was a little bit difficult to stop at one!

This is my entry into May's Random Recipes, you can find out more from Dom at Belleau Kitchen. This month to select the random recipe, a cookbook was selected with eyes shut and then for the first time in random recipes history there was a choice of recipes...either the recipe on the first page or the last page. I decided to follow Dom's lead and  (fairly carefully!) fling my cookbooks all over the lounge floor, I then riffled through and my hand settled on this gem hiding amongst the big boys.

So the book I randomly selected was Hamlyn's 200 mini cakes & bakes. I then had a choice of two recipes but I settled on this one on the first page...I won't tell you what was on the back page as I'm hoping to make that one too.

These cupcakes are so easy to make, they're just a simple sponge cupcake, topped with a luscious layer of lemon curd and a pretty buttercream swirl which has both lemon juice and Limoncello mixed in. The finished product is a fairly unassuming cupcake but once you bite into it, it packs a punch. I used Limonce limoncello which is an Italian liqueur made by steeping lemon peels in alcohol.

The only mishap I had was the loss of my lemon curd...I bought it on the way home and then couldn't find it for love nor money for about an hour...I found it eventually on the wall outside my front door! This is quite funny as this week I was reading a blog post about some lost blueberries which turned up a month later under a car seat.

Anyways.... this is also my entry into the 'One Ingredient Challenge', hosted by Laura at How to Cook Good Food and Working London Mummy. An ingredient is selected each month and it is then up to you what you do with it, sweet or savoury...this month just happens to be lemons and as I said, you can't get much more lemony than these mini cupcakes!

For this challenge your recipes should also be family friendly...obviously I don't advocate making Limoncello cupcakes for children (!) but I also made some without as I wasn't sure how strong the cupcakes would taste. I left it out completely for half the cupcakes but if you wanted that lemon hit, a lemon sugar syrup would have the same effect when drizzled over the cake.

Ingredients

65g lightly salted butter
65g caster sugar
65g self-raising flour
1 lemon, zest and 1 tbsp juice
1 egg
3 tbsp limoncello liquer

Icing

5 tbsp lemon curd
75g unsalted butter
100g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4 and put 16 mini silicone muffin cases on a baking sheet. I didn't have silicone so I just used traditional cases in a mini muffin pan.

This recipe is really easy. To make the cakes you just need to mix up the butter, sugar, flour, lemon zest and egg in a mixing bowl unitl it's lovely and light and fluffy, before spooning into the cases. Then bake for around 10-12 minutes. Be sure not to over cook them, they should be just firm. When cooked put on a wire rack before removing form the silicone cases after about 2 minutes. You can then drizzle over 2 tablespoons of Limoncello.

Once called spread divide about 2 tablespoons of lemon curd between the cakes and spread over the top with a knife. Finally, make up the icing by putting the butter (softened), icing sugar, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of Limoncello into a bowl and mixing until smooth and creamy. The recipe initially called for 50g of icing sugar which was nowhere near enough, so I've increased it to 100g but I think I probably used more like 150g. Then put your icing into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe pretty little swirls on to the top of each cake.

* Adapted from Hamlyn's 200 mini cakes & bakes

Cinco de Mayo Pinata Cookies

Cinco de Mayo... English translation...the 5th of May! This is an annual celebration in the USA and Mexico. If you check it out on Wikipedia you'll find that the date is observed in the US as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War. In the Mexican state of Puebla, it commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

I love these cookies, they're so bright and cheerful and if that wasn't enough there's a hidden surprise. If you can bear to smash into your little burro then you'll find a secret cache of M&Ms!

These cookies require a little effort to make but I think it was worth it, although I won't be whipping them up on a regular basis. The process started with the making of an unusual dough, it had a cup of vegetable oil in and was incredibly soft, yet not sticky. This was then divided into six with copious amounts of food colouring being added to give the characteristic pinata colours.

Once coloured the dough was layered up, one colour on top of the other in a tupperware box before being frozen overnight. To bake, slices of the dough were cut off the frozen block and baked for 12-14 minutes and then immediately upon coming out of the oven the burros were cut out of the slabs. For every two regular donkies, one was cut to make the secret hiding place. I did this with a small circle cutter and sadly his legs and ears also had to be removed! The three parts were then stuck together with a little royal icing with the M&Ms hidden inside first.

Once cut the pinata cookies were a little fragile and there were a couple of limbs lost along the way, leading to a few wonky donkeys...sorry I couldn't resist!

If you want to make your own pinata cookies then the original recipe came from the She Knows website and has full instructions. However, I'd be interested to know if anyone tries this with regular cookie dough and whether this would work just as well? I guess the concept could also be used in all sorts of other cookie creations.

Many people believe that pinatas originated in Mexico, although it has been suggested that the idea of breaking a container filled with treats came from Europe, in particular Spain in the 14th Century where they were used for the celebration of Lent. However, whilst this may be correct, apparently the true origins are Chinese with the Chinese version being in the shape of a cox or ox and being used for the New Year. 

Cookie Writing

Last week I attended a two hour 'Cookie Writing' evening class at Cakes 4 Fun in Putney. It was a chance to go along and learn about a variety of different ways to write on and personalise your bakes. Many of these ideas can be used on larger cakes but for ease and due to the limited time, we tried out our new skills on cookies.

As you can see below we used royal icing for piping by hand, this is quite tricky and requires a bit of practice. There were also edible images, if you're feeling really keen you can print these yourself by using purchasing edible ink and using a designated printer for edible images!

Tappits can be used to give a nice uniform finish, as well as regular cutters to give the finish you can see in number 4. Finally, why not just style your own writing out of rolled sugarpaste, or alternatively you can use edible pens to write straight on! All of these suggestions are great ways of adding the personal touch to your cakes and cookies and as always the Cakes 4 Fun team came up with some fab designs and a great colour scheme which ties all the cookies together! 

1. Piping with Royal Icing                                           2. Edible Images

3. Tappits                                                                      4. Cutter

5. Rolled sugarpaste                                                     6. Edible Pen

I don't want to give too much away as if you want to learn more and find out how to use each of the methods properly, I'd definitely recommend going on the course. Cakes 4 Fun always run great classes and the tutors are lovely, so if you're ever in this neck of the woods, give it a go! :-)