Cinnamon Stars - a Christmas biscuit/cookie

It's quite cold and grey outside but cozy at home.  Keith the dog is still active as ever but loves to snuggle up in the evening, especially when we have the fire going in the fireplace.  Outside, at this time of year, he really does blend in quite well with nature :-)

Given that Christmas is getting closer and that this time of year always reminds me of home, I have been baking some traditional German Christmas biscuits/cookies: cinnamon stars or "Zimtsterne" as we call these at home.

These biscuits don't have any flour in them whatsoever, so if you have a problem with gluten, they might be a good alternative to other biscuits.  The dough consists mainly of ground almonds with a lovely hint of cinnamon and the topping is like a meringue.  The end result is a biscuit that's crunchy on the outside but still soft in the middle - delcious on a dark winter's afternoon with a cup of tea!

Cinnamon stars - Zimtsterne

Fruitcake cookies/biscuits

Brrr - it is horribly wet out there!  Feeling very fortunate that after getting soaked on the dog walk first thing this morning we could return to a warm and dry house. 

Fruit cake cookies / biscuits

I guess it is no wonder that I am starting to feel very Christmassy and the recipe I found at the weekend reflects that perfectly: fruitcake cookies/biscuits.  These delicious treats are full of yummy dried fruit and nuts and warming spices - perfect on a cold and/or wet day!  I saw these made on Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" TV show and knew they'd be just the right thing for us: the perfect cookie/biscuit to go with a warming cup of tea :-) 

The dried fruit is best left to soak overnight if you want a stronger flavour and the dough also needs to rest in the fridge to firm up, so best to plan ahead when making these.  They are definitely worth the wait!

Cookie monster

It's been absolutely shocking weather here - yesterday especially we had torrential downpours and temperatures never got over 8 degrees.  Brrrr!  Now, it's not just that I hate getting cold and wet when walking Keith the dog but on a much more serious note I am very concerned about the impact the weather is having on crops etc.  I haven't seen more than a couple of butterflies so far this year and the bees are not really coming out, so how on earth are plants going to get pollinated?

To cheer us up, I made a couple of batches of biscuits (cookies) which turned out rather lovely with a slight crunch on the outside but soft & chewy middle: chocolate chip & hazelnut and cranberry & blueberry oat ones. 

Both were definite winners and replacing some of the flour with oats (as suggested by Mr Happy Larder) gave a great texture to the fruit ones.  I didn't have quite enough dried berries, so used some frozen ones instead which tasted yummy but made for slightly soft biscuits the following day.  I'd recommend using just dried fruit if you are planning on storing these.


A couple of these with a hot mug of tea helped us forget the rainy day ;-)

Feeling jammy

A mixture of drawn out birthday celebrations and family stuff meant that I didn't get a chance to write a post until now.  A beautiful lunch was spent at one of my favourite restaurants in Swansea, Patrick's , lingering over the delicious food. 

I had a beautiful local goat's cheese with beetroot and homemade pickle - gorgeous!  My main course was plaice on a mussel, cockle and leek chowder...heavenly!  Mr Happy Larder's food choices were equally amazing with potted pork terrine followed by lamb three ways.  We were too stuffed for dessert but had coffee that came with a tiny chocolate brownie - just enough to hit that sweet spot. We don't go out for food that often these days but when we do, it feels really special and we love it.  I did have to restrain myself from taking photos of our food :-)

Definitely a lot simpler is today's recipe: jam cakes, also known as jammy dodgers.  Basically, they are shortbread-type biscuits sandwiched together with jam.  I used raspberry and strawberry jam and made large biscuits but you can make smaller ones too.  And I used a small biscuit cutter to cut out the middle.  They were so quick to make (less than half an hour including baking) and very tasty indeed.  I hope you like these as a treat!

Nearly there...it's crunch time

YAY - only one more day to the Fragrant Freebie Giveaway!  Don't forget to visit The Happy Larder tomorrow to take part in the giveaway!  Nearly there...

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Just a short post today as I've been gallivanting, visiting a very good friend overnight.  We hadn't seen each other for ages and it was just lovely to catch up in person.  Plenty of cups of tea were consumed and we had our fair share of biscuits too whilst chatting.  Which brings me to today's recipe: gingernut biscuits.  I do love anything with ginger in it and biscuits with tea are one of my favourite indulgences.  These are crunchy and have a bit of spice to them - delicious!

What's your favourite biscuit?

Simple pleasures...

It's the last day of January and finally, winter seems to be arriving. It's cold outside but I am sitting here with a steaming mug of tea and a couple of lemon shortbreads I made earlier this morning. Bliss!

The pond I can see just outside the window appears quiet but I know that the frogs started arriving a couple of weeks ago for their annual rendezvous and are hiding somewhere under the surface, together with a family of newts we spotted the other day.

My attempt at making lemon shortbreads has actually been quite successful - maybe some of them are a tiny bit too brown but overall they taste lovely, light and lemony. I covered half of the biscuits with lemon icing and left the others plain. Obviously, I had to try both kinds... :-)

How lucky I am to be able to sit here, warm and comfortable, watch nature & enjoy homemade food! I feel very blessed indeed!