Food fancy: Nanna biscuits

I wanted to show you the new dress I've made over the weekend, but due to the horrible sewing gremlins, I had to show you these cookies instead. The recipe was from Afternoon Tea by Frankie and it was super crumbly and easy to make. Now just need to look for a new sewing project that is more catered to my lack of ability.

Nana Biscuits
120g butter
90g caster sugar
180g self-raising flour
1 egg yolk
16 blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 180C. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add flour and egg yolk and  mix together to form a dough.

Line a baking try with baking paper. Roll dough into 16 small balls and place on tray. Press each ball lightly with your thumb to make an indent. Top with a blanched almond. Bake balls for 10 minutes.

Makes 16

Twelve by 2012 recap

So we are officially well into 2012, did I achieve the 12 goals set for  twelve by 2012 ? 

Well, lets see...

1. Start an imagined travel series 

Not exactly a series, but I have started and the idea is more refine now which I am happy about. See the first of the series  here .

2. Finish my crochet cushion cover  

Yay! I even made a fabric one to accompany my new crochet cushion. See  here .

3. Add more paintings and crafty goodness to my  shop 

A bit of a fail here, but one new item is better than none right?

4. Sell at least one item in my  shop 

Woohoo! Had my first customer on Christmas eve, he bought the tea towel within 30min of me putting it up in the shop!

5. Get back into dressmaking

Sort of, I am in the middle of finishing a dress, will show and tell soon.

6. Make more jam

Nope, no jam making unfortunately. Will need to make some by the end of this month.

7. Bake more

I have made the ugliest but tasty  choc chip cookies , meringue, super moorish poprcorn crunch using this  recipe  and a few ultra delicious veggie quiche. This is quite an achievement for someone who used to bake once a year. 

8. Try making macaroons 

Failed, see  here . Will need to try again very soon.

9. Finish reading all my magazines

No, not really. Only finish reading 2 Frankie magazines, still have a stash to go through.

10. Take a road trip  

We took a trip to  Barrington Tops  for my 31st birthday, visited  Watsons Bay  for the first time and went bush walking around Berry Island Reserve.

11. Do something unexpected for someone

I'm not sure whether I have achieved this goal, hopefully I had put a smile on someone's face this last couple of months.

12. Make at least one new friend

I'm glad to say I have made a couple of really good blog buddies and met a few new friends from Brown Owls. I look forward to developing these friendships this year.

Not your average cookie

So apparently Australians have no idea about chocolate chip cookies, according to Rose from Projectville, our cookies are "really just dry, oversized biscuits with flecks of fake chocolate in them". I am no cookie connoisseur, but surely our cookies are not that bad are they?

I thought I'll give her recipe a go and see what she meant once an for all. I followed Rose's recipe to a T, only replacing dark chocolate with white. The result was pretty damn good, the ugliest cookies I have ever made but they made up for it by being extra tasty. They are really rich, so you can easily be satisfied with just one cookie. 

Maybe there is some truth in her outburst. Click  here  to Rose's chocolate chip recipe and see what you think. 

Weekend of fail

See that brown, greyish slush? That is my horribly bad attempt at making macaroons. Everything that can possible go wrong went wrong. Maybe I was aiming a little bit too high with goal 8 in my Twelve by 2012. I am going to crawl under my bed and cry now. Happy Sunday everyone.