Easter cookies

This is a long overue post, but blogging isn't on my top priority list at the moment.... But here are the cookies I made for everybody, family and friends (and DBF's collegues) at Easter.

Usually people make cookies for Christmas, but a few years back when I first wanted to try and make cookies, it hapened to be Easter time. So I got a set of cookie cutters with a Spring/Easter theme from my local Hobbycraft. It was lucky because these are hard to come by. At least harder than Christmas ones.

The novelty is that I used chocolate for the eyes and decorations over the coloured icing. They should have the same taste, as I made only one batch of batter, but people said they prefered the chicks because they have an almond taste ! Suggestion of the colours ?

Valentine cookies

It's a bit late, but I wanted to share the cookies I made for Valentine's day. I made them pink with food colouring, added some chocolate, but the specific thing is the letters embossed in the cookies. I got a "print your cookies" kit for Christmas. It's just like stamping, and it makes very personal cookies....

A Christmas Catch Up

I can't believe it's mid March already. Once again, I'm wondering if blogging is still worth it, what with all the new places on the web and the new technologies, such as Instagram, Facebook and other social thingies. But as always, I use my blog as an archiving journal. What did I make when, and what mood was I in....

So here is a bit of a Christmas summary. In the end the stitching craze was quite short lived. I didn't make anything after the Christmas mice. I went into origami instead. Here are two of the best exemples :

And of course Christmas is the time of cookie making. This year I made a lot, and spread the yummy joy around. I made the Hello Kitty ones for a friends birthday, and DBF was the star at work for bringing colourful treats.

Weirdly enough, I got loads of cookie making gifts for Christmas this year, do you think it's a message in disguise? Anyway, it's Easter soon, time to make some different kinds of cookies...

Biscuits à l'avoine

Si DBF ne jure que par les tartes et le chocolat, j'adore les biscuits secs. Simples, sans plein de machins dedans. En plus, si on fabrique ses propres biscuits, on sait ce qu'il y a dedans, et on évite les E je ne sais quoi et autres poudres de perlinpinpin (si bons mais sûrement nocifs à la longue)

Donc voici une recette de biscuits à l'avoine.

Pourquoi à l'avoine ? Parce que ça contient plein de fibres et de bons trucs qu'il n'y a pas dans la farine, et il n'y a de gluten. Ca régularise aussi le cholestérol. Ces biscuits secs sont idéaux pour emporter partout dans la journée et couper les fringales. Vous pouvez leur donner la forme que vous voulez, moi je préfère les faire à l'emporte-pièce d'environ 4 cm de diamètre. Comme cela fait des petits biscuits, on peut doser plus facilement combien on en mange !

Ingrédients

50 g de farine
100 g d'avoine (flocons style Quaker pour porridge)
60 g de margarine
75 g de cassonade (sucre de canne blond)
1 sachet de sucre vanillé
1 cuillère à soupe de lait

Recette

Pétrir tous les éléments jusqu'à obtention d'une boule ferme, homogène et non collante. Si c'est trop sec, rajouter du lait.
Laisser reposer 20 min au moins au frigo.
Préchauffer le four à 175°c
Applatir la pâte avec un rouleau et à la main pour obtenir une épaisseur d'un demi cm, et couper des formes à l'emporte pièce de votre choix.

Astuce : on dit souvent que plus la pâte à biscuit est froide, mieux c'est, mais ici il vaut mieux la travailler par bouts, malaxer un peu pour réchauffer légèrement. La pâte devient alors plus homogène.

Cuire environ 10 min, selon votre four. C'est normal si les biscuits ressortent encore légèrement mous, c'est mieux que de les cuire trop, car alors, attention les dents !
Faire refroidir sur une grille, et stocker les biscuits dans une boite hermétique.

Oats cookies

DBF is a chocolate freak, mostly in a pie form, but I prefer cookies and biscuits. The simple kind. The advantage of baking our own cookies is to know exactly what's in them, to avoid all the E-something and other weird things so good to the taste, but potentially harmful to our body.

So here is a recipe for oats cookies.

Why oats? Look on the box, it's full of good things, lowers cholesterol, etc... You can keep these cookies for weeks if stored correctly, and they are easy to carry around and eat whenever you feel like it during the day. You can make them any shape you want. I personnaly prefer 4 cm size shapes, quite small, so it's easier to munch on them.

Ingredients

50 g of flour
100 g of oats (the Quaker porridge kind)
60 g of vegetable fat
75 g of caster sugar
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
1 soup spoon of milk

Recipe

Mix and knead all the ingredients together to get a firm and non sticky ball. If it's too dry, add some milk.
Leave it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Switch the oven to 175°c
Roll the dough flat to have a 0.5cm thickness with a rolling pin or your hands. Use shapes to cut out the cookies.

Note that the dough might be a bit brittle, so knead it a little bit to warm up, and the dough will become more elastic and workable.

Bake about 10 minutes. The cookies will be a little bit soft still, but will harden with time. If you cook for too long, beware of your teeth !

Leave the cookies to cool down on a grid, and store in a dry cool box.