Christmas Baking with Corbyn - Empire Biscuits

After having the pleasure of watching Corbyn perform in his school's Nativity Play (he was a sheep with one line!), I also got to pick him up from school the next day for an overnight stay!

I must admit it is a bit daunting to watch this little man grow up before our very eyes, but it is also a wonderful privilege to be able to spend so much time with him.  After moving so far away from my family, I know how precious this time is.  But to hear how he had his whole schedule planned with precision was a surprise!  Corbyn wanted to bake, of course, watch a movie we just bought as a result of Christmas shopping on the way home and he also wanted to play Zoo Tycoon.  This was all accomplished with enough time for a lovely bedtime story!

Corbyn originally requested baking chocolate muffins but then grabbed his "My Baking Journal" and found the Empire Biscuits recipe instead.  Once I told him they were his grandfather's favourites, it became a mission for Corbyn to make these for a Christmas gift for his GaGa!

I must admit, these biscuits are one of my favourites also.  However, I never expected them to be so easy to make, requiring very little in the way of ingredients too.  My only complaint about  the way the recipe is written is that it didn't say how many biscuits to expect.  I got 8 altogether, And I had to guess how big 1cm is!  Today I put a ruler on my cookbook shelf so I can refer to that next time!

When baking with Corbyn, it is always fast and furious, so there are not equivalents or US measurements.  I apologize for that.  But we did have fun baking!



Recipe with no photos or notes follows at the end.

Empire Biscuits

Ingredients:

170g Butter
  55g Caster Sugar
225g Plain Flour
Strawberry Jam

1.  Preheat oven to 150C and grease two baking tins.

2.  Cream the butter and sugar together.

3.  Gradually mix in the flour until the mixture forms a stiff dough.

4.  Roll out the dough to 1cm thick and use a round cutter to make an even number of biscuits.  My round cutter seemed too big, so we used a wine glass!

5.  Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.

6.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

7.  Once cool, stick together two biscuits using a dollop of jam.

Ice with Glace Icing:

125g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1 Tablespoon warm water

1.  Sift sugar into bowl.  Slowly add water until the icing becomes thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

2.  Add more water if needed - one drop at a time.

Empire Biscuits often have gum drops on top but I don't like them, so we put M&M's on them.

Joke taken from the "My Baking Journal" - 

"What do elves make sandwiches with?

Shortbread!"

Empire Biscuits

Ingredients:

170g Butter
  55g Caster Sugar
225g Plain Flour
Strawberry Jam

1.  Preheat oven to 150C and grease two baking tins.

2.  Cream the butter and sugar together.

3.  Gradually mix in the flour until the mixture forms a stiff dough.

4.  Roll out the dough to 1cm thick and use a round cutter to make an even number of biscuits.

5.  Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.

6.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

7.  Once cool, stick together two biscuits using a dollop of jam.

Ice with Glace Icing:

125g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1 Tablespoon warm water

1.  Sift sugar into bowl.  Slowly add water until the icing becomes thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

2.  Add more water if needed - one drop at a time.


Empire Biscuits often have gum drops on top but I don't like them, so we put M&M's on them.

And so the Christmas season begins!

Looks like I have missed over a month since last posting!  That does not mean I have been doing nothing!  I have one post ready and waiting to go for the Christmas Cookie Swap post we all have to post on the same day.  And I have been travelling with my niece and my husband to Germany for Thanksgiving with my friend and also a massive amount of Christmas markets - here is one of the blogs from that trip.  The one I did for Thanksgiving Day.

We also had a day trip to Dublin last week.  This was a girls' day out with my Daughter and my Niece - A Day in Dublin.  If you read this, you will realise I was a bit under the weather following this day, but not for the expected reason.  No I was not hungover, but suffered from either a very abbreviated flu as a result of getting a flu shot and not getting really, really ill, or having a virus as one of my more medically experienced friends is convinced happened.....either way, this weekend of lunches and parties could have come a bit later as far as I am concerned.  That is not to say I did not enjoy every minute though!

First was a 3 course festive lunch with my oldest friend in Scotland, at Beresford's.  We used to meet once a week for coffee, but after 25 years and life itself, she now lives on the other side of Scotland, so we meet when we can....





On the same day, a few hours later, I was part of a group of 8 at Prestwick Airport Aviator Suite at a party to support our local and beautiful Gaiety Theatre.

The night started so slowly that all these adults began to act like bored children and I was very concerned since this was my idea....

but the entertainment turned out to be amazing, as well as the company, and we all had an amazing time.

Some of the men sporting new "hats" as a result of raffle prizes.

I



including phenomenal luck with the raffle - 7 out of 8 of us won a prize!

Alan collecting the star prize!

We danced the night away, which was totally unexpected, and with all the photographers in our crowd, we got some fun shots!   I gave up and let Alan and Bill do all that work!

I wonder what everyone else thought?  Selfies on the dance floor! What fun it was!  

                             And we even got a family group shot before we left the building.

As if I had not had enough fun for a weekend, I was expecting to host another festive event on Saturday, lunch for 6!

Baked a little chicken- stuffing with one lemon and a bay leaf, on top - sea salt with Scottish Heather mixed in

So I planned very carefully to ensure I had time.

after roasting!  looks yummy just like that!

I also cut the vegetables and had the stock all ready just to dump in at the right time.

Playing the Christmas Gift dice game after dinner

So there was time to relax and enjoy the company!  Plus they all loved it!  Easy, tasty, not too high in calories dinner, does it get better than that?

Corbyn examining his Mum's winning cookie maker kit!

Here is what we ate:

Starter - pate, doesn't get easier than that, plus Sue brought some frozen goodies to add to this.

Main course - Believe it or not - taken from Weightwatchers "The Complete Kitchen" cookbook!  Zippy Chicken and Broccoli Tagliatelle.  This was  tremendous hit!  And it was so easy!

Dessert - Brownie sundae, using a mix the day before and chopping up some peppermint Hershey's kisses I was lucky enough to have on hand!  Catherine also brought an amazing Banoffee Pie. It was so delicious - I begged her to take it away with her when she left, but she didn't.  Ok, there isn't any left now!

Zippy Chicken and Broccoli Tagliatelle

10 Propoints Values per recipe
10 minutes preparation
10 minutes cooking

Serves 2

125g (4 1/2 oz dried tagliatelle)
125g (4 1/2 oz Broccoli, cut into small florets
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced
1/2 red chilli, de-seeded and diced
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped roughly
150ml (5 fluid oz) chicken stock
150g (5 1/2 oz) skinless cooked chicken breast, diced
grated zest of 1/2 a lemon + 1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
15g (1/2 oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1.  Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the pasta and return to the boil.  Cook for 10 minutes until tender or follow the packet instructions.  Add the broccoli for the last 3 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, place the oil, garlic and chilli in a saucepan and heat for 1 minute or until the garlic just starts to turn golden.  Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 minute so they start to soften then add the stock and chicken and simmer for 3 - 4 minutes.

3.  Drain the pasta and broccoli then mix with the tomato sauce.  Add the lemon zest, juice, basil and Parmesan cheese and toss together.  Divide between warmed bowls and serve straightaway.

“Christmas? Christmas means dinner, dinner means death! Death means carnage; Christmas means carnage!”
Ferdinand the Duck in the Australian film 'Babe' (1995)

Christmas Cookie Swap 2014 - White Chocolate and Cranberry cookies

My packages for the Great Food Blogger Christmas Cookie Swap 2014 are freshly in the post as I begin to compose this blog!  What a super feeling of accomplishment! This might be my third year doing the Cookie Swap, but it seems like I was more excited about it than ever before! Possibly discovering a delicious cookie recipe a few weeks ago helped.  Normally it is down to the deadline before I know what I am doing!

I got my three partners in swapping and was delighted to be able to help out with yet another person from Ireland when they didn't have enough participants in that country. The extra postage is not sufficient to dampen the fun of helping someone be involved, and to also support the lovely activity which raises money worldwide for Cookies for Kids Cancer.

However, I am not certain she or one of my other matches received their cookies!  I know the name of the Irish blogger was incorrect because I looked at her blog and was able to correct that, but if the name was wrong, what about the rest of the address?  If this is the first year doing the cookie swap, maybe the two I have not heard from don't realise they were supposed to let me know they got them.  I have emailed them to ask, but had no response either.  I did hear from Rebecca from Really Pretty Useful and she enjoyed the cookies I sent her!

I am still waiting on one more box of cookies, not sure what has gone wrong this year....but I have thoroughly enjoyed my Chocolate and Candy Cane cookies from Ally at Digital Diva and the amazing Orange Chocolate Chip and Walnut cookies from Angela from the awkwardblog.com.


When I made the recipe I sent originally it was for our trip to London to see our son. I have never made a chocolate cookie dough though and had no idea how much I personally would love these cookies!  I think they are the best ever.....however, they are so chocolaty they need a health warning. Well, at least for our niece who is staying with us, sort of as a gap year.  She is allergic to high percentage chocolate and these will hurt her.  So why did I make them twice? Sorry, Morgan!

Before reading the recipe, I have a request!  This blog has been going on for over 2 years and I really enjoy doing it, but I am very frustrated because I get no comments at all!  I would love to hear from you, any thoughts, comments or questions would be wonderful to receive.  With readers all over the world, it would mean a lot to me to hear from you!  I have also re-started my Pat's Kitchen Facebook page, so if that is the best way for any of you, please "like" that!   Here is the link to "Pat's Kitchen".


Taken and adapted from a package of Nestle Premier White Chocolate Chips I bought in the States.

White Chocolate Chip Cookies   

(or An assortment of ingredients, including any type of chocolate chip or dried fruit Cookies!)

I have done my best to convert the US measurements to metric and I hope they work as well for you as they have for me!   With the exception of figuring out the butter, there is an excellent online butter conversion website, it is listed in my Pages, but easily found just by typing in the name.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup / 383g plain flour

2/3 cup / 70g cocoa

1 tsp baking soda  (bicarbonate of soda)

1/4 salt

1 cup (2 sticks) / 227g butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup / 201g granulated sugar

2/3 cup / 167 packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups white chocolate chips*,  however I used 1 cup white chocolate chips and one cup dried cranberries for a more festive look!

*The first time I tried this recipe, I used one cup white and 1 cup very dark chocolate chips.  The cookies could have hurt more than just my niece with the massive amount of chocolate they contained, but they were amazing!  This time, I decided to be a bit more festive and added a 170g package of dried cranberries. This ended up being exactly one cup!  I intended to add one package of white chocolate chips, but the package was 100g and did not fill a whole cup.....what to do?  Open another small package or finish off the already opened dark chocolate chips just sitting there and begging me to eat them in one gulp?  Best to get them out of temptation's way, so there is a hint of dark chocolate chips in this cookie swap.



Oven temp -  350F  180C

Combine dry ingredients in small bowl.

Cream butter and the two sugars together, then add vanilla and beat until very creamy.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  

Add the flour in a little at a time. This will get more difficult to mix and using an electric mixer helps!

Add the chocolate morsels and dried cranberries, or whatever you have decided to use.

Using awell rounded teaspoon, drop cookie batter onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 - 11 minutes.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

"Christmas cookies and happy hearts, this is how the holiday starts."  

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