Thanks Julie- that sounds so yummy. I thought it was a type of cake or shortbread.

Great to see there's less calories- because there's no butter, flour and egss! :wink: :lol:

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Um sounds great Julie, think i'll make some as little extra gifts for my kids next weekend. :lol:

I'm about to cook a big batch of my Mum's Almond and Cherry Shortbread biscuits. Some for work tomorrow- some for the family Christmas Day do- and some for me! :D

very simple-

Cream 1/2 lb butter and 1/2 lb sugar- add one egg.
Stir in 3/4 lb S.R.flour

Work to a dough- Place in teaspoonfuls on a greased or baking papered tray- Squash slightly with a fork.
Place an almond or half a glace cherry on top-
Bake approx. 10 minutes at 350degrees

Makes about 4 dozen.

Yum- so many memories attached when I have these! :( :)

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Sounds great Bev, I'll have to try those - but what is SR flour??

Self Raising Flour as opposed to Plain Flour. Can't elaborate much more on that except to say it makes things rise! :lol:

I'll leave Bev to explain any technicalities!!! :roll: :lol:

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~Lily~
First Sydney Ammiratore and "A Usual Suspect"
"If music be the food of love, play on"

Shirl- I don't know what you call it in the states.

But like Lily says- it has stuff in it ( carb soda?) that makes it rise.

Now I'm trying to remember what we would put in our plain flour to make it SR. ....baking powder? :? :)

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Yes, it's something like 2 or 3 teaspoons of baking powder to 1 cup pf plain flour.
And baking powder is 1/4 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, and 1/4 teaspoon of cornflour. (or buy ready-made).

Duh! That's what we call it here too!! Only I never use it - I always use unbleached plain flour - so will have to check to see what to add to it to make it rise - I'm sure it will be on the web somewhere!!

(and it was - 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to each cup of flour!!)

I made some of Julie's almond bark last night. very noice.

Will take some to work with choc dipped strawberries- cherries and blueberries.

I discovered my very best favourite gadget in the thingy drawer the other day. It's a cherry de-pipper. I LOVE IT.

So just had to buy some cherries to use it again. :D

I almost bought some dried cranberries to put in the choccy- but my goodies were adding up in cost- it was $4 to get the sea salt!

Will maybe try the cranberries next time. (Like tonight!) :D

Might try them with white chocolate.

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I will be making tofu tomorrow night for the first time.  Any ideas what I can do with it besides stir fry?  I am sure I will have to make two batches - one with tofu and the other with red meat of some sort.  (I will get these guys off red meat if it kills me).

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Julie

I will carry you, be your strength, pull you through.

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I am in the process of sorting out some recipes and I found this one - it is for the cookies I made for the group when I saw them in AC in 05.  They are really yummy.

Better than Sex White Chocolate Cookies (that is really the name!)

8 oz Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate (they recommend Baker's, but I personally use a Lindt bar broken up or Ghiardelli - the best chocolate makes the difference)

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup softened butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup flour (I use pastry flour)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

6 oz white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped (again, use the best white chocolate you can find)

2 cups chopped Macadamias

Heat oven to 350 (this is their suggestion, but I found the cookies had a better texture at 335 - could be my oven)  Melt semi sweet chocolate in microwave or over double boiler till smooth.  Stir in sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla with wooden spoon until very well blended.  Stir in flour and baking powder. Stir in white chocolate and nuts.  Drop or scoop by 1/4 cupfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 13 to 14 mins until cookes are puffed and feel set to touch.  Cool 1 minute before removing from sheet and the place on wire rack to finish cooling.  Makes about 18 large cookies.   You can sub 1 cup of dried cranberries for one of the cups of nuts if you like.  And if you don't like nuts, you can omit them and increase the flour to 3/4 cup.  They are kind of a delicate cookies and if not treated right when they come out of the oven, they will break apart.  I made them 3 times before I got them just right, but I have since made them with even better chocs, so they are richer.  Nice cookies to give your valentines!

 

And this is another one I tried recently:

Phyllo Wrapped Asparagus with Roased Red Pepper Aioli

Preheat oven to 450.  Spray one sheet of phyllo with non stick cooking spray.  Sprinkle with 1 tbsp of finely grated parmesan cheese.  Place a second sheet of phyllo over the first and press to seal.  Cut sheet in 1/2 crosswise, forming two rectangles.  Place a trimmed asparagus spear onto the rectangle and roll it up with tip sticking out and seal it at the bottom.  Make as many of these as you need and place them seam side down on a cookie sheet or a baking stone if you have it.  Spray them all lightly with cooking spray.  Bake for 8-10 mins until phyllo is light golden brown. 

Aioli

1/2 cup roasted red pepper, patted dry and finely chopped

1/2 cup mayo

 1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning mix (mrs dash or whatever you like)

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1 garlic clove, pressed

Combine all ingredients and serve over asparagus.  This is actually listed as an appetizer and there is about 110 calories per spear with a tablespoon of the sauce.  They are very good.

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Julie

I will carry you, be your strength, pull you through.

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Here is my personal recipe for mussels:

THE SAUCE - okay, this is why i posted this because making mussels is really easy, but i love to make sauces to pour over top of them and that's where you can get creative because there is no one recipe for mussel sauces.

2/3 cup of heavy cream

1/3 cup butter

3 more chopped green onions

2 tbs of french onion soup mix

2 tbs of mustard powder

1/2 cup of asiago cheese

1 batch of baby spinach

Mix the cream and butter first and let it come to a boil, then bring it down to simmer (just like w/alfredo sauce), mix in the other ingredients and let them all simmer together (while stirring constantly) for at least 10 minutes.  

THE MUSSELS

1 cup of white wine

3 chopped green onions

1 tbs of butter

1 pound of mussels

Bring the wine and onions to a boil in a large sauce pan, then turn down the heat. Scrub the mussels clean (any that are open should be thrown out - it's means they're dead and dangerous to eat. conversely, after you cook mussels they should all be wide open, if they aren't they were dead when they went in the pot and are dangerous to eat).

Mussels only take about 5-10 minutes to cook and you can tell their done when they are open. stir them around a little while they're cooking, otherwise put a top on the pot.

Put the mussels in a big bowl first, then pour the sauce over them and enjoy!

 

Hmmmm maybe I'll make this tonight! Thinking about it makes me hungry.

Oh and DON'T forget to cut up some crusty bread to dip in the sauce after you're done the mussels.

Bellaria-  this souns so yummy!

My little seaside town is the mussel industry of the region- but I've never bought any because I was never sure how to serve them.

My  childhood memories are  of the very tough ones pickled in vinegar  that you'd buy in the fish and chip shops.

 I'm going to try this next week.   Thanks B.

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This is me mum's recipe for a little something she calls "Japanese Salad".  Great as a side during the grilling season....

 1 Finely shredded cabbage (green)

 1 Package Sapporo brand Ramen noodle soup

1 cup (approx) vegetable oil

2-3 tbsp soy sauce (approx)

1/3 cup toasted almond slices

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Ok so, shred your cabbage and put it in a big bowl.

crumble the ramen noodles into the bowl with the cabbage

combine the veg oil with the seasoning package from the Sapporo noodles and the soy sauce and then mix with the cabbage and ramen noodles.

 let marinade a while (between a few hours to overnight depending on how you like it!)

sprinkle toasted almonds and sesame seeds on top before you serve

 Eat up!

(I've never measured so you kinda got to go on taste but I think you get my drift!)

 

Thanks Classic-  

That sounds rather nice as well.Lots of oil in it!  I'm not that partial to cabbage-

but I could see it working with baby spinach leaves as well- or any greens for that matter...

And I just noticed in Bellaria's  mussels recipe-  some cheese I'm not familiar with. Is that a Canadian cheese?  May have to do a search on the net.

 

 

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