Sometimes I just fancy a good biscuit . . . or cookie as they are known in North America. I do love me a custard cream . . . or a jam filled biscuit . . . sometimes only a chocolate chip will do.



It goes without saying that homemade are infinitely better than store bought, as I am sure you will agree.



Today I fancied something that was wholesome and yet moreishly decadent at the same time . . . but not chocolate.



These great biscuits fit the bill on all counts! They are at once chewy and crunchy. Crumbly and moreish. You get a yummy crunch from the cornflakes . . . a hint of chewyness from the coconut . . . some wholesomeness from the oats . . . don't get me started on the gumdrops . . .



Oh my . . . the gumdrops . . . they are sweet and chewy and fruitily addictive. Of course you can't buy the right gumdrops over here in the UK, so I bring back bags of them whenever I go over to Canada for a visit. That way I can always make these cookies and my favourite gumdrop cake . . .



But . . . the other day I discovered that lemon and orange slices work perfectly! You can get these over here and as they are my favourite flavours of gumdrops, I'm a happy camper as my gumdrop supply is rapidly dwindling and there is no trip to Canada on the cards in my near future at all . . . sigh . . .

You can get packs of orange and lemon slices in the cake decorating section of Morrisons over here. They are little mini ones and are just the perfect size for these cookies. Oh so scrummy!

Of course if you live in North America, you can just use gumdrops. Just don't use the black ones. They have a tendancy to bleed into the cookies and turn an awful colour. Just eat those while you are putting the cookies together. That's what works for me!



*Gum Drop Biscuits*
Makes about 3 dozen
Printable Recipe

Colourful, chewy and yet crisp at the same time. Very Moreish!

4 ounces white vegetable fat (Trex or Crisco) (1/2 cup)
3.5 ounces soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
4 ounces granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
1 large free range egg
3 ounces rolled oats (1 cup)
1.5 ounces of cornflakes (1 cup)
5.2 ounces plain flour (1 cup)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 ounces flaked coconut (1/2 cup)
4 ounces cut up gumdrops (no Black) (1/2 cup)
(I have found over here in the UK that those lemon and orange slices work
really well. You can get mini ones in the Cake decoration section at Morrisons.
One packet is just about the right size for what you need.)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a couple of baking trays with parchment paper and then butter the paper. Set aside.

Cream together the shortening and the sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Stir this into the creamed mixture until well mixed together. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Drop by heaped spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottoms. Remove from the oven. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.

The missionaries popped over yesterday to do some work for us in the garden. You know how much I love the missionaries and how much I like to spoil them and so I thought I would bake them a cake so that they could have a piece and a nice glass of milk after they were finished.



I thought they would enjoy a good old fashioned oatmeal cake. It was always a favourite of my boys. Put a dish of oatmeal down in front of them and they turned up their noses . . . turn that oatmeal into a tasty cake and they couldn't get enough of it!!



This is an incredibly moreishly moist and delicious cake! Brown sugar and oats make it so . . . and it has a lovely spicy flavour from warm spices . . . cinnamon and nutmeg. Oh so homey and comforting.



The topping is oh so scrummy . . . all nutty and coconutty and sweet . . . kinda like toffee and nuts and coconut in one incredibly delicious combination.



Altogether you get one unbelievably yummy cake that will have them coming back for seconds! I've never had anyone turn down the offer of a second piece yet!



*Oatmeal Cake*
Makes one 9 by 13 inch cake
Printable Recipe

A moist and deliciously old fashioned cake with a scrummy broiled toffee and coconut topping!

375ml of boiling water (1 1/2 cup)
3 1/2 ounces rolled oats (1 cup)
4 ounces white shortening such as Trex or Crisco (1/2 cup)
7 1/2 ounces soft light brown sugar (1 cup)
7 ounces of granulated sugar (1 cup)
2 large free range eggs, well beaten
6 1/2 ounces of plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

For the topping:
4 ounces butter (1/2 cup)
7 1/2 ounces soft light brown sugar (1 cup packed)
100ml of cream (1/3 cup)
3 ounces sweetened flaked coconut (1 cup)
4 ounces chopped nuts (1 cup)
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 5. Grease and flour a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Set aside.

Pour the boiling water over the oats and let stand until cool. Cream the shortening together with the sugars and eggs until fluffy. Add oats and water mixture. Sift the flour, spices and soda together. Blend into the creamed mixture. Pour this batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the cake tests done. The top should spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted into the centre should come out clean.

While the cake is baking, make the topping. Melt the butter. Blend in the sugar and add the remaining ingredients. Preheat the grill to high.

Spread the topping onto the baked hot cake. Place under the heated grill for 1 to 2 minutes until bubbling. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Cut into squares to serve. Store any leftovers covered tightly.

I have something spectacularly simple and yet very elegant to share with you today.

These little gems are quite old fashioned, coming from a recipe that's been around a very long time. (1933) I have a series of cookery books in my home library, called The Farmer's Wife cookbooks. I have the Baking one, the Comfort Foods one, and one simply entitled The Farmer's Wife. There are quite a few others as well, but I haven't managed to collect them just yet.



These are lovely ring bound cookery books, just stogged full of tried and trues, family and farm tested recipes, based on simple, wholesome and nourishing ingredients.



It's simple food. Honest food. Old fashioned and delicious.



I have wanted to make these little sweet biscuits for a long time now. From the Farmer's Wife Comfort Food Cookbook (over 300 blue-ribbon recipes), they use every day ingredients . . . round buttery crackers, egg whites, jam, chopped nuts. They're very easy to make and in less than 15 minutes, you can have a delicious little sweet on your teatime table that is not only pretty, but quite, quite delicious.



Each bite is at once buttery and crisp, from the cracker base and ethereally angelically sweet from the soft jam meringue topping, with the added pleasure of chopped toasted nuts. I quite like these. The combinations are endless . . . raspberry jam with almonds, marmelade with walnuts, strawberry jam with pistachios, apricots jam with almonds, etc. . . . let your imagination and fancy go wild!




*Jam Marguerites*
Makes about 20
Printable Recipe

A pretty little dainty, just perfect for the tea table! Quick, easy and delicious!

2 large free range egg whites, at room temperature
3 TBS raspberry or other jam
2 ounces of chopped nuts (1/2 cup)
2 drops lemon essence
20 round buttery crackers (such as Ritz. You can also use TUK, in which case you
will have rectangular shaped ones)

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Have ready a baking tray.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and then gradually beat in the jam, beating until thorougly blended. Add 1 TBS of the choppled nuts and lemon essence. Place a spoonful of the mixture on each cracker and place onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle with the remainder of the chopped nuts. Bake for abou 10 minutes until delicately brown. (Keep an eye on them.) Serve on the day as they are not great keepers.

This is a simple cake and very easy to make. Sometimes people think that if something is simple, then it can't be very good, but they are so wrong . . . wrong, wrong!

In my experience it is quite often the simplest things that taste the best of all!



Our local shops frequently have punnets of stone fruit on for £1 a punnet. They call it home ripening fruit, but . . . in my experience it never ripens. That fruit will rot before it ripens. It never gets soft or sweet. I am not sure why that is. Perhaps it is the stuff they spray on it to keep it so that it will store in their warehouses longer, I don't know. Maybe they don't really do that, perhaps it's nothing more than an old wive's tale or a nasty rumour . . .



Having said that one wonders why even risk eating it at all, I don't know! I expect if it is well washed it is ok for consumption. We'll just go down that route ok?



Anyways, just because you know it won't ever really truly ripen to the point where you could eat it out of hand, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't risk buying it. These fruits are quite often the perfect fruits to bake or cook with!



When you do bake a cake or a crumble, or a pie, it's quite acceptable and even desireable to use fruit that's not quite fully ripened. It holds it's shape better, and the cooking process makes it highly edible. A bit of sugar and it sweetens up quite nicely.



I got a punnet of apricots earlier in the week for a pound and they were just perfect for this cake. Plums would also work very well.



It's a flat kind of cake. I like to dust it with lots of icing sugar and then serve it up with dollops of creme fraiche. Todd would say it is one of his favourites. ☺ I ♥ that!



*Apricot Sheet Cake*
Makes one baking sheet sized cake
Printable Recipe

A sweet batter encasing lovely baked apricots. You will need a baking sheet approximately 10 by 15 inches in size.

160g of unsalted butter, softened (about 11 1/2 TBS)
240g of caster sugar (1 1/4 cup)
pinch salt
4 large free range eggs
the finely grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
1 tsp almond extract
300g of plain flour (2 1/4 cups)
2 tsp baking powder
6 TBS milk
Enough apricot halves to cover the baking sheet when halved
sugar for sprinkling
icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a baking sheet with a one inch lip. Lightly dust with flour. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggsuntil combines. Stir in the lemon zest and almond extract. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternately with the milk, until all are well combined. Spread this batter into the pan. Wash the apricots and cut in half, discarding the pit. Lay the halves on top of the batter decoratively, rounded side down and open side up. Sprinkle with some sugar.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely before serving. Dust with some icing sugar before serving if desired.

Time for a Saturday Teatime Treat! I actually made these to bring to a friend.

I just adore lemon anything, but Todd is not a real fan of lemon at all . . . so I thought that I could make these . . . just have one myself, and then give the rest away. That way I get to taste and enjoy a reasonable amount, and then they're gone, gone, gone and out of temptation's way! (Don't feel too sorry for Todd. I always bake him something he will like as well.)



I got to taste. My friend got to enjoy. Todd didn't have to suffer through any accidental lemon poisoning! It was a win all around situation!



I adore lemon curd and I had some lemons that were getting close to needing to be used up, so it was the perfect day to make some and these cupcakes are the perfect way to use that lemon curd up! Also win/win! (I love it when everything works out that way)



I also happened to have a carton of mini meringues that I had purchased a few weeks back, which was lucky!



I had seen a recipe similar to this somewhere, but couldn't find it. I found lots where you made meringue and baked it on top of the cupcakes, but none that used mini already baked meringues. I hate it when that happens, and I can't find what I know I've seen, but nevermind . . . . I just winged it, by baking my favourite cupcake recipe, and turning them into lemon cupcakes.



I then hollowed out the centres of the baked cakes, and then brushed a yummy lemon and sugar glaze on top while they were still warm so that all that lemony goodness was somewhat absorbed and the edges were all crusty.



I filled the hollows with some lemon curd and then plunked a tasty meringue on the top of each lemon curd pool.

Quick. Easy. Pretty. Impressive. And . . . very, VERY scrummy!!!!



*Lemon Meringue Cupcakes*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

Delicious cupcakes with a tart lemon glaze, a lovely lemon curd filling and topped with a crispy baby meringue!

For the cupcakes:
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature (1/2 cup)
4 ounces caster sugar (2/3 cup)
2 large free range eggs
the finely grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
1/2 tsp lemon extract
4 ounces self raising flour (scant cup)
1/2 tsp baking powder

For the glaze:
the finely grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
the juice of one lemon
1/3 cup caster sugar

You will also need:
a jar of lemon curd, homemade or storebought
a container of mini meringues

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Line a 12 hole bun tray with 12 cupcake cases. Set aside.

Place all the cupcake ingredients into a bowl. Beat well with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases. Bake for 15 minutes, or until well risen and the centres spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack.

Mix the lemon juice, lemon zest and caster sugar for the glaze together, stirring to combine well. While the cupcakes are still warm, and using a melon baller, remove a bit from the centre of each cupcake, and discard. Brush the edges and the centre area with the glaze. Fill the hollow with some lemon curd and pop a meringue onto the top. Serve immediately.

All this gloomy weather makes one long for comfort don't you think? Today I had a hankering for some homey biscuits, something all spicy and warm, something that would go down a real treat with a hot drink.



I love ginger biscuits, but I don't like it when they are really hard. I don't mind a bit of crunch on the outside, but I want them to be soft and chewy on the insides.

These delicious biscuits fit the bill perfectly.



They are wonderfully spiced!! With a full 1 1/2 TBS of ground ginger and a further 2 tsp of ground cinnamon, they smell absolutely heavenly when they are baking. Chopped candied ginger adds another depth of sweet heat.



The demerara sugar coating on the outside gives them a wonderfully sweet crunch. The original recipe called for rolling them in icing sugar before baking, but I found that it virtually melted into the biscuits and so I have always just rolled them in demerara sugar. It looks great and tastes great!



Crunchy on the outside yes . . . but nice and chewy on the insides. Just the way I like them. Of course you could bake them for a few minutes longer if you want crunchy, but I like chewy. It is my bliss. 12 minutes gets you chewy bliss. 15 minutes gets you crunch.



Truth be told, they are gorgeous either way. Almost too gorgeous! I think I'll have to put them under lock and key, and give the key to Todd. It will probably be the only way I'll be able to leave them alone!



*Spicy Ginger Crackles*
Makes 3 dozen
Printable Recipe

A deliicous ginger cookie that is nicely spiced and coated in crunchy demarara sugar!

4 ounces butter, softened (1/2 cup)
7 ounces caster sugar (1 cup)
2.4 ounces molasses (1/3 cup)
1 large free range egg
1 1/2 TBS ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
8.5 ounces plain flour (2 cups)
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
2 ounces chopped candied ginger (about 1/3 cup)
Demerara sugar for rolling

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Berat in the egg. Sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, soda and a pinch of salt. Stir this into the creamed mixture, combining well. Stir in the candied ginger.

Place some demerara sugar in a bowl. You will only need a couple tablespoonsful. Shape spoonfuls of the dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in the demerara sugar and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until they are lightly browned and crackled. Remove from the oven. Let cool on the baking sheet for several minutes, and then scoop off to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Store in an airtight container.

Note - the original recipe called for rolling the cookies icing sugar, but I found it didn't work well. The icing sugar disappeared on baking. Demerara sugar gives a much nicer finish.

Chocolate Chip Cookies? Check! All buttery and stogged full of semi sweet chocolate chips!



Double Stuff Oreo Cookies??? Check!! All dark chocolatey and crisp . . . and filled with lots of creamy middle stuff!



Chocolate Fudge Brownies???? Check!!! Rich and dense and oh so fudgy!

The three all together in one tray bake??? Could this really happen??? Do my eyes deceive me???



It's true! You are not imagining these. They are the ultimate in chocolate brownies, but it doesn't stop there. I have used Double Stuff Oreo biscuits here today, but you can choose to use any cream filled biscuit that you want. Custard Creams? Bourbon? The world of cream bixcuits is your oyster! Pick your own poison!



I don't dare hazard a guess as to how many calories is in one of these. It probably doesn't bear thinking about . . . just look and drool.



As a once in a blue moon treat for a room full of teenagers that are going to burn it all off later on??? Perfect!!



Me? I only dared have a bite and let me tell you now. It was heaven. I know a group of men at my church later today who will likely concur. ☺



*Chocolate Chip and Cream Cookie Brownies*
Makes one dozen
Printable Recipe

Oh so decadent, with each mouthful bringing you all the deliciousness of a chocolate chip cookie, a cream cookie and a brownie!

For the Chocolate Chip Cookie base:
4 ounces of softened butter (1/2 cup)
3.5 ounces caster sugar (1/2 cup)
3.5 ounces soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup)
1 large free range egg
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 ounces plain flour (1 1/4 cup)
6 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

For the Brownie part:
3 ounces continental style dark chocolate (at least 70%cocoa solids)
3 ounces butter (1/4 cup plus 2 TBS)
2 large free range eggs
1 TBS vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
12 ounces of sugar (1 1/3 cup approx.)
6.5 ounces plain flour (1 1/4 cups)

You will also need 12 cream filled cookies (custard creams, oreos, etc.)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch square baking pan, line with parchment and butter the parchment. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugars for the chocolate chip base until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Whisk together the soda, salt and flour and then stir this into the creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using floured hands, press this mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan, smoothing it over as best as you can.

Place the chocolate and butter for the brownie base in a saucepan and melt together over low heat. Once melted and smooth, stir in the sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the flour.

Crumble the cream cookies over top of the chocolate chip cookie base. Pour the brownie mixture over top of this.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is shiny and set and a knife inserted near the centre comes out with only a few crumbs attached. Try not to overbake. Allow to cool completely in the pan before removing. Lift out by the parchment paper when cool and cut into squares.

Note: You may ice these if you wish, but I don't think it's really needed.