I'm working on that garden glut of courgettes again. It truly is the monstor of the garden, is it not? One day you look and you see a few that are only finger sized and so you leave them to get a bit larger, and then before you know it, all of a sudden they are the size of marrows!
It's a good thing I like courgettes!
Something else I really like are Mediterranean inspired flavours . . . things like black olives, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, feta cheese, oregano . . .
Warm flavours . . .
Healthy flavours . . .
Greek flavours . . .
When I was about 10 years old I saw a Disney film called "The Moonspinners," based on the novel of the same name by Mary Stewart. It starred a teen aged Haley Mills and took place on the Island of Crete. That fired an interest in me to visit Greece and indeed, Crete, one day so that I could see this same beautiful place . . .
I have never been to Greece, yet . . . but someday, someday . . .
In the meantime I can taste Greece, and it's really quite delicious.
Yesterday I was inspired to fill some courgettes with some of these flavours, and I have to say . . .
They were really quite tasty! Sitting out at the picnic table under the umbrella, listening to the flies buzz as we dug our forks in . . . one almost felt like they were in Greece . . . the only thing missing was the sand and the sea . . . oh, and the cute Greek Cabana boy . . .
Todd tries . . . bless his heart . . . but, oh well . . . you can't have it all!
*Cheese Stuffed Courgettes*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
These are so easy to make and so tasty! Use a melon baller to scoop out the flesh. Quick and easy.
4 medium courgettes (about 2 pounds)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 TBS tomato puree
1 TBS chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 TBS chopped dry cured black olives
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 tsp dried oregano
sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1/4 cup buttered cracker crumbs
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Cut the courgettes in half lengthwise and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes to soften. Remove the courgettes and scoop out the pulp, leaving the shells intact. Chop the pulp and place in a bowl. Mix together with the garlic, tomato puree, sun dried tomatoes, chopped olives, feta cheese, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the courgette shells with the mixture. Sprinkle the buttered cracker crumbs over top. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until browned and bubbly. Serve immediately.
When I was growing up, one of the favourite treats my mother used to make for us was what she called Cinnamon Rolls. They weren't cinnamon rolls as you would expect them to be though . . . but a deliciously butter scone type of dough, rolled out flat, heavily buttered, sprinkled with a mixture of heavenly cinnamon and brown sugar and then rolled up like a jelly roll, sliced and baked.
They were quick to do and I suppose that's why she used to make them for us. She could have a nice plate full of these warm treats sitting in front of us in about half an hour and boy, oh boy, what a treat they were! After having been tortured by the smell of them baking we could hardly wait to dig in.
My father, being French Canadian, had another pet name for them. He always called them . . . wait for it . . . Nun's Farts!! I know . . . rude eh? My mother hated it, but we always thought it was quite funny . . . even if she did shoot daggers our way anytime we referred to them as such . . .
Only the French could come up with a name like that . . . and I say that with affection. Let's face it . . . if a Nun did fart (and you would have a hard time getting one to admit it eh?) they'd have to smell like cinnamon buns wouldn't they? How could you resist the temptation of eating such a delicacy . . I know I couldn't!! 'Nuff said . . .
You'll have to eat these all on the day, as they don't hold up that well in the waiting and taste best when fresh. Pity that . . . but eating them all on the same day as they are baked has never been a problem around here . . . funny how that goes. You can freeze them, without icing, so no worries.
*Mom's Quick Cinnamon Rolls*
Makes a dozen
Printable Recipe
These are not a yeast roll, but a quick roll made with biscuit dough, rolled out and then spread with softened butter. Sprinkled with a tasty cinnamon sugar mixture, rolled up, sliced and baked, they are a real taste treat. I like to add sultanas and chopped walnuts to mine, and a thin drizzle of icing. Mom never did this and we were happy with them plain, but then you can't miss what you've never had can you?
For the Dough:
2 cups plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup plus 2 TBS milk
For the Filling:
3/4 cup packed soft light brown sugar
2 TBS cinnamon
softened butter
Sultana raisins and chopped walnuts to taste (optional)
To Glaze:
1 cup of sifted icing sugar
a bit of milk
Pre-heat the oven to 205*C/435*F. Butter a shallow baking sheet large enough to hold the rolls, about the size of a jelly roll pan. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening with either a pasty blender, or two round bladed knives until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs. Stir in the milk with a fork to make a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured board and gently knead 8 to 10 times. Roll or pat out to a rectangle, 8 inches wide by 12 inches long. Spread with the softened butter. Mix together the sugar and the cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over top of the butter. If using sultanas and nuts, sprinkle these on now as well. Roll up tightly from the long end as if for a jelly roll, sealing it along the long edge by pinching it together. Cut into 1 inch thick slices and place them onto the buttered baking tray. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until nicely browned. Remove to a wire rack to cool a bit. Whisk together the icing sugar and enough milk to make a loose drizzle.
Drizzle some of this over the warm biscuits. Serve warm. Delicious!
I had some blue cheese leftover from the other day when I made that Summer Vegetable Lasagna. I don't like to keep blue cheese sitting around for very long. I find it very difficult to see if it's gone off or not, so I like to use it up right away.
Can you believe that I had never eaten Blue Cheese in any way shape or form before I moved over here to England? I know! How did I ever get through life without having tasted it before now!
I think I always got put off by the idea of it being a type of mould before. Eating mouldy food has never quite appealed to me, but I have to admit that in cheese, it's very good, at least in this kind of cheese. I love them all . . . Stilton, Gorgonzola, Danish, Cashel Blue, Maytag . . . to name but a few. In fact, when I was growing up I wouldn't eat any kind of cheese at all unless it was Kraft Cheese slices or a powder from out of a blue box. I was too chicken to try anything new. (I'm so glad I grew out of that stage!)
I used Danish both for the lasagna and for this tasty salad dressing. It's tangy without being too overpowering, which is what you want when you are eating blue cheese combined with other foods. Or at least, it's what I want.
I made a delicious salad of sliced fresh pears, cos lettuce, red onion and toasted walnuts for our supper last night and we had this delicious blue cheese dressing poured over top. Yummo!
*Blue Cheese Salad Dressing*
Makes 10 servings
Printable Recipe
One of my favourite salad dressings is Blue Cheese. You can't get a decent one in the shops and so I prefer to make my own. Marks and Spencer used to do a really good one, but you can't buy it anymore, well, at least not around here anyways! Plan ahead as this tastes better upon sitting overnight.
1 cup good quality Mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
2 TBS grated onion
4-5 drops of Tabasco sauce
1 TBS lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp salt
a dash of cayenne pepper
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
2 tsp white sugar
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream and buttermilk, adding as much of the buttermilk as you need to give it a good consistency. You want it to be pourable. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Cover and chill for 24 hours before serving. You may need to add a bit of regular milk if it is too thick. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving.
My friend Lura lives in California and she has lemon trees right in her back yard. In fact they have a whole orchard of all different kinds of citrus trees . . . lemons, pomelos, grapefruits, oranges, kumquats . . . you name it, they have it and they only have to walk outside their door to get it. I can imagine it must smell heavenly when they are all in bloom.
I have often heard of a variety of Lemon, called Meyer Lemons. I've never had occasion to taste them, but I hear that they are thinner skinned and less acidic than most varieties of lemon. Perhaps one day I will have the opportunity to see for myself.
In the meantime, I make do with the ordinary variety that shows up in my local shops. I always buy lemons when I go to the grocery store. I use them a lot in my cooking. A small squeeze here, or a small squeeze there, salad dressings, cakes, cookies, icings, a small wedge in my mineral water . . .
And these totally delicious Lemon Friands. About four bites of the most heavenly little cakes in the world . . . just four . . . little . . . buttery . . . bites . . .
*Lemon Friands*
Makes 10 to 12
Printable Recipe
These delicate little almond cakes topped with a delicious swirl of lemon curd are absolutely delightful! These would be great for an afternoon tea party, or . . . just because! Simply wonderful!!
1/2 cup plain flour (70g)
1 1/2 cups ground almonds (130g)
1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted (45g)
5 large egg whites
200g unsalted butter, melted and cooled (14 TBS)
the finely grated zest of one lemon
5 tsp of lemon curd
icing sugar to dust the tops of the finished cakes
Optional: Whipped cream, additional lemon curd
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Grease a 10 hole, or 12 hole friand pan really well. Set aside.
Mix the flour, ground almonds and sugar together in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites with a fork until foamy. Add to the almond mixture along with the butter and lemon zest, stirring to combine with a wooden spoon. Spoon into the prepared pan, dividing the mixture equally amongst the holes. Top each friand with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon curd. Use a toothpick to swirl the lemon curd lightly through the batter.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove from the oven. Let sit for a few minutes before loosening with a knife and removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Dust the tops with some icing sugar. You can serve these with some extra lemon curd for spooning and whipped cream if desired, but they are really delicious all on their own.
If you're like me, your garden at the moment is full to overloaded with courgettes. My goodness, but they are a prolific vegetable, and can grow to the size of a marrow overnight if you don't catch them in time. I like to freeze a lot of mine to use in the winter in breads, muffins and soups. I just grate them and them pack them in freezer bags in pint sized amounts. Just the perfect size.
I also like to use them fresh out of the garden. We sometimes eat them raw, cut into batons, with tasty dips, or chopped into salads. I often cook them into delicious casseroles, or cut them into sticks and bread them. Lightly fried these are lovely served with a tasty garlic dip as a starter.
You can stuff them with delicious stuffings composed of herbs, onion, bread crumbs and cheese.
My favourite way of all though is to stog them into a delicious Vegetarian Lasagna. I saw a version of this in last month's Delicious magazine and ear marked it for future use. I finally had the chance to make it yesterday.
This was amazing, purely amazing, but don't take my word for it. Make some for yourself . . .
Now . . .
*Summer Vegetable Lasagna with Blue Cheese and Pinenuts*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe
This is one of the most delicious lasagna's I have ever eaten. Rich and creamy and full of flavour. Who says Vegetarian food has to be boring!
For the Bechamel:
50g of butter, plus extra for buttering the pan
50g of plain flour
1/2 litre of full fat milk
1 tsp of marigold vegetable boullion powder
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 TBS olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 medium courgettes, washed, sliced in half lengthwise and then into half moons
500g spinach, stalks removed
1 285-g jar of roasted peppers in oil, drained and sliced
50 toasted pinenuts
the grated zest of one lemon
200g of blue cheese, crumbled
80g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
200g ricotta cheese
9 fresh lasagna sheets
Heat the oil in a skillet and gently cook the onions, without browning, for 5 minutes or so, until soft and fragrant. Scoop the onions out into a bowl. Add the courgettes to the drippings in the pan and cook, until lightly browned, 6 minutes or so. Remove and place in the bowl with the onions. Place the trimmed spinach into a colander and pour boiling water over it until it is wilted. Refresh it under cold running water and then drain really well. Place it into an old tea towel and squeeze dry. Chop. Place into the bowl along with the onions and courgettes.
Melt the butter for the bechamel in a medium saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute. Remove from the heat and whisk in the milk. Return to the heat and cook, whisking constantly until this bubbles and thickens. Whisk in the bouillon powder and the pepper. Remove from the heat.
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/375*F. Butter a 2 litre lasagna dish.
Stir the pinenuts, peppers, lemon zest and all three cheeses into the spinach mixture, reserving a bit of the blue cheese and the parmesan for on the top of the lasagna.
LIne the baking dish with three sheets of pasta. Spoon over 1/3 of the bechamel. Spread half of the vegetable mixture over top. Add another 3 sheets of lasagna. Spoon over another 1/3 of the bechamel and then spread with the other half of the vegetable mixture. Top with the final 3 sheets of pasta. Cover with the remaining bechamel and sprinkle the last of the Parmesan cheese over all. Dot with the remainder of the blue cheese.
Bake in the heated oven for 50 to 60 minutes until bubbling and golden on top. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve cut into squares.
One of the things I have come to embrace over here is the curry. Several years ago there was a program on the telly called Britain's Favourite food and it was not surprising that curry came quite high on the list. The shelves in every grocery store are stocked to the hilt with a variety of curry sauces, curry ready meals and you can find curry in any self respecting chippy in the land. Chips served with curry sauce are a very popular dish! (Kind of like the British Poutine, but without the cheese)
There are over 9000 curry houses in the UK, spread out all over the land. It's an industry worth some £3.5 billion! The British love affair with curry goes back to colonial days which entailed some two hundred years of British Colonial presence in India, where much loved traditional Indian dishes wormed their way into British hearts and tastes.
I tasted my first curry when I was stationed in Suffield, Alberta with my ex husband. This was the British Army Training base in Canada. We were close friends to many British soldiers and their wives during the time we spent there and often had dinner parties together. One night one of the ladies served up a chicken curry and I have to say it was love at first bite for me!
The other day I was wanting to make a curry from one of Bill Granger's books. It was a rich and tomatey roasted curry. I got the red curry paste stirred into the coconut milk and stopped to read the ingredients on the jar. It had shrimps in it. I had to throw it away then, as I am allergic to shrimps. (I know, poor me!) Anyways, I had to quickly rethink what I was going to do and this is what I came up with. We found it most delicious!
*Roasted Chicken Curry*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
This started off as a chicken curry cooked on top of the stove, but I decided that I wanted to roast it instead. It is a dry curry, in that there is not a lot of sauce with it. It's tender and delicious though, and if anything tastes even better the day after, as most curries do! The ingredient list is long, but once you have everything assembled, it basically cooks itself.
3 pounds of chicken pieces
5 TBS oil
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 1/2 inches of fresh gingerroot, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
3 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
1 1-inch piece of a cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
4 whole peppercorns
4 whole cardamom pods, bruised
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp roasted cumin
1/2 tsp red chili
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp mace
salt to taste
300ml whole milk
300ml creamed coconut
3 ounces cashew nuts, cut in halves lengthwise
1 ounce pistachio nuts, chopped coarsely
5 ounces sultana raisins
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Place the chicken pieces into a large roaster. Season lightly and then put them into the heated oven to roast while you make the sauce.
Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Put in the garlic, ginger, onions, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamom powder, peppercorns and whole cardamom pods. Cook and fry gently until golden brown. Stir in the garam masala, roasted cumin, red chilli, turmeric, nutmeg, mace, and salt. Add the milk and coconut milk. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Remove the chicken pieces from the oven and reduce the oven heat to 160*C/325*F. Stir the nuts and sultanas into the sauce. Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken. Cover the roaster and return to the oven and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until most of the sauce has been absorbed by the chicken and the chicken is very tender. Remove from the oven and serve.
One of my favourite fresh tastes of summer is broad beans. If you are really lucky and you can get them when they are very young and tender, you can cook them pods and all for a truly delicious taste treat.
Normally though you can only find them when they are a bit older and so they have to be podded. I am not overly fond of the grey/green outer skin on the beans though, so I like to double pod them. This can be a bit fiddly, but trust me when I say that it's well worth the effort taken, which reveals the deliciously tender little jewel within.
Not so hard to do really, just fiddly. Begin by blanching your podded beans for one minute in boiling water. Remove to ice water to chill down quickly. Drain and them using your fingernail, snip off one end of the grey/green outer skin and push the little green bean inside out with your other fingers. A bit fiddly, but like I said, more than worth the effort.
I saw this tasty recipe in the Sunday magazine of the Sunday Telegraph several weeks ago and immediately ear marked it. It looked impressive, and yet simple at the same time.
I was right.
It was.
*Pork Cutlet with Broad Beans, Wild Mushrooms and Sage*
Serves 2 - 3
Printable Recipe
If you're looking for a delicious meal, using simple ingredients, yet special enough to make a good impression on someone, look no further. This fits the bill on all counts. Adapted from the Telegraph on Sunday magazine
500g broad beans
olive oil
100g butter
1 large pork cutlet (2 bones)
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 bunch sage, leaves separated from the stems (keep the stems)
2 shallots, chopped
200g wild mushrooms**
2 Cox apples, peeled and diced fairly small
250ml good quality chicken stock
Blanch the broad beans in plenty of boiling salted water for a minute. Immedately drain and plunge into ice water to stop them from cooking any further. Remove the tough outer shells and set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 160*C/350*F.
Heat a large casserole that is fit for cooking both on top of the stove and in the oven, over medium high heat. Add a little olive oil and a knob of butter. Season the pork well. Add to the pan and caramelize it on all sides, until golden brown. Remove and set aside. Add the carrot and onion to the drippings. Cook and stir for two minutes. Add the sage stalks, then place the pork back into the pan, on top of the vegetables. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes, or until the the temperature of the meat reads 160*F for medium or 170*F for well done. Remove the pork from the casserole and set aside to rest.
Remove and discard the vegetables from the pan. Place the casserole back onto medium heat and add another knob of butter and the shallots and sage leaves. Cook until soft. Add the mushrooms. Cook until soft. Add the apples and cover with the chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then season. Add another knob of butter to thicken the sauce, and finish by adding the broad beans. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve with new potatoes if desired.
**Note: I could not find any wild mushrooms in my local shop when I went to make this, so used a mixture of crimini and white button mushrooms, which worked very well.
The first three images are from Tastes of Summer.
Wholefood is not a new idea . . . good, plain, home cooking, using fresh ingredients is whole food at it's very best and what home cooks have been doing for years. One of the things I love most about England are the traditional recipes. Recipes which have survived through the years and have formed the backbone of British cookery, having changed only slightly over time.
Good, plain and solid recipes, coming from every corner of the country, having delightful names such as Huffed Chicken or Sussex Churdles. How could something with a name like that fail to be delicious???
I love listening to Todd's stories about things his mother cooked for them during and the war . . . like steak and kidney or meat puddings, and apple pies flavoured with cloves. Then there are his school dinners, which he remembers fondly. They weren't all composed of cabbage boiled beyond recognition . . . the puddings are what stick out most to me.
They remind me of all those Enid Blyton books I used to devour as a child. The children in them used to go on fantastic adventures, but only after having tucked into such delights as Curd tarts, figet pies and roly poly puddings. Their tuck boxes sounded other worldly and so exotic, I used to dream about them and wonder what they tasted like.
I love all these old traditional recipes and am slowly discovering them one at a time. I fell in love with Bakewell Tarts shortly after arriving here. The bakery shelves in the shops are full of tidy little boxes of them, and I have always thought them rather good, but they can't compare to the tastiness of delicious homemade ones . . .
Homemade is always better, don't you think??
*Bakewell Tarts*
Makes 4 individual tarts, or one 8 inch tart
Printable Recipe
One of the things I fell in love with when I first came over here was Bakewell Tarts. You can get them everywhere, pre-baked sitting in their little pastry cases. Shortcrust pastry with a scant filling of red jam and a bit of frangipane, and then topped with icing and half a cherry. They are pretty good, but cannot compare to tasty homemade ones. Delicious shortcrust pastry with an abundant jam and fraigipane filling, all topped with flaked almonds and baked until golden brown. You can choose to drizzle a bit of icing on top or not. I don't, preferring to serve them hot with some ice cream or plain and cold with no adornment, save a cup of hot herbal tea.
Shortcrust Pastry:
4 ounces self rising flour
pinch of salt
2 ounces butter
1 brimming tablespoon of water
Filling:
3 1/2 ounces butter
3 1/2 ounces caster sugar
2 beaten eggs
a few drops of almond essence
3 1/2 ounces ground almonds
3 1/2 ounces semolina
strawberry jam, around 7 ounces
2 ounces flaked almonds for the tops
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in butter until crumbly. Add water and mix to a firm dough. Using a floured board, roll out and use to line four 3 - inch tart tins, fluted or not, or one 8 inch tart tin. Place in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.
Cream the butter and sugar together until creamy and smooth. Beat the eggs together and then beat them into the creamed mixture a little at a time. Stir in the almond essence and the ground almonds and semolina.
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F.
Remove the tart tin (s) from the fridge. Spread some of the jam in the bottom of each, dividing it up equally amongst them. Spread the almond dough over top, being careful not to mess up the jam bit, and making sure the jam is completely covered. (This works best by adding it in dabs scattered over the top of the jam and then joining them all together with the back of a spoon.) Sprinkle some flaked almonds over top of each.
Place on a baking sheet and then bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or longer if necessary, until the tarts are golden in the centre and set.
Serve warm with some ice cream or cream or cold with a nice hot cuppa.
I have a big old fashioned pottery cookie jar that sits on the window sill of my kitchen window. It's a very pretty pig lady and I have had her for donkey's years. I bought her at a yard sale many moons ago for a few dollars and brought her over here from Canada, when I moved over here to live some 9 years ago now. She is one of my favourite things. I wish I had a pound for every cookie she's ever held in her jolly belly over the years. I'd be a very rich woman by now!
Old fashioned cookie jars just beg to hold old fashioned cookies. You know the kind . . .
Cookies that are filled with simple ingredients . . .
Baked in simple ways . . .
For simple appetites . . .
These wonderfully old fashioned cookies do just that. They are refrigerator cookies. You make them up ahead and then just slice and bake when you want fresh cookies. I used to make tons of these when my kiddies were growing up. I always tried to have several rolls of different refrigerator cookies wrapped up and hidden in the freezer for impromptu snacks and company. It's a very simple and handy thing to do. That way you can have fresh cookies at the drop of a hat and with very little effort.
These days I keep them in the freezer for very different reasons, although to be sure, it is still nice to have a little something tucked away for surprise company. Todd and I are only two people and we can only eat so much, and so I can bake only as many as we need at any one time and know that whenever I want some more . . . there are fresh goodies just waiting in the freezer to be baked.
Not to coin a phrase from anyone famous or not, but . . . it's a good thing.
*Washboard Cookies*
Makes about 3 dozen
Printable Recipe
This is a good old fashioned refrigerator cookie. You make the dough ahead, shape it into a roll and then chill for several hours, wrapped tightly. When you are ready to bake them, you simply cut them into slices, lay them on your baking pan, press a fork into them (to give them that great washboard look) and then bake. In no time at all you are rewarded with a scrummy cookie, crisp and full of buttery brown sugar flavour, not to mention coconut!
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 large egg
2 TBS milk
8 TBS sweet butter, softened
1 cup of soft light brown sugar, packed
1 cup of sweetened flaked coconut (if your coconut has long strands, chop it up a bit to get rid of them)
Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a bowl. Whisk together with a whisk to combine. In another bowl cream the brown sugar and the butter together until light and fluffy. Beat the egg and milk together in a small bowl. Beat the egg mixture into the butter mixture, then beat in the dry ingredients, just until well combined. Stir in the coconut.
Lay a sheet of plastic wrap or waxed paper out on your counter top. Place the dough onto it, shaping it into a 15 inch long log. Flatten the top and sides of the log so that it is approximately 3 inches wide and 1 inch high. Wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator to chill for several hours.
When you are ready to bake them, pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Remove your dough from the fridge. Using a very sharp knife, cut the dough crosswise into slices that are 1/4 inch thick. Place them on the prepared baking sheets some two inches apart from each other. Using a fork that has been dipped into flour, press ridges into the tops of the cookies, re-dipping it into the flour as necessary. Repeat until all are done. If you have some dough left, re wrap and place it back into the fridge until you are ready to slice and bake.
Bake in the heated oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until nicely browned, turning the baking sheets around halfway through the baking process. Remove from the oven and leave on the sheets to cool for 10 minutes before removing them to finish cooling on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in a tightly covered container. Delicious!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons