Have you started to think about Mother’s Day yet? And we’ve only just finished Easter! I know, I know but this is how it goes, one celebration after another and before you know it we are at the end of the year.

When it comes to Mother’s Day I like to keep it simple. I invite my Mother over for a nice meal and give her some flowers and a special sweet treat like Linzer Biscuits. By the way if you were wondering Linz is a small town in Austria where the Linzer Torte comes from, another delicious cake.  It looks like a beautiful town if I get a chance i will visit there when I go back to live in Paris. They are lovely to look at and look great packaged up with cellophane and tied with a ribbon. As a mother myself I prefer my children to go to a little effort and make me something rather than spend money on expensive gifts. I have put the recipe up early so you can have a practice before Sunday May 12th. I’ll also be posting some other recipes that would make good gifts too. You can choose to make other shapes if you prefer.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup hazelnut meal
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1  jar seedless raspberry jam

Method

Mix hazelnut meal and 1/4 cup of brown sugar together.

Beat together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer (preferably fitted with a paddle) or 6 minutes with a handheld. Add hazelnut and brown sugar mixture and beat until combined well, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

With floured hands, form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 5-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 2 hours.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll out 1 disk of dough into an 11-inch round (1/8 inch thick) between 2 sheets of wax paper (keep remaining dough chilled). If dough becomes too soft to roll out, rewrap in plastic and chill until firm. Cut out as many heart shaped cookies as possible from dough with larger cookie cutter and transfer to 2 lined large baking sheets, arranging about 1 inch apart. Using smaller heart cutters, cut out centers from half of the cookies. With the little heart shapes that come out from the middle you can bake them or include them in the next lot of dough you roll out. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden, 10 to 15 minutes total, then transfer with a metal spatula to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies from second disk.

Spread about 1 teaspoon jam on flat side of 1 solid cookie and sandwich jam with flat side of 1 windowed cookie. Sandwich remaining cookies in same manner. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

Tie up in cellophane bags with pretty ribbon.

Happy Mothers Day!

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Before telling you how to  make these delicious cookies, I wanted to share some thoughts with you.

I was thinking how much I have learnt from sitting at a table with my family eating dinner, firstly with my parents and then with my family. From helping my mother lay the table with my sister and brother I realized that dinner was a time for order and sharing. Time when you thought of others before yourself. I was taught to offer to serve the person next to me before serving myself. I was taught to take my time with my meal and to savour every taste. I listened to what my family had been doing during the day and they listened to me. It was not always a perfect experience and there were fights, tears and glasses of water knocked over, however these rituals do a have a place in society.

Later with my family I tried to teach my children similar values. These values that you learn while eating with your family and friends are the values that will help you get through life. The sharing and consideration you learn will help you become a valued member of society. The waiting for dinner even though you are hungry, teaches you patience. It makes me sad to hear society is not sitting together for meals or cooking their own meals. Not just because I love to cook. I also love what the ritual of eating together teaches our families.

Now that I have that off my chest here is what you were really wanting to know… the recipe for Sticky Date Cookies with caramel icing.  These are very yummy.

The recipe is not mine but adapted from many available on the net. I haven’t listed them all but if you do a Google search and you will see.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chopped pitted dates
• 150g butter
• 4 tbs golden syrup
• 1/2 tbs baking soda
• 1 1/4 cup flour (plain)
• 1 1/14 cup rolled oats
• 2/3 cup tightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence

Caramel Icing

• 40g butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tbs full cream milk
• 2/3 cup icing mixture

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.
2. Combine chopped dates, butter and syrup in a medium saucepan. Heat together over medium heat until butter is boiling. Add in baking soda. Remove from heat. The dates should be soft.
3. Once mixture is lukewarm, mix in eggs and essence until well combined.
4. Place butter mixture in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth or very slightly chunky.
5. Combine oats, sifted flour and sugar in a large bowl. Gently pour in butter mixture while continually stirring.
6. Mix until well combined. Roll together heaped tablespoons of cookie dough and place on baking trays, 5cm apart. Flatten to approximately 1 cm thickness.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden (mine were done in 15 so watch out).
8. Cool on trays for 5-10 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack.
9. Box and store in an airtight container.
10. Icing: Combine sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat and stir until mixed through and sugar has dissolved (approximately 2 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in icing sugar. Wrap saucepan top in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes to thicken slightly. Pipe or drizzle using a small nozzle over cooled cookies.
11. They will become softer once the icing is placed inside.

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Do you remember eating Arnott’s Monte Carlo biscuits when you were young? Perhaps you still buy them? I have been thinking about all the cakes and biscuits that I associate with Australia and the Monte Carlo came to mind.  We often ate them by separating the two sides and licking the interior, something which I would never do now! ( Well mostly never) The idea of making these in my kitchen gave me a chance to use real raspberries in the creamy interior and make the biscuits a little smaller so that you could enjoy one without it ruining your appetite. You don’t hear people say that very much anymore do you? ” Don’t have another cookie or will ruin your appetite” my mother would say. Everyone seems to be trying to decrease their appetite now.

The biscuits have a lovely crunch and the raspberry interior is so fresh and creamy. I do hope you enjoy the recipe.

I have made so many of them I will have plenty to give away.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 250g butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup plain flour
• 2/3 cup custard powder
• 2/3 cup desiccated coconut
• ½ cup milk

Biscuit icing/filling:

• 50g butter, softened
• ½ cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp of frozen squashed raspberries

Method:

Preheat oven to 170°C fan-forced

Cream the butter, honey and sugar together until light and creamy.

Sift the flours and custard powder over the top.

Add coconut, and mix together with spatula or spoon until well combined.

Roll mixture into balls, no bigger than a 50 cent piece, and place on greased tray.

Place a fork on the top to make indentations

Bake for 10-15 minutes until bottoms are brown, and tops are golden.  They will still be soft in the center.

Leave to cool.  Set aside.

Make the icing by combining all ingredients and mixing with electric beater or stand beater until well combined and a creamy consistency.

Place like-sized biscuits in pairs and then ice one side, in the center with about ½ cm gap around the edges, put the other side on, and squeeze together to stick.

Store in airtight container for up to a week, or freeze if eating ahead.

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