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NICOLA GALLOWAY

This week, two sweet treats with more traditional festive flavours that will make delicious gifts.

As we near the end of the year and the festive giving season I like to have a few edible gifts prepared. Ready to go for thanking those people in our lives that go the extra mile – teachers, work colleagues, family, friends and others. I have shared a selection of edible gifts here over the years and enjoy the creative process of coming up with new ones. Although our festive main meals tend to focus more on fresh salads and barbecue foods these days, for sweet treats I still lean towards the more “traditional” flavours. Spices, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate and citrus are what I associate with this time of year. Ingredients that store well so therefore can suit both hemispheres of festive cooking.

Some of these ingredients can be on the pricier side, and not what I would always use for everyday cooking but this is the time of year where I will splash out a little more to share with others. These two sweet edible gifts can be prepared ahead of time and both store well for wrapping and gifting over the coming weeks. You may want to double the recipes to have plenty to share.

Citrus & spice biscuits

My husband grew up in Germany and enjoys little reminders of his childhood through the food we cook. These biscuits are loosely based on the flavours of lebkuchen – spiced biscuits traditionally prepared around Christmas time. I have included two glaze options – citrus and chocolate – if you want to use just one then double the quantity of the ingredients for the chosen glaze.

PREP TIME MAKES

30 minutes // COOK TIME 15-18 minutes 24 small biscuits Biscuit dough

• 2 free-range eggs

• ½ cup (80g) packed brown sugar

• 1 cup (120g) ground hazelnuts or almonds

• ¾ cup (110g) plain flour (can use gluten-free)

• 50g (1/3 cup) glacé mixed peel

• Zest of 1 orange

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp mixed spice

• ½ tsp ground ginger

• ¼ tsp grated nutmeg

• ½ tsp baking powder

• Pinch of salt

Chocolate glaze

• 50g quality dark chocolate

• ½ tsp olive oil

Orange glaze

1⁄3 cup (50g) icing sugar

• 2-3 tsp orange juice

1. Place the eggs and sugar into a stand mixer (or use hand held beaters) and whisk on a medium speed until tripled in volume (ribbon stage). This will take about 8-12 minutes depending on the machine used.

2. In a mixing bowl combine the remaining biscuit ingredients.

3. Add the voluminous eggs to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to mix into a sticky dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up for easier rolling.

4. Preheat the oven to 170ºC (fan 150ºC). Line a cookie tray with baking paper.

5. Use slightly damp hands to roll the biscuit dough into small walnut-sized balls and arrange on the tray, pressing down lightly. They won’t spread much so 2-3cm spacing will be sufficient.

6. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden. Cool on the tray.

7. Prepare the glazes. For the chocolate glaze, place the chocolate into a small bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Add the olive oil and stir until melted.

8. For the orange glaze, place the icing sugar into a bowl and add the orange juice 1 tsp at a time until a thick glaze is produced.

9. Use a teaspoon to pour a little glaze over each cookie – half chocolate, half orange glaze. Leave for 2 hours to set then store the biscuits in a sealed container in the pantry. See rocky road recipe for packaging ideas for gifting.

Kai / Food

en-nz

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

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