Ginger Walnut and Coconut Luncheon Biscuits

Made these last night at about 7'oclock because I was craaaving something sweet.

These aren't too sweet, too buttery, or too unhealthy. So, it's a pass for me, something I can eat. And I'm happy about that, who wouldn't be? A walnut crunch and a ginger hit. And if your lucky bits of shredded coconut stuck between your teeth as an extra bonus.

So healthy, so perfect and so versatile. Seriously. The recipe says to put in sultanas. Screw that.

I'm going to do it my way.

My way involves stepping in to the pantry. Looking at the first ingredient you lay your eyes on, Ginger powder. Second ingredient. I decided to wander my eyes up to the second shelf of the pantry, the nut shelf. Welcome walnuts. And I didn't see the coconut, but decided to throw it in anyway for a bit more flavour.

Ginger Walnut and Coconut Luncheon Biscuits

- 2 Tb softened butter

- 1/2 cup of Caster Sugar

- 1 Egg, well beaten

- 1 cup Sultanas (I used 1/2 cup walnuts and 1/2 cup of coconut, dessicated)

- vanilla essence, to taste

- 1 cup of Self Raising flour

- Pinch of salt

- 1/2 tsp of Ginger Powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. And grease a baking tray.

Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, then fold in the sultanas (walnuts and coconut), vanilla and sifted flour. Add the pinch of salt and the ginger powder, and place heaped teaspoobs of the mixture on to the prepared tray. Cook for 10-15 mins until golden brown.

Royal White Icing

I was just in the kitchen for 2 hours. Oh my god.

Oh my god, I'm exauhsted.
Oh my god, I just decorated a Gingerbread house
And oh my god, my mum is going to kill me because there is sugar absoutly everywherrrrrre.

Bits of wafer sticks in my hair, maltesers rolling on the floor, sugar sticking to your feet, and royal icing all over the kitchen tops.

Cuuuuute, eh? Totally worth those 2 hours.

Yes, that is popcorn coming out of the chimney. We (me + the sister) were going to go alll out, but it turned out (not surprisingly) we were out of basically everything. We rummaged around in the pantry and managed to pull out some ice-cream wafered cones. Not something you would use in a gingerbread house.

Did I care? No.
Was I desperate? Yes.

I think you get the drift. Just about every sweet thing I saw I threw in... and there were only like 3 things sweet in the pantry..so it to do.

I didn't even tell you what this was for did I? IKEA.. only like my favrioute store, is having this huuge gingerbread house competition. All you have to do is buy the gingerhouse, construct it.. and design it! I didn't go all out like I said I would, but then again, my pantry didn't exactly help me out in any way did it?

Dont worry! I've still got a recipe for you!

Royal Icing
- 2 egg whites
- 3 cups of icing sugar

Method
- Whip egg whites until soft peak form, then gradually add in sugar, and keep beating until mixture becomes very thick and well combined. Spoon in to a piping bag and pipe pipe pipe away.

A Very Berry Trifle

My sister's 20th birthday was on the weekend and I made a sisterly 'Bed in Breakfast' for her. I'm such a saint sometimes, I owe that much to myself.

I awoke on a early sunny Sunday morning, and started off with her standard cereal;

- Kellogs' Corn Flakes

- Or Kellogs' Crunchy nut (my sister is very fussy when it comes to food, her standards have to be met)

- Covered with a drizzly dollop of honey

That was easy. I also chopped up some banana to try and make the tray look fairly presentable, I didn't want her to think I hadn't put in much effort.

And oh, just a little note; I went to sleep at about 11 the night before. And. I. Need. My. Sleep.

I decided to go with something quick and jazzy I had seen on TV before, with frozen berries, cream and biscuits. But we didn't have any cream in the house so I just left that out and carried on with the beautiful berries and biscuits.

Easily whizzing some frozen berries and crumbling some broken biscuits might just prove to be my new found temptation.

 

Very Berry Trifle

-100g Frozen Berries (Your choice)

- 3 Tb Icing Sugar

- 1/2 cup Whipped Cream

- 100g Digestive biscuits or plain wheat biscuits

Method

Place frozen Berries and Icing sugar into a processor/blender and process. Process until liquified.

Seperatly, crush Digestive biscuits until finley crumbed and place into bottom of wine glass. Whip cream and 2 more Tablespoons of icing sugar and dollop ontop of biscuit mixture in wine glass, then ontop, pour the Berry sauce and repeat layers until the glass if full, or until desired.

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