Classic Spritz Cookies - #CreativeCookieExchange

Our theme this month for #CreativeCookie Exchange is Mother's Day Cookies.  I remember there being Spritz cookies in our house growing up, but I choose to make these cookies because my daughters gave me a fantastic cookie press and this was the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Chai Latte Biscotti

I am a little chai obsessed and a little biscotti obsessed so this was a match made in heaven for me. The recipe comes from an Australian Women's Weekly cookbook called Sweet Things, which I received for Mother's Day from one of my daughters.  She knows me well, and after looking through the book I gave up putting sticky notes on the recipes I wanted to try since it was obvious that I wanted to try them all!  Look for more treats from this book as I bake my way through it.

Biscotti is the perfect accompaniment to a good cup of tea or coffee.  My preference is for a slightly thicker biscotti so that I can dunk it - yes, I am a dunker - so after the first bake I cut mine slightly thicker than the recipe suggests.  I need a little structural integrity to my biscotti because the dunking does weaken them, and there is nothing worse than a sinking cookie in your beverage.  Also, be careful not to over bake them because they will turn into lethal weapons for your teeth.

The spice mix in these cookies is really nice, but the next time I bake them I will probably up the quantities a little bit.  The original recipe did not call for star anise or peppercorn, but I love the flavor of a spicy chai.  Also, in an effort to start cleaning out my pantry, I used salted shelled pistachios because I have a big bag of them that I purchased from Sam's Club.  It didn't seem to make the recipe too salty, so if that is what you have I say go for it.

Chai Latte Biscotti
(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 English Breakfast tea bag
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon ground star anise
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground black peppercorn
• ½ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ cup roasted, unsalted pistachios

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350℉.
2. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment.
3. To the bowl of a food processor; add the contents of the teabag, flours and spices and process until fine.
4. Whisk brown sugar, egg and honey in a medium bowl until well combined.
5. Stir in the flour mixture and nuts.
6. Using you hands make sure everything comes together and then place on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
7. Shape the dough into a log, about 10 inches long and place on prepared sheet.
8. Bake for about 30 minutes, and then cool completely on sheet.
9. Reduce oven temperature to 300℉.
10. Using a serrated knife, cut the log diagonally into 1/4-inch slices, and place slices in a single layer back on the sheet.
11. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn them over.
12. Return sheet to the oven and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until biscotti are dry and crisp.
13. Cool on a wire rack.

Recipe slightly adapted from Sweet Things by the Australian Women's Weekly.

Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway + Cinnamon Swirl Scones

Have a craving for a cinnamon rolls but not the time to make them?  Then I have the recipe for you - Cinnamon Swirl Scones.  These have all the cinnamon-y goodness of an actual cinnamon roll, and a yummy vanilla glaze, and can be made in a fraction of the time.

The recipe for these scones comes from Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friend's, which was sent to me last October for review.  I have really been enjoying this book but had not had the chance to make these scones before.  Boy, had I been missing out. Even though there are three components - filling, dough, and icing - they are super quick to make.  I did make the mistake of not rolling the dough quite tight enough, so I put them in the fridge to firm up and all was well.  I also found that when I cut the dough it tended to flatten a little, and I baked the first batch like this.  With the second ones I kind of squished them a little so they were more rounded and found that they baked up much better this way.

Once again I found myself trying very hard not to nibble too much before I could get a decent photo. Warm out of the oven, with a little drizzle of vanilla icing these really hit the spot, perfectly mimicking a cinnamon roll.  They were a little crisp on the outside and then became softer as you got towards the middle of the scone. These did have raisins in them, which I liked, but you could certainly omit these if you wanted.  I made sure that I didn't put the vanilla icing on them all since I plan on warming them a little in the morning for breakfast. I think that they would make the perfect addition to your Mother's Day Celebration.

And speaking of Mother's Day, it is just around the corner and the wonderfully generous people at Tate’s Bake Shop are giving one reader of All That's Left Are The Crumbs a Mother's Day Brunch Basket. The basket includes their sinful sour cream coffee cake, a lemon pound cake loaf, two each of their heavenly raspberry bars and crumb cakes, plus a box of Tate's Bake Shop's famous chocolate chip cookies.  I still dream of their cookies, so I can only imagine how good the rest of the items in the basket are.  One lucky reader won't have to dream about it, they will win it!

Entering the giveaway is easy:


Main Entry
To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment telling me about your favorite Mother's Day memory.

Additional Entries
Even more chances to win - you can receive up to two additional entries by doing the following:

1. Following All That's Left Are The Crumbs on Facebook - leave an additional comment to let me know that you are following.
2. Follow Tate's Bake Shop on Facebook - leave an additional comment to let me know that you are following.

The Fine Print

• Deadline for entry is May 11, 2013 at 6:00PM HST.
• Sorry, this giveaway is open only to US addresses.
• Please leave a valid email address where I can contact you if you choose to publish anonymously.
• One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org.  I will announce the winner at the top of this post on Mother's Day - May 12, 2013 - and send them an email.  If I do not have a response within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.
• The winner will receive a Tate's Bake Shop Mother's Day Brunch Basket (prize supplied directly to the winner by Tate's Bake Shop).
• The prize for this giveaway to one of my readers is being provided by Tate's Bake Shop.  I was not compensated personally for this post.
  
  Good luck everyone!

Update: Happy Mother's Day and congratulations to Anne @Have a Cookie who is the lucky winner of the Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway.  Anne, please respond to my email with your details so that Tate's can mail you the prize.  Thank you to everyone who visited my blog and entered the giveaway.

Also, if you are still looking for that perfect Mother's Day gift Tate’s Bake Shop is the place to order something amazing for your mom, grandmother, mother-in-law, or that special person who is like a mom to you. There are baskets, towers, squares, and cookies - seriously, you cannot go wrong with anything you order.  They are offering everyone a special 20% off discount code that can be redeemed until Mother's Day.  All you have to do us type in mom13 when you are checking out on their website.

Cinnamon Swirl Scones

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients
Filling

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Dough

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon spiced vanilla sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold salted butter, cut into ½ -inch cubes
• 1 cup dark raisins
• 1¾ cups half-and-half

Icing

• ½ cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Preparation
Filling

1. In a small bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until smooth.

Dough

1. Position the oven racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375℉. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spiced vanilla, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work in the butter until the mixture is crumbly with some pea-sized pieces of butter. Do not overmix. 
3. Gently mix in the raisins, then add the half-and-half and mix stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 17-by-12-inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Spread the cinnamon filling evenly over the top of dough, leaving a 1/2 -inch border on all four sides. 
5. Starting at a long side, tightly roll the dough up into a log. Cut the dough into 2-inch slices and arrange them, cut sides up, 4 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake, switching the positions of the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking, until the rolls are slightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool on the pans for 10 minutes.

Icing

1. To make the icing: In a small bowl, mix the confectioners' sugar, vanilla bean paste, and water with a fork until smooth. Drizzle over the buns. Serve warm, or let cool to room temperature. 

Makes 12.
Recipe from Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friend's

Mark's Ricotta Hotcakes with Honeycomb-Crunchie® Butter

Well, I was totally spoiled by my amazing husband for Mother's Day.  Not only did he bring me a piping hot mug of my favorite Ka'u coffee and the newspaper in bed, but he also made me ricotta hotcakes a la Bill Granger - but better, so much better.

I went to Bill's on my recent trip to Australia.  It is always a dilemma trying to decide what to order because everything sounds (and tastes!) so good.  Both my daughter and I settled upon the ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter.  It is one of those dishes that, if no one was looking, you totally want to lick the plate clean.  The honeycomb is not the usual comb you would find in honey, but rather a confection made from sugar, golden syrup, water, and baking soda.  It is also the basis for two iconic candies from Australia - the Violet Crumble and the Crunchie.  The Violet Crumble is available in some parts of the U.S., but I have never seen a Crunchie bar here.

Upon my return I told my husband about the restaurant visit, mentioning that we would have to try making them sometime.  Little did I know that he absorbed this little request and put a plan in place to make them for me on Mother's Day.  This is a huge deal because my husband does not cook very often.

Not only did he make hotcakes that totally rival Bill's, but he also had to overcome the obstacle of not having access to honeycomb here in the U.S.  His solution was to use a candy bar from Australia called a Crunchie when making the butter.  I am gob-smacked at how resourceful he was.  This butter melted over the top of the hotcakes and was a chocolate-honeycomb dream.  I realize that Crunchies are not readily available here, so to make this butter you have a few choices - make honeycomb from scratch, buy a Violet Crumble bar if they are available in your area, or lastly I think a SKOR bar would work well in this too.

Along with the ricotta hotcakes, he and my daughters also made some french toast from Punalu'u Sweatbread and a beautiful platter of tropical fruits.  The cherry on top was a glass of pink champagne and guava juice.  What an truly wonderful Mother's Day.

I barely had time to grab my camera and take a quick photo before they were devoured.

Ricotta Hot Cakes With Honeycomb Butter

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients
Hotcakes
1 ⅓ cups ricotta
¾ cup Milk
4 eggs separated
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
50 g butter
fresh strawberries halved (I prefer banana)
icing sugar for dusting

Honeycomb Butter
250 g unsalted butter softened
100 g sugar honeycomb crushed with a rolling pin or a Crunchie bar
2 tablespoons honey

Preparation

Hotcakes  

1. Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
3. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold egg whites through batter in two batches, with a large metal spoon.
6. Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of the butter and drop 2 tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan (don't cook more than 3 per batch).
7. Cook over a low to medium heat for 2 minutes, or until hotcakes have golden undersides.
8. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through.
9. Transfer to a plate and quickly assemble with other ingredients.
10. Stack 3 hotcakes on a plate and top with strawberries and a slice of honeycomb butter.
11. Dust with icing sugar.

Honeycomb Butter

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Shape into a log on plastic wrap, roll, seal and chill in a refrigerator for 2 hours.
3. Store leftover honeycomb butter in the fridge for up to 24 hours, or in the freezer - it's great on toast.

Recipe from Bill's Sydney Food by Bill Granger.

I thought I would also include some photos from my trip to Bill's in Surry Hills.