Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Beginnings.....

Finally I start the 3rd blog....the 'foody' one. Blogs are really great ways to share...and this one is dedicated primarily to my daughters and their husbands.....all of whom cook, and cook very well! I am hoping they will also share their experiences with food in this blog....so it becomes a family affair!

We’ve always been a ‘foody’ family. So many memories are linked with good eating times, recounts of holidays and journeys, linked with what we had eaten or drunk. Remember talking about some exciting part of a trip, and finally the memory would come back to the food and drink.....what ingredients had been used and how we could make it at home!

So the first recipe is one from the time when the children were small...face biscuits, a huge favorite with all my girls and a regular at their birthday parties!!

For the biscuits:
100 gms butter (I have substituted a margarine like Amulite....but butter is butter!!)
100 gms castor sugar (I give ordinary sugar 1 wizz in the dry grinder)
1 egg, beaten
200 gms plain flour,  sifted with a pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla essence

For the icing:
100 gms icing sugar
50 gms cocoa powder
1 tblsp butter
a little boiling hot water
Some chocolate Gems
2 tblsp icing sugar and a little butter to make butter icing for the smile

Biscuits:
Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, add beaten egg gradually and beat well. 
Add vanilla essence and fold in the flour. Knead lightly (don't handle the dough too much or the biscuits will become unnecessarily hard). Roll out thinly  about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into rounds with a fluted cutter about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on lightly greased trays and bake towards the top of a moderate oven for 15 - 20 mins. till a pale brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Icing:
Sift icing sugar and cocoa together. Mix in the softened butter. Then add boiling hot water, a very little at a time, beating well, till the icing reaches a pouring consistency! Cover the faces of the biscuits with the chocolate icing. Add Gems for eyes.

Make a little butter icing with 2 tblsp icing sugar and a little butter and pipe a smile on to the face!