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Anzac cookie recipes

Rosemary And Apricot Shortbread Cookies

05.05.2009 77 Comments

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies


Tada! No strawberries! I can do this. A completely strawberry free post right in the middle of the season. Didn’t hurt either. Ok, maybe a little but the pain was eased by the handful of blakberries gathered today in the yard and having a batch of these Rosemary and Apricot Shortbread Cookies while working through various deadlines. Crumbly shortbread specked with freshly chopped rosemary and filled with homemade apricot jam. Sigh…there is only one left.

I realized that unless I am nicely bribed by friends to make cookies, I don’t usually make or post many on this site, except for macarons but they are in a league of their own. I guess cookies are not in my DNA, I am more a tea cakes, and tarts kind of gal. Bill on the other hand has the reputation among his family and friends to be The Cookie Monster. I guess this was his lucky weekend.

A few weeks ago I was asked to post links back to Better Home and Gardens and specifically to their Spring Dessert and cookie recipes, as did my pal Jen who posted the most lucious lemon cake I have seen in a while. Like her, I did not feel comfortble blindly posting about something I was not familiar with and decided the best way to approach this would be to try one of their recipes myself.

Rosemary Shortbreads & Goat Cheese Ice Cream


I like BH&G and I did get the chance to read quite many of their magazines while living with my in-laws when we were building our house. Fifteen months can be long without having a real place of your own and I did enjoy day dreaming while reading about their house renovations and decorations. But I admit that I never quite paid attention to the recipe section. No particular reason other than having a pretty big database of my own and many recipes still to get to on my to do list. Until now…


There were so many pop-ups ads that I almost stopped browsing the recipe section after I had found one that I liked. But for the sake of doing this right, I persevered and finally settled on these cookies. Except I had a senior moment while shopping for ingredients and it’s not even my birthday yet! I meant to make the Apricot Sage Cookies but my brain got stuck on rosemary instead. I think it worked out for the better because neither Bill or I are great fans of sage in sweet things. Rosemary, thyme, lemon basil…oh yes!

The cookie recipe is very straightforward and it has just the right amount of herb to play with the buttery flavor of the shortbread. I used homemade apricot and vanilla bean jam that I had in the freezer but any good quality jam will do. I got to tell you though, they are addicting! We had friends over the day I made them and I almost wished I had baked a double batch! To add sweet insult to dessert injury, I served these with homemade goat cheese ice cream and that, as Shuna will agree, was just the right combination.

Rosemary Shortbreads & Goat Cheese Ice Cream


One year ago: Lemon Rhubarb Mascarpone Mousse Cake.
Two years ago: Vanilla Cardamom Ice Cream.

Rosemary Apricot Shortbread Cookies, from and with permission of Better Homes and Gardens

Notes: I baked these at 350F in a convection oven instead of 375F and I used a smaller cookie cutter which yielded 25 cookies once assembled.

Makes 20

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh rosemary or 2 tsp. dried rosemary
3 Tbsp. milk
Apricot spreadable fruit

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a bowl stir together flour, sugar, and cornmeal. Using pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in sage. Add milk. Stir with fork to combine; form into ball. Knead until smooth; divide in half.
On lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out dough.
Place cutouts 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire rack. Cool.
Spread bottoms of half the cookies with spreadable fruit. Top with remaining cookies. Makes 20 sandwich cookies.
To store: Place in layers separated by waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature up to 3 days. Or freeze unfilled cookies up to 3 months. Thaw cookies; fill with spreadable fruit.

In The Kitchen With Lemonpi

24.04.2009 71 Comments

TheAnzacTart6[1]


To say that I am thrilled to have Yuie from Lemonpi guest blog today is an understatement. I am honored that she jumped right in when I asked and look at that dessert she made for the occasion!
We don’t know each other much outside our blog but I have been following hers for quite some time and it is always a feast for the eyes and a delight for the brain. I love her sense of humor and the girl is extremely talented. Her ideas are always fresh and her plating is exquisite. Could I have a little bit of a blog crush? Oh yes…Everytime I visit her blog I want to scream "Somebody give this gal prime position in a pastry kitchen!" She is too good to be someone’s assistant!
Let your eyes wander upon her latest creation and recipe right after the jump, and please tell me you agree: talent…


Where is your country? he said.
I dont know, said John Grady. I dont know where it is.
I dont know what happens to country.

–All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

I’ve been feeling nervous about guest-posting for Helen this week. It’s a little like being asked to do a jig to entertain the crowd before Michael Jackson turns up to do the moonwalk. You just know it’s going to be a tough crowd.

Add my fear of public speaking into that mixing bowl, and you have one big cake of anxiety. In fact, I still clearly remember the last time I was required to give a presentation. It was at school, and the topic was Conflict Resolution. I was so fearful of having to stand in front of a whole class, that I didn’t. Instead, I gave my presentation using sock puppets, so that I could hide under the desk and let my hands do the talking instead. My sock-puppet-chefs, fought, exchanged strong words, came to blows and finally resolved their conflict. I even stapled turkey frills to each sock, to indicate chef hats.

But anyway.

For this guest appearance, I thought I would come up with something that I hope embraces the spirit of 'Tartelette'. One of the reasons why I love Helen’s blog is because she has a really strong sense of self. Her desserts are firmly embedded in the seasons from which they’re conceived and they lovingly recall aspects of her childhood and her current life.

AnzacTartdip3b


I was born in a tropical country and didn’t exactly spend my early childhood surrounded by rustic baking or elaborate pastries (I wish). Now that I have been living in Australia for so many years however, I feel so much a part of the culture and way of life. This is home.

I’ve made something in honour of Anzac Day which is observed every year in Australia on the 25th of April. My dessert, 'The Anzac' essentially consists of a sticky oatmeal tart topped with a layer of coconut bavarian and Anzac 'streussel'. Bursting with coconut, oats and golden syrup, it celebrates the textures and flavours of the famous Anzac biscuit/cookie.

Hope you enjoyed the brief sugar rush, and thank you for bearing with me. Don’t worry, Michael Jackson won’t be too long now. (Helen? Helen?? …)

anzatartdip1bc


One year ago: Polka Dot Matcha Tea Cake.
Two years ago: Litchee Rose Parfaits and Orange Blossom Macarons.'The Anzac' Recipe :
(makes two 6 ½” tarts)

For the Anzac biscuits/cookies:
Recipe is here. Either bake as cookies and later crumble what you need into pieces to use as the tart topping, or scatter the raw mixture on a baking tray as you would a streussel, and bake it that way.

For the tarts:
2 x 6 1/2” tart cases, blind baked

310g golden syrup
85g quick-cooking rolled oats
60g ground almonds
1 large egg
150ml thick cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract (or ½ a vanilla bean, scraped)
2 tablespoons strawberry jam

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
Place the tart cases on a baking sheet. Spread a thin layer of jam into each tart case. Put the rest of the ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth. Divide the filling between the tart cases. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 300F (150C) and bake for a further 20 minutes until the browned and set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Helen’s recipe for coconut bavarian:
1 tablespoon (7gr) powdered gelatin
3 tablespoons water
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup (50 gr) sugar
1 cup (250 ml) coconut milk
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream, cold

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand to soften while you prepare the cream. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until very pale. In the meantime, in a medium large saucepan set over medium heat, bring the coconut milk to a simmer. Slowly pour the milk over the yolks, whisking constantly to prevent them from curdling. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan over medium low heat and cook until the cream coats the back of a spoon (as if making creme anglaise). Add the softened gelatin and stir until melted completely into the cream. Let cool to room temperature. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream to soft peaks on medium speed and fold it into the cooled cream base. Pour this mixture into two
6” rings (1 1/4” high) lined with acetate. Chill overnight.

To assemble:
Unmould the bavarians and place it on top of the tarts. Top each bavarian with the crumbled Anzac biscuits/cookies. Dust with icing sugar and serve..