Secret Family Recipe (sorry Mum)

The first eighteen months of my life were spent in America. Along with a batch of sunny baby photos and dual nationality, one of the things that came back with us from the West Coast was a recipe for 'Sandies' - melt in the mouth shortbread cookies rolled in icing sugar. These tempting treats are synonymous with Christmas in our house. They are never made at any other time of the year and, to our family, they are more festive than mince pies (and disappear in half the time). The recipe never varies (one year Mum added chocolate chips instead of walnuts and there was almost a mutiny) although the Americans seem to favour pecans over walnuts.

I'm rubbish at taking photos of food so I've borrowed this one from t'interweb

This year, a lot of my Christmas gifts have included a batch of Sandies and I have been asked repeatedly for the recipe. If you didn't get any for Christmas, I apologise, but at least now you can make your own:

Ingredients: (makes about 40)

225g butter

75g sugar

2 tsp water

2 tsp vanilla essence

250g sifted plain flour

120g chopped walnuts

Icing sugar

1. Put the oven on at 180.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.

3. Add the liquids and mix.

4. Add the flour and nuts and mix to form a dough.

5. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours if you can wait that long. I never can.

6. Roll into small balls (about the size of the big marbles that you always wanted to win when you were a kid) and place on the baking tray.

7. Bake for about 20 minutes.

8. When the Sandies have cooled but are still warm, roll them in icing sugar so that it coats each biscuit and melts a little.

9. Hide them or they will disappear in no time.






I'd also like to point out that I did actually ask permission from my mum before I posted this.

A tasty treat for Bonfire Night

Happy Bonfire Night! Here comes a recipe for Pinnebrød, a slightly sweet Scandinavian twist bread cooked on a stick over the fire.

On Saturday, I ran a Bonfire Family Firelighting day at the Wild Place Project in Bristol. Ten families came to the woods to learn all about lighting fires and how to involve children safely. The afternoon was spent toasting and roasting various foods over the fire. Pinnebrød was a favourite for both adults and children alike.

The recipe I used was from Signe Johansen's Scandilicious Baking (warning: that book is full of tasty treats). I've simplified it slightly and my method is a little more slapdash than the original!

Pinnebrød

Ingredients:

290ml whole milk

50g butter

1 tbsp treacle

500g plain flour* 

1 ½ tsp sea salt

7g fast action dried yeast

1 medium egg, beaten

(*the original recipe calls for 400g spelt flour and 100g rye flour ... but those aren't usually kicking around in the kitchen!) 

Method:

• Melt the butter and treacle then add enough milk to make it 'blood temperature' (stick your finger in it until it feels neither hot nor cold. Don't scald yourself).

• Add the beaten egg.

• Sieve all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and make a well in the centre.

• Mix in the warm wet ingredients and add as much of the remaining cold milk as you need to make a slightly sticky dough.

• Knead for five minutes.

• Either leave somewhere warm to rise for about an hour, or shove it in a big food bag and pop it in your rucksack while you go out to the woods (or garden) and get your fire sorted.

• To cook, find a suitable stick and then make long thin sausages from the dough and wrap them in a spiral along one half of the stick, pinching the ends to secure them.

• Hold your stick above the embers of the fire and cook until the dough is light brown and feels firm to the touch.

• Eat it as it is, dipped in jam or rolled in sugar.

Happy Bonfire Night!