Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

 As usual I am running at the last minute. Mind you Dom this is the only challenge I have managed this month so feel extremely flattered. Dom is running a random challenge. The idea is brilliant. Run your hands randomly over the spines of your cookery books. Stop at one. Then open the book and cook/bake whatever appears.The book I stopped at was The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. I have never cooked anything from this book so it was good to make me perform so to speak. The book fell open at PB&C Cookies. So here they are. Lovely cookies but (there is always a but isn't there?) I followed the recipe except I halved the amount of cookie dough dropped on the tray. The impression given by the pics and the recipe is that the dough will spread giving you large thin cookies. That does not happen. I had three trays in the oven when I noticed this. I Had four cookies left to bake so I flattened the before ovening. I looked at the pic and I could see they had been flattened by fingers but nowhere in the recipe does it tell you to do so. I hate when recipes leave out details like this. Anyway I flattened the last four cookies with a spoon and that is what you see in the pic. I loved the flavour but would I make them again? No I would not. I will adapt another recipe I have which will give the thinness and chewiness I love. Watch this space.Thanks Dom for making me bake from this book. I don't think I'll use it again though.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (may need to reduce depending on your pb's saltiness)
8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (natural preferred, with no added sugar or salt)
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (or 6 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate)
1. Preheat the oven to 325° F and line two baking sheets with parchment or a silpat.
2. Melt the unsweetened chocolate.

3. In a mixer, combine the softened butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix on medium speed to blend, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the vanilla, egg and peanut butter and mix for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the melted chocolate and mix just until combined. Stop the mixer and add the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined.
4. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate pieces by hand.

5. Drop large mounds of dough, about 3 heaping tablespoons each, onto the two prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly cracked on top, rotating the pans halfway through.
6. Remove from oven, cool 2 min on sheets, then transfer to a rack and cool completely.

Cocolate Caramel Oaties

This was to be my first entry to a monthly challenge for 'We Should Cocoa' November's challenge set by Chele at Chocolate Teapot  Every challenge is chocolate but every month another ingredient is given and  we have to conjure up something yummy. I did say was to be my first entry. Unfortunately I have just discovered I am late. I hope Choclette and Chele will forgive me. I have had a terrible month. My 90yr old Mother in law had a massive heart attack. She is as tough as old boots and thankfully is making a wonderful recovery. That said I have been run off my feet looking after her and as I look after my two grandchildren as well the kitchen has only briefly seen me throwing something together something very quickly for an evening meal. However, I have succeeded in organising things fairly well and today is mine. So with apologies for my late entry here is my submission. These don't look as wonderful as they taste. I based the recipe on Vi's Oaties which is lovely in itself and wonderful recipe to have a fiddle with. These were chewy with just the right amount of crunch The caramel in them was divine. With thanks to the Choclette and Chele. for a great idea.


Chocolate Caramel Oaties

Ingredients

4 oz/100g self raising flour

4oz/100g porridge oats

½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

4oz/100g butter or margarine

4oz/100g soft brown sugar

2 rounded tablespoon carnation caramel/dulce de leche


4oz/100grams dark chocolate broken into small pieces or chocolate chips




Method


Heat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180 c

Grease two  large baking tray with butter or margarine.

Mix flour, oats, and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl put to one side.

Put margarine or butter, sugar and caramel in a saucepan and heat on a low heat until butter and sugar are just melted, stir occasionally, take off heat and stir in the oat mix and chocolate. Beat well with a wooden spoon. 

Scoop dessert spoons of mixture up and make into ball shapes and place on a greased baking tray when the tray is full slightly flatten the balls out with the back of the dessert spoon.

Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, when ready remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet for 5 mins before moving onto a wire rack.

Repeat and do the same until all the mixture has been used up.

Shortbread

I don't make a huge variety of biscuits/cookies. I don't really find the need. Shortbread makes a great base and is so dependable. Quick and easy to make.  Endless flavour variations and a lovely light buttery crunchy mouthful. Perfect on it's own with a cup of tea or made very thin to accompany a dessert. The basic recipe came from Rita who lives away up in the far North of Scotland. A proper shortbread recipe.


Shortbread Trivia

In Shetland a decorated shortbread was traditionally broken over a bride’s head before she entered her new home.

Shortbread was classified as a bread by bakers to avoid paying the tax placed on biscuits.

The Scottish custom of eating shortbread on New Year’s Eve derives from an ancient pagan ritual of eating Yule Cakes.

January 6th of each year is National Shortbread Day.


Basic Shortbread

8oz/225gms butter
4oz/100gms caster sugar
8oz/225gms plain flour
4oz/100gms cornflour for a denser biscuit or rice flour for a crisper lighter texture
pinch of salt

Cream softened butter and sugar.
Add the sifted flours and salt gradually and mix well
Turn out onto a floured worktop and knead lightly into a round
Roll out and cut into biscuits
Or
Roll into a long cylinder, wrap in cling film and set in the fridge for about 30 minutes then slice into biscuits.
Bake at 350F /180.C /160.C Fan/ Gas 4 for about 15 - 20 mins or until golden
Place on a cooling rack and sprinkle with caster sugar while still warm.
Makes about 30 biscuits with a small cutter

Variations:

Chocolate 
Replace 50gms/2 oz flour with cocoa and/or add chocolate chips.
Orange
Add grated rind of and orange (this is lovely with the chocolate)
Lemon
Add grated rind of a lemon
Spice
Add sweet spice in any combination or on it's own such as cinnamon, mixed spice or ginger.


Use soft brown sugar to give a hint of caramel
Add earl grey tea
Lavender
Rose


The possibilities are endless. Just a little imagination. They can be as plain or fancy as you like.

Candy Cane Cookies

While doing my Christmas shopping I bought some candy canes. I had never seen them in the shops here before and I thought they would be lovely on the tree for my grand children. As is usual for me I bought too many but they looked so pretty and I was so delighted to find them on this side of the pond I couldn't resist. I was wandering around the blogs when I found a lovely recipe using candy canes made by Recipegirl She is in America and used little white chocolate morsels with white and pink stripes made by Hershey which we can't get here. They looked lovely and her pics are gorgeous. The correct name for them is peppermint bark Cookies but Rhyley called them Candy Cane Cookies so I stuck with that. They are lovely. Until now I didn't know these little sweets were peppermint flavoured. So easy to make and a perfect way to use up those candy canes you have still hanging on your Christmas tree. The other biscuits in the picture are Rocky Roads. The recipe for those can be found here. In this version I used Amaretti biscuits instead of tea biscuits and added a handful of dried cranberries.


Candy Cane Cookies



2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
6 ounces dark or milk chocolate, or a mix of the two, chopped (or use chocolate chips)
6-8 candy canes crumbled
2 ounces white chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9x2-inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pan with long strip of 9-inch-wide parchment paper, leaving overhang on both short sides of pan.

2. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar. Continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla, then egg yolk. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just to blend.

3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into prepared baking pan, spacing evenly. Using moistened fingertips, press dough to form even layer over bottom of pan. Pierce dough all over with fork.

4. Bake cookie base until light golden brown and slightly puffed and edges begin to come away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes. Place pan on rack; immediately sprinkle the chopped chocolate over. Let stand until chocolate softens, about 3 minutes. Using small offset spatula, spread chocolate over top of cookie in thin even layer. Immediately sprinkle chopped candy cane kisses over (or candy canes).

5. Stir white chocolate in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. If it’s too tough and thick to stir, add a tiny drizzle of vegetable oil or 1/2 tsp. of shortening to thin it out. Remove from over water. Using fork, drizzle white chocolate all over cookies. Chill until white chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

6. Using paper overhang as aid, lift cookie from pan and transfer to work surface. Using large knife, cut cookie into irregular pieces.

Cooking Tips:
Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in refrigerator (or freezer) in airtight containers between layers of waxed paper or parchment paper. Can be stored in the freezer for several weeks.

Yield: About 36 pieces

My notes - I chopped the chocolate in the food processor and also the candy canes. Leave the candy cane crushing until the last minute as the crumbs go sticky and clump together making sprinkling a bit difficult.

With thanks to RecipeGirl for this.

Little Cheesy Biscuits

With thanks to Lottie Duncan for this recipe. These are the most gorgeous little savoury biscuits. Perfect for serving with pre dinner drinks. Be warned once you start eating them you won't be able to stop. I think they would be worth making to use as a crumble topping on a savoury pie instead of pastry. Very quick and easy to make which is always a plus in my book. I didn't cover them with seeds as I thought my little people might like them. They seem to associate biscuits with sweetness so they weren't a hit with them. Perfect for the adults though.

Cheesy Biscuits

Ingredients

100g/4oz butter
100g/4oz self raising
75g/3oz strong cheddar cheese
25g/1oz grated Parmesan cheese
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 egg for egg wash
Pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, fennel, poppy seeds


Preheat the oven to 200C Mk6 400F
AGA 4/3/2 dr -grid shelf roasting oven


Place the butter, flour and cheeses together in a food processor and whiz until it all comes together.
Remove onto a floured surface and roll out into a thick cigar shape. Wrap in cling film and chill for 1 hour or pop in the freezer fo 15-20 mins
Remove from the fridge, take off the cling film and slice into discs. If you want nice thin biscuits, remember to cut the slices about ½ cm thick. The colder the dough, the easier this is to do.
Place on a non-stick baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle over your chosen topping and bake for about 4-5 minutes in the oven until firm and gold brown.
Cool and then serve.

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

I don' think there's a person on earth who doesn't like these or hasn't made them at some point. I see they sell them in the shops now too. They are fairly gross as they don't use chocolate but rather chocolate flavoured topping. Normally I use just plain or milk chocolate to cover the top but this time I thought I would be creative and try a mix of three chocolates. I had some white chocolate in the house that needed using but became a bit unstuck as I overheated the white chocolate and it went lumpy. A lesson to be learned. When buying white chocolate make sure it contains cocoa butter. Cheaper varieties don't and so won't melt properly. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Remove it from the heat and place the bowl of white chocolate over this and melt it it stirring all the time. It won't overheat then. It burns and clumps very easily.

This recipe needs a large baking tray 33cms x 23cms/13inches x 9 inches. If you don't have this size you could use two 20cm x 20cm / 8inch x 8 inch brownie pans. The recipe yields around 24 biscuits depending how you cut them.


For the Base

250gms/9ox plain flour
75gms/3oz caster sugar
175gms/6oz butter cubed
A little milk

Filling

90gms/3 1/2 oz butter
90gms/3 1/2 oz light brown sugar
2 x 397gm/14oz cans condensed milk

Topping

100gms/4oz dark chocolate
100gms/4oz milk chocolate
50gms/2oz white chocolate (or just use all dark or milk if you can't be bothered with the marbling)


Grease and line the baking trays.
Preheat the oven to 180.C/350.F/Gas4

I do my shortbread in the Food processor by putting everything in and whizzing together then cheat a bit by putting a little milk in at the end to bind. It works perfectly and rolls out much more easily.

By Hand

Put the flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Work with your hands until the mixture combines and forms a dough.
I find it easier to roll it out a bit on a floured work top before placing in the tin then using the back of a spoon spreading it out in the tin until it fits and is smooth on top. It's far too footery trying to press the dough to fit the tin from a big lump.
Prick all over with a fork and pop in the oven for about 20 mins until light golden brown.
Set aside to cool.

Filling

Put brown sugar butter and condensed milk into a pan.
Bring to the boil stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir constantly for about 5 -1o minutes until the mixture has thickened. It will be a caramel colour. It may take a minute or two longer. Just use your judgment.
Take care not to let the mixture stick to the pot and burn.
Remove from the heat and pour over the shortbread base. Spread it evenly and leave to cool.

Topping

Melt the chocolates in different bowls. Pour the dark and milk on the set caramel to form broad stripes.
Drop small spoonfuls of white chocolate over the top and using a skewer trail it through to make a marbled effect over the top.

Vi's Oaties

These simple biscuits have become a weekly event in our house. They are wickedly addictive. Really easy to make. The recipe comes from Vi the administrator on 'Vi's Pantry ' food forum. She has a lovely Blog too. It was her Mum's recipe. I always double the quantities as they disappear so quickly. The recipe is quite easy to tweak. I like to use soft brown sugar instead of caster sugar as I like the caramely flavour it gives. To double the quantities in the recipe I also add 100 gms dried cranberries. They spread a lot so leave plenty of space on your baking trays. The recipe will give you about 15-16 biscuits.

Ingredients

4 oz/100g self raising flour

4oz/100g porridge oats

½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

4oz/100g butter or margarine

4oz/100g granulated sugar

1 rounded tablespoon golden syrup

Method


Heat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180 c

Grease on large baking tray with butter or margarine.

Mix flour, oats, and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl put to one side.

Put margarine or butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and heat on a low heat until butter and sugar are melted, stir occasionally, take off heat and stir in the oat mix, beat well with a wooden spoon.

Scoop dessert spoons of mixture up and make into ball shapes and place on a greased baking tray when the tray is full slightly flatten the balls out with the back of the dessert spoon.

Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, when ready remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet for 5 mins before moving onto a wire rack.

Repeat and do the same until all the mixture has been used up.

Rocky Road Crunch Bars

When I was a child my Mother made a concoction of teabiscuits and chocolate which were called in our family ' Alistair's cakes' because a cousin of that name loved them. My brother who pops into my blog demanded of me why I didn't make them and write about them here. I refuse to. It's family confession time. I hated them. I never had the courage to confess that to my Mother. Dark chocolate was not readily available then for baking and it was prohibitively expensive so therefore not used. Wanton extravagance don't you know. A concoction of eggs and cocoa powder or drinking chocolate was made instead. Tea biscuits were broken and added. Marshmallows and syrup were meant to go into the mix but my Mother didn't like them. Gave her the heartburn and so were excluded. The whole confection was covered in melted chocolate flavoured 'Scotbloc' then cut into squares. When I first saw Nigella Lawson's Rocky Roads, it occurred to me they were much the same but much richer and used chocolate. Lots of it. I was intrigued. A comparison had to be made. Trust me there is no comparison. These are a delight. I recommend if you have never made them you must. So easy and a mouthful of sheer heaven. With apologies to my Mother.

Rocky Road Crunch Bars

Ingredients

125g/4½oz soft unsalted butter
300g/10½oz best-quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3 tbsp golden syrup
200g/7¼oz rich tea biscuits
100g/3½oz mini marshmallows
2 tsp icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. Heat the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat. Remove from the heat, scoop out about 125ml/4½fl oz of the melted mixture and set aside in a bowl.
2. Place the biscuits into a plastic freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin until some have turned to crumbs but there are still pieces of biscuit remaining.
3. Fold the biscuit pieces and crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, then add the marshmallows.
4. Tip the mixture into a 24cm/9in square baking tin and smooth the top with a wet spatula.
5. Pour over the reserved 125ml/4½fl oz of the melted chocolate mixture and smooth the top with a wet spatula.
5. Refrigerate for about two hours or overnight.
6. To serve, cut into 24 fingers and dust with icing sugar.

Tip:

If you line the baking tin with baking parchment leaving an overhang, you can lift the whole slab out making it so much easier to cut.

Oh and I forgot to reserve some of the chocolate mix to spread on the top. Didn't make a whit of difference. One chore less.

SHORT VERSION FOR COPY

Chocolate Caramel Thumbprints

I was flicking through my cookery books and spied these in Martha Stewarts 'Cookies' and thought they looked very inviting. She had made a chocolate filling to place in the little indents but I really wanted some caramel too as I love the combination. I had a jar of dulce de leche so I decided to pop that in too. They are a lovely wee mouthful and very quick and easy to make. I made another batch adding cocoa powder to the dough and they were lovely too. I didn't use a mixer as there was no need. If the butter is nice and soft it can be mixed easily in a bowl.

Ingredients

Makes 41/2 dozen

1 cup 2 sticks /8oz plus 6 tblsps unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons corn syrup
Dulce de leche or other caramel if using

Directions

Heat oven to 350.F/180.C/Gas4
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together 2 sticks butter , sugar, salt, and vanilla on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium high.
Roll dough by teaspoonfuls into balls, and place 1 inch apart on lined baking sheets .
Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press thumb into tops of cookies to make indentations. Return to oven, and bake until light brown on the edges, 7 to 9 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Combine chocolate, 6 tablespoons butter, and corn syrup in a small heat-proof bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water; stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly. When cookies are cool,place a little dulce de leche (if using) in each indent then fill the thumbprints with the chocolate mixture.

How Martha Stewart managed to get 41/2 dozen cookies is beyond me. I managed 28.

Chocolate Buttons Anyone?

I saw these recently and I could not resist making them. I was not keen on the cookie dough in the recipe. It was to be rolled out between sheets of baking parchment and a light bulb went off in my head saying sticky mess. I could do without that thank you, so I adapted my basic shortbread recipe. My dear forum friend Carlotta sent me some lovely flavoured drinking chocolate from Italy. It is wonderfully decadent and so chocolatey . This gave me a golden opportunity to use it in baking.


8oz/225gms butter
4oz/100gms caster sugar
10 oz/275gms plain flour
4oz/100gms cornflour
2teasps drinking chocolate dissolved in a tblsp of hot water
pinch of salt


Cream softened butter and sugar.
Add the chocolate paste and sifted flours and salt gradually and mix well
Turn out onto a floured worktop and knead lightly into a round Roll out and cut into biscuits
Make a small indentation on each biscuit with a drinks bottle top.
Make four holes with a tooth pick
Bake at 350F /180.C /Gas 4 for about 15 -20mins
Place on a cooling rack and sprinkle with caster sugar while still warm. Makes about 30 biscuits with a small cutter.

Left Over Jewels

When ever I make pastry there is always some left over. I hate waste. It must be the Scot in me. I make these with the scraps and bake them with the main event. They are just a perfect little mouthful. Little Jam Tarts with creme fraiche.

Vanilla Shorties

I love shortbread and find it a wonderful base recipe for trying different flavours. It makes a lovely crisp little biscuit and is so simple and rewarding to make. The idea of adding vanilla is not new but making a biscuit with vanilla seeds vanilla sugar and then adding vanilla icing intrigued me greatly. A really intense vanilla flavour was the natural outcome and yet it remained delicate and not at all overwhelming. A perfect little bite and one I will repeat often. I found the recipe on a lovely blog by LisaRenee called 'Little Bits'. http://www.uniquelittlebits.com/ULB/Blog/Blog.html
The recipe was the same basic recipe I use for shortbread. It called for vanilla flavoured confectioner's sugar. I was unsure if this was our icing sugar or caster sugar although I have a feeling it is the former. I did not have vanilla flavoured icing sugar so I used the vanilla flavoured caster sugar I had. This is my version of the recipe.

Vanilla Shorties

225gms/8oz soft butter
100gms/4oz vanilla bean infused caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
225gms/8oz plain flour
100gms/4oz cornflour

Preheat oven to 150.C/300°F/Gas 2

Cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and the seeds from one vanilla pod and beat until smooth.
Add the flour and cornflour and mix to a dough. Using your hands at the end to combine is the easiest option as it is quite crumby
Roll out until about 1/2 cm thick
Cut into shapes of your choice
Bake at for about 25 minutes (better to under bake then over bake), or until bottoms just begin to brown.
Cool for 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

When biscuits have cooled spread them with a thin layer of vanilla icing.

Vanilla Icing

225gms/8oz icing sugar sugar
2 tsp cream and 2 teasps milk combined
¼ teaspoon vanilla paste
Combine in a small bowl, adding more milk to reach desired consistency.

Makes about 24 biscuits

The oven temperature was a lot cooler than I would normally bake shortbread but LisaRene advised this to keep the shortbread pale. It worked very well and the biscuits were still lovely and crisp.

Rose and Lavender Tea Finger Cookies

George will be very pleased I have finally taken the plunge and made something containing rose and lavender. She has been trying to encourage me to do so for some time. Having never used scented ingredients,I was unsure of the outcome. I am happy to report they are just lovely. Very delicately flavoured and very moreish. The recipe comes from my recently purchased Cookie and Biscuit Bible by Catherine Atkinson. It calls for Lady Grey tea leaves but I substituted with some heavenly green tea leaves containing rose petals and lavender which were sent to me by dear Carlotta in Italy. I have loved looking and smelling this tea but it seemed such a waste to just make tea with it. This was an ideal opportunity to use it for something a little different.

Makes about 36
150gms /50z unsalted butter
115gms/4oz soft brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons Lady Grey tea leaves
1 egg beaten
200gms/7oz plain flour
Demarara sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 190.C/375.F/Gas 5
Line two or three baking shets with non-stick baking parchment.
Beat the bitter and sugar together until light and creamy
Stir in the tea leaves
Beat in the egg
Carefully fold in the flour
Roll the dough into a cylinder about 23cm/9 inches long.
Gently flatten the top of it with your hand.
Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for about an hour until firm
Using a sharp knife cut the dough into 5mm/1/4 inch slices and lay slightly apart on the prepared baking trays
Sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned
Using a palette knife remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool

Enjoy

Oatie Biscuits with a Bit of Chocolate Decadence

These are the first biscuits I ever made. I was a child then and my mother gave me the cookery lesson. I am still making them today and why not. They are so simple to make, so crisp and moreish. They can be left plain, a wee bit of caster sugar sprinkled over, or, tarted up with a bit of chocolate. What more do you want with a cup of tea in the afternoon?

225gms/8oz softened butter or margarine
100gms/4oz caster sugar
100gms /4oz plain flour
275gms/10oz porridge oats

Cream the butter and sugar together
Add the flour and mix well
Add porridge oats and mix well again.
Roll out on a floured surface to approx. 1/2cm/1/4inch thick
Cut out with a small cutter

Bake at 180./350.F/Gas4
for about 15 minutes or until just turning golden brown.
Remove to a cooling rack to crisp up.
Decorate whatever way you want.
Sometimes I make them a little thinner and sandwich them with chocolate.

Yields approx. 30 biscuits.