COOKING
Sorting things in the pantry and looked at the USE BY date on a tin of condensed milk. It had expired. Looked at the other tin of condensed milk and realised I needed to use it soon, so a few days later I made 100 BISCUIT DOUGH biscuits/cookies. I actually only made 94 as I must make them bigger than the originals, but it’s still a lot of biscuits and they’ll be great for a few events this week. This is such an easy recipe and requires only four ingredients plus decorations and flavours. It makes enough dough to store some in the freezer for when you could use almost instant biscuits.
This recipe was all over the internet some years ago and I can’t remember where I found it. I copied it into a diary and have added notes in the intervening years. If this is your recipe, thankyou, it’s a favourite. Please let me know and I will acknowledge the source.
100 BISCUIT DOUGH RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
* 500gm butter at room temperature
* 170gm caster sugar
* 395gm condensed milk
* 700gm self raising flour
Flavourings I have used at different times are choc chips, raisins, finely chopped crystallised ginger, cinnamon powder mixed in with brown sugar sprinkled on top, Smarties, 100s and 1000s, Milo and lemon zest.
Left to Right: Smarties, 100s and 1000s, crystallised ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar
1. Pre-heat fan forced oven to 180 degrees C fan-forced, place baking paper on as many baking trays as you have.
2. Using a stand mixer or hand held electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar until it is pale and frothy. Use a big bowl as this recipe makes a lot of dough.
3. Add the tin of condensed milk and stir in well before adding the flour, a cup at a time. Mix until well amalgamated.
4. Scoop up generous teaspoons of dough, slightly round it in your hands and place on the baking tray. For the ginger biscuits, I put about a fifth of the dough in another bowl, mixed in four finely diced pieces of crystallised ginger, then continued as above. I also added the cinnamon to another fifth of the dough in a separate bowl. Later I added brown sugar on top.
5. Place in a pre-heated oven, cook for about 10 minutes, watching closely towards the end as all ovens are different. The biscuits will be soft when they come out, but will crisp up as they cool.
After I’d made four trays of biscuits I still had dough leftover. I rolled it into a sausage, wrapped it in baking paper, labeled it then put it in a recycled plastic bag in the freezer. I actually do this each time I make these biscuits, so I have a roll of dough I can lightly thaw, slice, decorate and then have ready to cook by the time the oven has pre-heated. Handy for unexpected visitors or hungry family.
FIXING LEAKS
CELADON VASE
Saw this vase on an online site and ordered it. Took ages to come and eventually arrived while we were away. Then it was about 10 days later before I put flowers (and water) in it.
Came out the next morning to find it sitting in a puddle. The vase leaked. The base seemed to be unglazed, so I emptied it and dried it out. Then I tried sealing the unglazed base with a clear glue.
Left it a few days and then filled it with water. Later that afternoon it was sitting in a much smaller puddle, but still not fit for use. By now at least six weeks had passed since I’d ordered it and tried sealing it so I felt I couldn’t return it. Besides, I really like the celadon colour and the design.
Next plan was to pour melted wax into the base.(It is hard to see the wax being poured in this photo) We poured about one centimetre of melted candle wax into the vase and left it two days to dry. Viola! Usable vase.
We chopped up and melted the candle in a glass jar in the microwave. We heated it in 60 second bursts until it was ready to use.
PREPARING THE FRUIT FOR CHRISTMAS CAKES
I make at least two Christmas Cakes every year, following a recipe I got from my aunt years ago. We put the mixed fruit with added cherries to soak in brandy around the beginning of October. My husband inverts the jars of fruit every morning. I try to make the cakes by the beginning of November. I also have extra peel soaking in brandy to add to some other Christmas cooking.
October is BRANDIED FRUIT DAY. Apparently you need to leave the dried fruit in brandy for three weeks but I’m sure longer is no problem, well, I hope so, anyway! Originally, dried fruit was steeped in brandy as a preservative, but continued as it tastes so good!