Melt 'n' Mix Custard Shortbread

I usually shy away from recipes calling for a lot of butter, but then it is the season for sharing and gifting so why not! These shortbread cookies are an indulgence...soft, buttery, melt-in-your mouth and just lightly sweetened. I also love the flavor of custard powder and the light yellow color it adds to the cookies.

Recipe from here, adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly.

Custard Shortbread

Ingredients:

250gms unsalted butter

35gms icing/ confectioners' sugar

55gms castor sugar

40gms custard powder

360gms all purpose flour

pinch of salt

sugar for sprinkling

Method:

Line and grease a 7"x11" pan. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F.

Melt the butter over low heat and keep aside to cool slightly.Sift the icing sugar and custard powder into a bowl and mix in the sugar.Add the melted butter and beat mixture until thick and creamy. Add sifted flour and salt and mix gently until combined.

Press the mixture into the prepared pan evenly and level the surface. Mark the dough into fingers and prick each finger decoratively with a fork and sprinkle some sugar on top if desired.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly golden. Cut into fingers while still warm and cool in the pan.

If you like your cookies to be crispier, just bake for another 15 minutes or so.

Chocolate and Vanilla Melting Moments with Chocolate Truffle

Anushka's school closed for holidays last week and as always we had potlucks on the last days of school.  I made these cookies for one of them. They were so buttery and delicious and they literally melt in your mouth.

These snowy pillowy cookies are so apt for this season too.I can't believe that another year is coming to an end so soon, but I do love this time of the year. Love the reds and greens everywhere and the brightly lit trees. Carols playing everywhere and all the yummy treats!

I sandwiched the cookies with some chocolate truffle, but that is just optional. Adding the truffle makes them more of a dessert cookie but I loved them plain too. Recipe is adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly.

Melting Moments

Ingredients:
Vanilla Cookies:
125g  butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup vanilla custard powder or cornflour
icing sugar for sprinkling on the cookies

Chocolate Cookies:
125g butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup scant icing sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup cornflour
icing sugar for sprinkling on the cookies

Method:

Sift the flours together and the cocoa for the chocolate cookies.

Cream the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.

Stir in the sifted flour/ flour cocoa mixture in two batches.

Take small portions of dough (I measured 10g of dough for each cookie) and roll into balls using slightly floured hands. Place about 2 inches aparton a cookies sheet lined with parchment paper.

Flatten slightly with a floured fork. Bake at 350F for about 15 mins. Let stand for 5 minutes and then lift onto wire racks to cool completely.

Sandwich the cookies with chocolate truffle, preserves or buttercream.

Makes about 25 sandwich cookies.

Chocolate Truffle

Ingredients:

100g semi-sweet chocolate

75ml heavy cream

1 tbs butter, softened

Method:

Take the chocolate into a bowl. Heat the cream until you see bubbles at the edges of the pan. Pour the cream on the chocolate and add the butter. Let stand for a couple of minutes, then mix and stir well until the mixture is smooth and well combined.

Sending this to Christmas Food Fair

Eggless Custard Powder Snack Cake

I am always excited to try an eggless cake, but very often the results are disappointing. The first ever cake I tried was with condensed milk and I found it too sweet and dense and it just didn't appeal to my taste, the chocolate version wasn't so bad though.

There are several other egg substitutes that I have yet to bake with, especially want to try something with vinegar. This custard powder cake though is another story. I had seen it at Aparna's blog and have it bookmarked since ages and I don't know why I waited so long to try it.

The cake looked so good out of the oven we couldn't resist cutting into it immediately. Only after a couple of slices did I remember that I had to take pictures. This is definitely one of the best sponge cakes, it was so light you wouldn't think it was eggless!! I loved the taste (am a vanilla custard lover), the texture and just about everything. I baked it in a bundt and drizzled some chocolate sauce over it for some added yummmm!!

Eggless Custard Powder Snack Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup vanilla flavored custard powder (I used Brown and Polson)
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
150 gm butter (very soft)
1 cup milk

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C. Grease and flour an 8" round pan or a small bundt pan.
Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the vanilla, milk and butter and mix well until smooth.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake till done. My bundt took about 35 minutes. It will take longer in a round pan, so check at about 35 mins.
Cool on a wire rack completely before slicing.

Sending this to Cakes for Christmas, Let's Cook-Baked Goodies, Christmas NewYear's Eve 2011, Global Food Festival, Bake Fest, Snacks Mela, Only Cookies and Cakes, Serve it Baked Sweet,