Lemon and Polenta Spring Cookies

These lemon and polenta sugar cookies, decorated with fondant using a springerle mould are to herald the arrival of spring.

Springerle moulds are a german tradition and intended to be used to bake biscuits with an embossed design, usually at Christmas time. I sometimes use them for embossed biscuits, but, usually prefer to use them like this.

Spring has been so long coming, this year and whilst we have had welcome sunshine today, temperatures are still hovering just above freezing, just the day before yesterday, returning from a spring break in Cumbria, we were driving through the Lake District, along the Kirkstone Pass between Ullswater and Windermere on a road cut through snow higher than the car. Back in January, when I booked the break, little did I imagine that during said break, snow would fall gently every day and the temperature would still be similar to January.

These cookies are simple to bake and decorate, requiring very few tools in addition to a springerle mould. The cookies themselves, are baked using the same recipe as these cookies. You can also use this recipe to mould the cookies with the springerle mould, have a look at this post to see how.

The cookie below is decorated with plain (unpainted) fondant. I think it looks really beautiful, like this, I was really in two minds whether to paint them or not, though now, I am glad that I did. I think?

Here is the painted version for a little comparing and contrasting.

Here's How

Equipment
Springerle Mould I used Lily of the Valley with Rose from House on the Hill
Small rolling pin
Marzipan spacers
Cookie Cutter that works with the cookie mould

Consumables
Batch of Lemon and Polenta Cookies cut out with cutter that matches the mould you are using
Sugarpaste / fondant coloured pale yellow. I used Bitter Lemon Lime gel colour from Sugarflair
A little vegetable fat or cornflour

As the rose part of the cookie mould is quite deep, you need to start by putting a pea-sized piece of fondant into the rose. Without this, I found that the fondant did not fill the rose part of the mould properly.

Don't you love the way that this mould has all the little indentations and knocks that you would expect to find on a really old cookie mould. These House on The Hill moulds are replicas made using resin, the original moulds were carved out of wood.

Prepare you work surface by smearing a little vegetable fat over to stop the fondant from sticking. (You can also use cornflour, but, I have heard that this can sometimes cause mould to grow if you are keeping the cookies for a while)

Roll out the yellow sugar paste, using marzipan spacers, until it is about half a centimetre thick

The spacers are not essential, they just help to get the fondant a nice even thickness.








Place the cookie mould face down onto the fondant.

Press firmly down.

I put one hand on top of the other and use a circular pressing movement to press down really well

If you have problems with the fondant sticking either rub a little vegetable fat on top before moulding, or leave the fondant in the open air to dry out a little. On a hot day, you may want to pop it in the fridge fro 20 minutes or so first.








Lift the cookie mould off by pushing upwards on the metal ring on the top of the mould C A R E F U L L Y!





















Check that the mould has come out well and that you are happy with it

Carefully position the cookie cutter over the moulded fondant, looking directly over it, to see what you are cutting and cut out the design.

Paint one of your baked cookies with edible glue, piping gel or a small amount of water and carefully lift the fondant on top. Press the fondant gently into place, being careful not to squash the embossed design










The finished cookies.

I painted the one on the left as follows (All dusts are Sugarflair)

Lily of the Valley flowers
White petal dust mixed to a thick paint with a little alcohol and then brushed over with snowflake lustre.

Lily of the Valley leaves
Moss colour petal dust mixed to a paint with a little alcohol and then brushed over with a thin layer of confectioners glaze.

Rose Leaves
Dusted with dry spring green petal dust

Yellow rose flower and buds
Dusted with lemon ice petal dust

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Lemon Polenta Springerle Cookies

Whenever I bake a batch of cookies, I have started using some of the mix to see how it works with a Springerle mould. You may have noticed, I have a couple of favourite springerle moulds...

This is part of the batch of dough for the Triple Rose Lemon Polenta cookies. The design on the cookies hasn't come out quite as crisp as I would like, if I was making a batch of cookie dough just for moulding with the Springerles, I would use three tablespoons of egg white rather than a whole egg as this tends to give a better result.

This is my very favourite Springerle Mould, the Round Rose from House on The Hill.

Moulding the Cookies

To mould the cookies, roll out the dough about 1cm thick. (Use marzipan rollers or spacers to get an even thickness) It is usually recommended that you dust the mould with flour, I prefer to dust a light layer of flour on top of my rolled cookie dough and gently smooth it over with my fingers. Once rolled, gently, but firmly and evenly, press the mould on to the dough to make the impression. If you are happy with the moulding, use a suitable sized cookie cutter to cut out the cookie and put it on a baking / cookie sheet that has baking parchment or a non stick silicone sheet on it. It sometimes takes a couple of goes to get the hang of moulding the cookies so don't get disheartened if it doesn't come out right first time. Just knead re-roll and try again. If your dough is sticky, try kneading in a little more flour or putting the dough in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.

Once your cookies are all beautifully lined up on your baking / cookie sheet, put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes before baking. This helps stop the cookies spreading whilst they are baking. Baking at a slightly lower temperature can also help stop them spreading and give a crisper design.

This is my other very favourite cookie mould, Amo Te, also from House on the Hill, (isn't it beautiful)

And here is the matching Amo Te Lemon Polenta Cookie. A tad over baked on the point, good job Paul and Mary aren't judging these ...

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Green Tea Springerle Cookies

There is something about Springerles. I don't quite know what it is, just so beautiful I suppose. This Round Rose mould from House on the Hill is one of my favourites. To see how this mould can also be used with fondant have a look at my Old Rose Cookies.

I have seen a lot of recipes using green tea in cookies and cupcakes and couldn't imagine how this might taste, so really wanted to make something with green tea in it and this is how the green tea and springerle fusion came about, one day, in my kitchen.

These cookies then, are a bit of an experiment. I  adapted my sugar cookie recipe by using confectioners / icing sugar instead of caster sugar and replacing some of the flour in the recipe with green tea powder and this is the result. I can't quite believe how beautifully they have turned out (even if i do say so myself!).

The type of powder you need is called matcha powder. (Check it out on Wiki) I was lucky enough to go on a cruise of South America some years ago and remember seeing the locals walking round with their special cups full of matcha powder. The matcha cups were filled hot water, then the tea drunk through a special straw in the cup. The same powder is re-used for the next cup of tea. I remember the locals being quite bemused by the tourists wanting to take pictures of them drinking their matcha.

The powder in the UK is not terribly common and quite pricey, so I halved the quantities of my usual recipe for these cookies so as not to use too much matcha.

Matcha has a whole  load of claims for various health benefits, so you really can eat these with a clear conscious, knowing that they are, at least partly, good for you. Apparently matcha is packed full of antioxidants, may help boost metabolism and reduce cholesterol.

I took these cookies to work for a taste test and have to say there were some mixed results. Some wrinkled noses, some musings about an acquired taste or how they might be nice with cheese (cheese - really?) and some rather liking them, the recipe follows  so if you curiosity is piqued too, have a go and see what you think.

Recipe

100g / 4oz butter

100g / 4oz icing / confectioers sugar

1 egg white (or 1 1/2 table spoons of egg white)

185g / 7 1/2 oz plain flour

15g / 1/2 oz matcha powder

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until just mixed

2. Add the add white and mix until just incorporated

3. Mix together the flour and matcha, slowly as the matcha powder is very fine

4. Add the mixed flour and matcha and mix until it looks like cookie dough.

5. Add a little more flour if the mixture is sticky.

Making the cookies

1. Knead a couple of handfuls of dough a little to bring it together and then roll it out about 1.5 cm thick

2. Press your mould down on top to make an impression.

3. Carefully lift the mould. If you are not happy with the impression, roll and mould again

4. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the mould and place on a baking / cookie sheet

5. Pop the tray of cookies into the freezer for about 10 minutes

6. Bake at 165 C, 150 c fan or about 320 F for 15 to 25 minutes. You want to catch the biscuits when they all look dry, but before they start to turn brown.

I hope you have a go at these

Enjoy!

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Bye Bye Brownies

I made these brownies for my lovely friend who is off to start a new job, so I won't be seeing so much of this lovely lady. I won't embarrass her by telling you her name. These are to say good luck in your new job and I'm going to miss you, though I'm sure I will see you real soon ...

I made these using my favourite traditional brownie recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. Even if you are not normally a great baker, all you have to do is weigh out the ingredients, melt the butter and chocolate and then stir in the other ingredients. So easy even a child can make these, in fact my three year old son did make them.

We were home earlier that usual he had been for a taster session at his new school. I can't believe that my three year old is starting big school in about six weeks. To be fair he is four in a couple of days, but he still seems very little for big school. Still, at least when he starts school we will get to spend a bit more time together, as I will leave work a little earlier to meet him from school.

If you fancy having a go at these, here's how.

You will need a batch of brownies baked in a sheet pan and cut out using a heart cutter.

Chocolate Sugar paste
Lilac coloured sugar paste (I used a ready coloured one from Regalice)
A small rolling pin
A hear shaped cutter (this one is from Wilton's from the heart set)
Sugarflair lustre in Dusky Lilac
A small clean paint brush or two

In addition, for the different types of brownie you need

For the hearts with roses
A Lace mould or embossing mat, I used this one
Squires Kitchen Mould Lace Intricate Floral
A Rose mould, shop bought icing roses or hand made roses
I used the roses galore mould from first impressions to make these

Method
Roll out the chocolate sugar paste about half a cm thick
Put the lace mould on top and roll over it with the rolling pin
Lift the mould and cut out the heart shape
Place the moulded heart onto a brownie
Roll a ball of lilac fondant for the rose
Press it into one of the moulds
Remove any excess and tidy up the edges
Flex the silicone to pop the moulded rose out
Gently brush the dusky lilac lustre dust over the rose

For the hearts with letters

Lace mould or embossing mat as above
Letter cutters. I used Patchwork Cutters.

Method
Mould and cut the chocolate sugar paste as above
Roll out a small amount of lilac sugar paste
Brush all over with the dusky lilac
Cut out the letters and remove the excess paste
Use the letter cutter to gently make an impression on the moulded chocolate sugar paste
Gently lift the letter and ease into place using the impression as a guide.





For the springerle moulded brownie

You need this beautiful springerle mould from House on the Hill

Green Luster dust. I used Squires Kitchen Bridal Satin in Myrtle

Method

Roll out lilac sugar paste about 1cm thick

Place the springerle mould on top and press down firmly. (My sugar paste didn't feel sticky so I didn't use anything to help stop it sticking to the mould, if yours feels even slightly sticky, smear a little vegetable fat on to the sugar paste before moulding)

Cut out a shape the same size as your cut out brownies and place on  top

Paint the heart and flowers with the dusky lilac lustre dust

Finally paint the leaves with the myrtle lustre dust

All done. Beautiful. Even though I do say so myself!

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Springtime Springerle Birthday Biscuits

It was one of my very best friends Birthday's recently so I decided to make her some biscuits for her Birthday and I made the biscuits that you see below. She loved these, in fact she didn't want to eat them because she said they were too pretty

I like these well enough, mainly because I am totally in love with these amazing Springerle moulds from House on the Hill, but, something about them didn't feel quite right. Somehow they just weren't "springtime" enough.

I mixed up some fondant in springtime colours to try that.

The weather here in England has been most un-spring-like just of late, so we really needed something to break through the cold grey days and all the rain we have been having. Then, I had a flash of inspiration, I didn't have to use the cookie cutter that was the closest shape to the cookies. Much activity followed as I tried as many different shapes as I could find, until I settled on this, much used one, which just seemed to frame the design really nicely.

I quickly baked a batch of sugar cookies cutting them out with this cutter so, things were coming together very nicely. These are made just the same way as my Old Rose Cookies, except you use the mould shown here and this cookie cutter which is the smallest one from Wilton's from the Heart set.

This is how they came out.

Look a bit different don't they?

I've just had an idea how to make these even better, so watch this space!

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Old Rose Extravaganza - colour experiments

You may remember these old rose cookies that I showed you a while back. If you missed them, check them out here

As I am still new to the world of sugar and decorating, a lot of what I do, is about playing with different colours to see what works and that is what I have done here. These cookies were made using this beautiful mould from House on the Hill, BTW be careful if you stop by there, they have so many beautiful moulds, you won't be able to buy just one. Each time I visit, I see more moulds that I cannot live without.

I like a bit of colour and shine and sparkle, if your style is more understated, the plain mould looks so lovely, it almost seems a shame to add anything. This is the pale teal colour I used before.

I mixed up some different shades of sugar paste using ivory and ....

 rose gel colours from Wilton and moulded the paste with the Springerle mould as before.

I was lucky enough to visit the Squires Kitchen show earlier in the year and whilst I was there picked up their gilding kit. (It was round about my Birthday, so this was one of my Birthday presses)

The lustre colours I've used are the light silver, light gold and burnished copper from this kit along with a Bridal Satin in Myrtle, also by Squires Kitchen that I used before


Here's some in ivory

... and all the colours together. You will see that the burnished copper is less successful on the ivory and teal colours as a little of the colour sometimes goes astray.

... and, if one rose isn't enough, how about two? This is the House on the Hill Double Rose Mould that I used for my Sprningerle Brownies. More of these soon.

And finally ... with the gilding kit comes some gold and silver leaf, I couldn't resist having a go at gilding one of these. Boy, was this hard and only partially successful. I thought I would show you, if only for a laugh, oh, and it was also really difficult to get a good picture. Well, here it is

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