See also:
• Grape and olive mostarda
• Vietnamese crepes
• Cherry almond biscuits
• Vanillekipferln (vanilla crescents)
1½ cups flour
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
3 Tbsp icing sugar
½ cup ground almonds
One or two egg yolks
pinch salt
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (caster sugar that has a vanilla bean pod stored in it)
- To finish:
½ cup icing sugar
2 Tbsp vanilla sugar
Put all ingredients in a bowl and knead with your fingers into a firm dough.
As flour can vary in its absorption rate, a second egg yolk may be required if the dough is too crumbly.
Do not add water or milk as this will make the dough hard rather than crisp and short when baked.
Instant vanilla sugar can be made by adding two to three drops of pure vanilla essence to half a cup caster sugar and massaging the mixture with the fingertips to distribute the flavour.
Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least one hour. (I have left the dough in the refrigerator for up to two days!) Preheat oven to 180degC and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
Grease and flour a baking sheet or line it with baking paper.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and knead the dough until it is pliable.
Break the dough into walnut-sized pieces (25-30).
Mould each piece into a crescent shape with tapered ends.
Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes (either fan or conventional bake).
As soon as the biscuits start to colour, remove from the oven.
Sift the mixed icing and vanilla sugars mixture on to a plate.
Gently roll the hot biscuits in the mixture, place on a cake rack and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Cool completely and store in an airtight container or wrap well and freeze (for no longer than three months).
Meet the cook
Maria Hinkley, of Inch Valley Preserves, made recipes from her mother's cookbook. Her parents came from Vienna in Austria and these little vanilla biscuits are traditionally served at Christmas, after dinner with espresso coffee and liqueur. The crescent shape is a reminder that Austria was at war with the Turks (the Ottoman Empire whose flag bore a crescent moon) from the mid-15th to the mid-18th centuries and Vienna was besieged several times, she says. They should be baked to a pale colour so they stay light and buttery. Overcooking will produce a singed flavour.
A flavoursome cream cheese log decorated with an assortment of edible flowers or petals, such as heartsease (wild pansy), calendula petals, chive blossoms (pull individual flowerets), borage flowers.
Serve with pita crisps, crackers or slices of baguette and vegetable sticks or tiny tomatoes.
100g tasty cheddar cheese or other favourite cheese
250g cream cheese
50g butter, softened
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh green or purple basil leaves
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp port wine
salt and pepper to taste
- To decorate: selection of edible flowers
Use the grater attachment on a food processor to grate the cheese.
Tip out on to a plate. Insert the chopping blade and return the grated cheese to the bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients except the flowers.
Process until well-mixed.
Check seasoning.
Spoon on to a sheet of plastic food-wrap and shape into a log, enclose in the plastic and chill in a fridge for three hours.
Just before serving, unwrap and press the edible flowers on to the surface.
The cook
This recipe is adapted from The Cook's Herb Garden by Mary Browne, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne. A new edition is expected in October 2010.
