If Jonah Can Bake ANZAC BISCUITS, So Can You! (Episode 1)

Hello all!

If you have been following my live baking sessions on instagram (@bakingtraybakes) and the previous blog posts, you will know that 2 weeks ago my husband Jonah, was a special guest on a new series I was working on (Previously called: Blind Baking with Tray). After seeing the response, I decided to keep him as a regular and change the name of the series to: IF JONAH CAN BAKE, SO CAN YOU!

My husband isn't a baker... If you saw his interview with EJ (who asked, "Do you bake lots?" ^^) the answer was: this is probably my 3rd time! haha (the 2nd time was probably 2 weeks ago when he baked the chocolate cake!). So the premise of these live bakes is that if Jonah is able to bake these recipes, someone who is a beginner baker, then you can too!

ANZAC day was last weekend so we were a bit late to the baking of the biscuits! But better late than never right? :) 

ANZAC BISCUITS
Recipe from Adelaide Bakes

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter
40g (2 tbs) golden syrup (I used honey)
1 tsp vanilla
160g (1 cup) plain flour
100g (1 cup) rolled oats
100g (1 cup) shredded coconut
50g (1/4 cup) brown sugar
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup raw macadamias, roughly chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
60g boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 160oC (mine was fan-forced) and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Place flour, oats, coconut, sugars, salt and macadamias (if using) into a large bowl and mix together.
3. Combine butter, vanilla and golden syrup in a small saucepan and heat on low-medium heat until butter is completely melted.
4. In a separate small bowl combine the boiling water and bicarb soda. As soon as the butter has melted, remove from heat and add the bicarb soda/water solution. Whisk gently, being careful as the mixture will froth up.
5. Pour the wet mix into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix together until combined. Place in fridge for 10-15 min in the fridge to firm up the mixture for easy rolling.
6. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on baking tray allowing room to spread. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until evenly spread and golden. Leave the cookies on the tray for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookes will be soft when they first come out of the oven and crisp up as they cool.

These biscuits were nice and soft, yet chewy with crispy edges! Pretty much everything you want with a biscuit! Enjoy making them :)

Happy Baking! Till the next episode...

They really MELT in your MOUTH :D

Here is another inspired bake from MASTERCHEF! I've wanted to try these cookies out ever since I saw Julia make them on Masterchef but just didn't have the time. But last Sunday was a lazy baking day (don't you love those days? ^^) so I decided to give them a go. They are REALLY SIMPLE to make!!! All you need is an electric beater, measure and mix and you're ready to bake!

I didn't have any fresh berries to make my own jam but I think store bought jam is fine. Also the original recipe said it made FIVE biscuits... they must have been HUGE cookies!! because I made twice as many and I still thought the ones I made were quite big. So just a warning, they do expand a little once baked.

Melting Moments Biscuits

Recipe adapted from Julia http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipes/melting-moments-biscuits.htm

Ingredients

Biscuits

180g unsalted butter

60g icing sugar

60g custard powder (I didn't have any so I used 60g corn flour/starch with a few drops of vanilla essence)

1 tsp baking powder

180g plain flour

Vanilla buttercream

100g unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup pure icing sugar, sifted

Strawberry Jam

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line oven tray with baking paper.
2. For biscuits, cream butter for two minutes in an electric mixer. Add icing sugar and custard powder/corn flour and mix until combined.
3. Sift in baking powder and flour and mix well.
4. Roll dough into small balls (roughly 20c piece or smaller), place on a baking paper lined baking tray and press each ball with a fork to leave an indent.
5. Bake biscuits for 16-18 minutes or until light golden. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Baked biscuits cooling~

6. For buttercream, whisk butter and vanilla until smooth. Add icing sugar and beat until mixture forms a paste. You can either pipe this or I just spread it using a knife.
7. To assemble, place a spoonful of strawberry jam on the base of half the biscuits. Pipe/spread buttercream onto the base of the other half of the biscuits. Gently press one of each biscuit together to form a melting moment.

So... ENJOY THE MOMENT!!! :P

These are just screaming out "EAT ME"