Chewy Almond Cookies aka Biscuits

We all like a bit of Donna Hay, don't we? - she is an icon of Aussie cooking.  I've made a couple of her biscuit recipes lately, but these were actually made way back in August last year for Cookbook Club.  This recipe is from Too easy, another of her popular cookbooks.  And there are so many more recipes I want to try ... 

Start these in plenty of time, as the dough has to rest in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up, before baking, and then sits for another 10 minutes after you take it out of the freezer, before going into the oven.  Huh?  Seems a wee bit odd to me, but anyways ...  Like many a cookbook, the recipes are not really built for a Queensland kitchen!

golden, nutty, delicious

Makes 20-22 biscuits:

ingredients:

250g./9 oz butter, melted

240g./8.5 oz brown sugar

220g./8 oz caster sugar

120g./4.5 oz almond meal (aka ground almonds)

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

300g./10.5 oz plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

135g./5 oz flaked almonds   see Notes

icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

Into a large bowl go the butter, brown sugar, caster sugar, almond meal, egg and vanilla - and give 'em a good stir to combine

The flour and baking powder get sifted over the top of this mix, and you give all that a good stir

Your flaked almonds are now sitting on a large plate, and you will then roll 2 Tbs of the dough into balls, then roll onto the plate to get covered in almond flakes

Put 'em onto a couple of large, baking paper-lined baking trays (leaving a bit of room around each ball), and whack into the freezer for 30 minutes (or more - till firm)

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

After 10 minutes out of the freezer, the trays are placed in the oven, and the biscuits baked for about 15 minutes or till golden   see Notes

Let 'em cool right down on the trays, then dust with the icing sugar

oh yes, vanilla paste

and pecans

Notes:

From my photos, it seems I didn't have enough flaked almonds to coat the dough balls in, so I used some chopped-up pecans to make up the difference!

Dunno why, but they took 20 minutes in my oven to get golden

ingredients gathered

stir together the sugars, melted butter, almond meal, egg, vanilla

and stir in the flour and baking powder till you have a soft dough

onto trays and into the freezer for half an hour to firm up

golden and nutty after 20 minutes baking

onto the wire rack to get really cool

pile 'em up!

don't forget the icing sugar!

Just FYI for anyone following my saga of the rotting, festering mangoes in our backyard: we have now picked up about 200 kilos!  There are still some lurking in the grass, looking like hairy dead rats!  Somewhat ironically, I made some mango/nectarine chutney last weekend - but with mangoes from our new neighbour's dad's garden - I think!  Though perhaps he just conjured them up from somewhere :=) 

biscuits/cookies!

Sydney Roadtrip

This post is a quickie photo essay!  We're still catching up on things after our roadtrip, and Mr P. has been very unwell with this awful cold and cough that lingers and lingers ...  Lots of bugs going around at the moment, apparently.  We think he caught it from being in so many hospital waiting rooms lately.

Mr P. organised our recent Sydney trip, heading down south to visit an old friend, and to hit as many art galleries as we could.  Was it eight or nine we managed?  Job well done, as the English say!  And it was wonderful to catch up with our old mate Jim, whom we have known since we were knee-high to a grasshopper, as the saying goes.

NERAM  (horse sculpture by Tim Storrier)

First off, we hit NERAM - the New England Regional Art Museum.  We try to get here once a year; it's about 5 or 6 hours drive from us, so we take a roadtrip!  And if you're lucky, you get to see some snow here in Winter.  Clearly, not now :=)  

driving over the Sydney Harbour Bridge - a few times!

a cute twiggy fella on top of someone's chimney

massive sculpture by Ron Mueck (Art Gallery of NSW)

Ron Mueck does amazing work.  These huge sculptures are very confronting, and fascinating.  I'm hiding the mmm extra-large appendages - hehehe ...

there were carrot pancakes for Mr P. at Archie's Café Co, Dover Heights

there were koi carp at the Gosford Regional Gallery, and Japanese Garden

Mr P. ate fried halloumi and scrambled eggs at The Point cafe, Avoca Beach

we admired a Brett Whiteley sculpture at the newly re-opened Newcastle Art Gallery

we had a gander at Smoky Bay Lighthouse

(By the architect James Barnet Colonial Architect for NSW, 1865-1890.)  He designed various public buildings and a number of lighthouses around New South Wales, including this one.  I love a lighthouse, my friends!  I'm thinking of joining the Lighthouse Society.  

and said hi to a wallaby having his/her lunch

We checked out the Trial Bay Gaol ruins; a "nice" prison, apparently

I ate Bircher muesli at the Hilltop Store

we drove to a sea view at Sawtell, looking north

and captured ourselves in the outdoor Sculpture Garden at the Grafton Regional Gallery

We shared a Black Forest croissant at the Ulmarra Food Co-op

and admired the water dragon in the leafy front courtyard

What a trip!  And probably our last for a while, till Mr P.'s treatments finish.  There are so many wonderful things to see in our big country.  If you can get here, my friends ...  

In My Kitchen - February 2026

Phew!  Made it!  Here we are in February already.  What a whirlwind this year is being.  Mr P. and I went on a roadtrip down south, where we visited an old friend (we've known him, and his now-deceased wife, for about 45 years!)  We miss you, Ailsa!  And Mr P. has started treatment for his cancer, so it's all go, here at our place.  Phew, what will happen next, I wonder?

How about you, my friends?  How is it all going?  The world is in a precarious place, it seems to me.  But fingers crossed, we will get through it all, and soon.  Come along, and join in our monthly get-together.  Share your kitchen (and garden) shenanigans with us all.  This is our happy place!  Looking forward to hearing about your 2026 life, my friends.  

driving over the Sydney Harbour Bridge on our roadtrip

In My Kitchen:

had to buy this one! A local artist's work, on a tea towel - so cute

bought this at a Toowooomba deli

Hubby took me on a surprise day out to his old hometown of Toowoomba.  We hit the deli of course, where we had coffee, and I bought a couple of things, including this Spanish olive oil (and the tea towel above).

another ceramic pourer, and the bronze snake that hubby bought me for Christmas

hubby carting out mangoes to the bin, before the garbage truck comes by

Usually, our mango tree (which is old and grumpy) doesn't produce more than a handful of fruit each summer, but this year every mango tree in the neighbourhood decided to go ballistic after early Spring rains and heat.  So we came back to about 150 kilos of 'em lying on the ground, rotting and fermenting and stinking!  Hubby and I got up early the next morning to pick up as much fruit as possible, to chuck in the bins, as it was bin day that day.  Groan ... ! 

bought these at a fabulous cafe in Ulmarra, NSW

What a fabulous little town this is!  So friendly, and such good food.  I have been watching a lot of that lovely British fellow who reviews tinned fish!  So I was inspired to try some different ones.

and I got these - from somewhere on our travels

bought these in a cheese shop in the Hunter Valley

and bought these - who knows where? :=)

you know a wooden spoon had to come into the equation! Carved by John Moody

there were chilli burns, and much yoghurt!

I made green jalapeño hot sauce, with only one glove!!

How foolish of me!  Left hand - all gloved up; right hand - nope!  OMG did it burn.  I tried ice, I tried cold water, I tried milk, I tried bi-carb soda, but in the end, I just had to stick my hand in a tub of plain Greek yoghurt and leave it for a couple of hours!  

another book!  I buy them from Blackwell's in the UK these days

and I pickled some cukes

the curveball: the most beautiful glass paperweight!

I bought this glorious glass piece by an artist called Nicole Ayliffe, from South Australia.  It is actually quite a large and heavy piece, and just so beautiful to hold, and stroke :=)

c. Sherry M.

Be a part of our friendly IMK community by adding your post here too - everybody welcome!  We'd love to have you visit.  Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  And one curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related.  

The link is open from the first of the month to midnight on the thirteenth of the month, every month.

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Culinary adventures with Lori

Culinary adventures with Lori

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Blueberry Soup with Caramelised Nut Clusters

Aka: Blabarsoppa med karamelliserade notter!  Swedish, don't you know? :=)  Blueberry soup has me intrigued, as the influencers say.  Or as Cherry the English YouTuber often says - "Colour me intrigued!"  I've made an Israeli fruit soup many years ago which was pretty tasty: made with fresh cherries, which took me forever to de-pit with just a knife and fingers.  But blueberry soup is new to me, and possibly you.  And no need for a cherry and olive (de-)pitter gadget.  

This dish is from Rachel Khoo's The Little Swedish Kitchen.  You know that lovely English lass from the TV show (and book) The Little Paris Kitchen, who married a Swede and moved to Sweden.  Let's cut to the chase - I tried making another recipe from this book - a poached chicken breast with pickled strawberry salad.  My dears, it was not good!  The chicken is poached in milk and stock; sadly it turned out like old boots!  The crows ended up with that. The salad was just ... odd, and the flavours didn't go well together.  Abandon ship!

Phase 2: I made this soup!  Not quite sure if it's meant to be a dessert or a breakfast, or a starter to a meal, as the Israeli cherry soup was.  There were oddities in the recipe (bits left out), and I am feeling a bit antsy about Rachel's recipes now.  The nut clusters are not sweet (a good thing in my opinion), and the soup is very fruity, and for me, best served chilled.  But not sure I'd ever feel the need to make this one again, to be honest.  (But it's worth a try - honest!!)  With a bit more sweetener, and a bit of spice, this could be great for breakfast!

      

crunchy, a bit savoury, and very fruity!

Serves 4:

ingredients:

For the nut clusters:

100g./3.5 oz walnuts

100g./3.5 oz pecans

50g./1.8 oz almond or hazelnut meal (aka ground almonds, or hazelnuts)

50g./1.8 oz golden syrup     see Notes

a pinch of sea salt flakes

For the soup:

500g./18 oz frozen blueberries

1 banana, sliced

2 Tbs water

a pinch of sea salt

sugar or honey (optional)

4 heaped Tbs plain yoghurt, to serve -  Greek-style is great here!

yep, blueberries!

walnuts

one guess!  Yep, a bananaaa

Method:

On goes your oven to 200C/390F to get toasty, while you roughly chop your nuts, and toss with the nut meal, golden syrup and salt

Line a baking sheet with baking paper, and spread the nuts over

Bake for around 20 minutes till toasty and golden (or kinda dark in this case), stirring every so often

Now for the soup - the blueberries and sliced banana go into a saucepan with the water and salt

Whack on the saucepan lid, and let the fruit simmer on a medium heat for a few minutes, giving it a stir here and there

When the berries have softened (Rachel says melted), and it's starting to bubble, let it simmer for another 2 minutes

Cool for a few minutes, then zap in the food processor - you can add a bit of water if you want it a bit looser in consistency - I ended up adding 12 Tbs of water (12 x 15 mL=180 mL)!

And throw in a bit more sweetener, if you fancy (and maybe a tiny bit of cinnamon?)

Rachel says you can serve this warm or chilled, with a swirl of yoghurt and some nut clusters on the top of your bowl or mug

Notes:

I reckon you could use other berries or fruits of your choice, like the afore-mentioned cherries

Just FYI: 1 banana weighs on average 118g./4 oz; the ladyfinger I used weighed 170g., and after peeling was 90g.

If you don't have golden syrup, use honey or maple syrup - and I reckon you could add a wee bit more than 50g.!

I made this recipe for BKD Cookbook Club, hosted by Jo each month.  We are doing Scandi recipes this month, from a cookbook of your choosing.  I do actually have a massive tome of Nordic cooking, but grabbed Rachel's as it was close to hand.  

pecans

nutty clusters ingredients

and baked till golden (brown)

fruit ready for "melting"

mm, well, looking kinda weird but ...

blitzed in the food processor

spoon on the yoghurt and throw on your nuts! :=)