The food of Mexico has been chosen by Dhivya of Culinary Bazaar, to kickstart her event celebrating the various cuisines of the world.

I fancied something small and sweet to have with the copious cups of tea I have been indulging in, now that the weather has gotten much cooler, so I thought I would try making a batch of Mexican Wedding Biscuits. I’ve seen many recipes for these biscuits around, and the idea of ‘wedding biscuits’ sounds so cheerful and celebratory, that I knew it was only a matter of time before I got inspired to finally make them one day.

Mexican Wedding Biscuits, also known as Polvorones de Nuez are rich buttery shortbread-style biscuits containing chopped nuts. These biscuits are usually rolled in icing sugar after they’re baked. Apparently they are traditionally served at weddings and most festive occasions, though I can’t say I’ve ever been lucky enough to attend a wedding featuring these lovely biscuits.

This recipe by Belinda Jeffery, comes from a surrogate aunt who made a huge batch of these biscuits for Belinda’s wedding. My only change to the recipe was that I rolled the biscuit dough into balls rather than dropping teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking trays.

‘Auntie’ Beryl’s Mexican Wedding Biscuits :
(Makes about 45; from Mix & Bake by Belinda Jeffery)

250g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into large chunks
80g pure icing sugar, sifted
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
70g roasted hazelnuts or pecans, finely chopped
300g plain flour, sifted
icing sugar, for coating

Preheat oven to 175’C. Line two or three baking trays with baking paper and set aside.

Put the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat them together on medium speed for 5 minutes or until they’re light and fluffy. In another bowl, thoroughly mix the nuts and flour together. Tip the nut mixture into the butter mixture and stir the together until they’re well combined.

Drop heaped teaspoonfuls of the biscuit mixture onto the prepared baking trays, leaving a few centimetres between each one so the biscuits can spread a little as they cook.

Bake the biscuits for about 20 minutes. Halfway through the baking time, rotate the trays so they sit on different shelves and turn each tray around, back to front, to help them cook evenly. After about 18 minutes, start checking the biscuits – they’re ready when the tops are speckled with gold and the bottoms are golden brown (lift them carefully to check as they’re rather fragile at this stage).

While the biscuits are baking, sift a thick layer of icing sugar onto a plate. When the biscuits are ready, remove them from the oven and let them cool for a minute or so on the baking trays. Sit a few biscuits at a time on the icing sugar and sift more icing sugar over the top. Transfer them to a wire rack and leave them to cool.

Dear Stuart,

So you said to write you something funny. But little did you know that I’m only capable of writing humorous accounts concerning bananas. Ha! So anyway, two bananas walk into a bar…

(..and if you are already laughing at this point, then there really is no need for me to continue and make up some lame punchline regarding banana splits…)

I don’t know why YOU would need cheering up though, when I’m the one who is staring down the barrel of unemployment in two weeks, with no prospects in sight. And I’m not even on holiday, like you are, somewhere in Cairns, on a boat, sucking down pina coladas from a hollowed-out Bethonga pineapple topped with a pastel coloured paper umbrella.

Or maybe you’ve reached the Mines. By the by, I hope you packed your own canary, because that’s all they care about at the airport, you know. When the lady behind the counter asks if you’ve packed your own canary and you say no, she might be all smiles above the waist, but under the desk she’s frantically fingering the “Did Not Pack Own Canary” emergency button and in less than a minute, you’ll be surrounded by two burly guards armed with dogs that are bred to look like Snoopy, sound like Scooby Doo but bite like a true German Shepherd. Just think about that, when you approach that counter. Just think about that.

But really, even though unemployment is a bit worrying, I’m looking forward to leaving and starting afresh. As a parting shot, I apparently have an order for 250 Butterfly Cakes just days before I’m due to go. The timing of it makes me sigh a little. However, I always try to say yes to whatever the BossMan asks for, and later run screaming to my nearest baking cookbook (sometimes I wonder if my day job is just a part-time hobby that has gone completely out of control!).

I thought I might attempt making some Butterfly Cakes this weekend but I woke up this morning and it was raining. Again. It feels more like chocolate brownie weather anyway, so I’ve shelved the cakes for the time being and have made a batch of Sherry Yard’s brownies instead. This one’s a definite keeper.

Write back, ok?

Out-Of-This-World Brownies :
(from Desserts by the Yard, by Sherry Yard)

109g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
113g unsalted butter, chopped
28g unsweetened chocolate (I used Kennedy & Wilson 99% Couverture)
200g bittersweet chocolate (used Lindt 58% Couverture)
2 large eggs
225g sugar

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 176’C. Grease and line an 8-inch square baking pan.

Sift together the flour and salt and set aside.

Melt the butter, unsweetened chocolate and bittersweet chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at 50% power for about 2 minutes. Stir with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth. Allow to cool to 32’C.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until fluffy. Using a whisk, gently beat in the butter and chocolate. Fold in the flour.

Scrape the batter into the pan and place in the oven. Bake, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through, for 25 to 30 minutes, until slightly firm to the touch and a crust has formed on top. A toothpick will not come out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan on a rack to room temperature.

I dreamed I was dying; as I so often do
And when I awoke I was sure it was true
I ran to the window; threw my head to the sky
And said whoever is up there, please don’t let me die
But I can’t live forever, I can’t always be
One day I’ll be sand on a beach by a sea
The pages keep turning, I’ll mark off each day with a cross
And I’ll laugh about all that we’ve lost
–Calendar Girl, Stars

What makes you feel alive? A song that reaches into your core. The wind that whips through your hair as your feet make light work of the flight of stairs that lead you to the gradually closing doors of a train. The perfect sentence in a book that tugs an unstoppable stream of tears from your eyes. Watching the upwards curl of someone’s lips as they taste something you have made. His kiss, thick with meaning.

When he goes, I wander around the house, feeling as if I don’t exist. Everything around has been condensed into a series of noises : the neighbour’s phone ringing, the cry of a child, the squeal of tires, a siren in the distance, laughter and clinking of glasses. Noises, from intangible sources. Nothing I am a part of. The last Cheezel, in a crumpled foil bag, that no one will claim out of politeness. In this isolation I eat nothing but tinned tuna and iceberg lettuce for a week. I take long walks in the dark evenings. Tea provides temporary comfort.

The day before he returns, I bake, and cook, and whisk, fold, simmer and stew. I love you, through mashed potato and braised octopus, flourless chocolate cake and green tea biscuits. A strange way to live life, I’ll admit. But we never did touch, hug or kiss, my family. What we want to say, we say with food. I love you, fried bananas, chilli crab, ripe persimmons. I’m proud of you, banana split, cream of mushroom soup. I’m angry with you, and when I’m angry, I don’t offer you anything, but when it’s alright again, we can have Milo, crisp red apples, Marie biscuits.

This post is for my beloved far flung family. My mother, in London, my sister and her family in Dunedin, my dad, in Kuala Lumpur and my brother in, erm, Pennant Hills.

The Perfect Family :
The perfect recipe for the perfect family doesn’t exist. It is continuously adapted and shaped according to circumstances and what life has dealt you : lemons, siblings, lemonade and love. My recipe contains a few of these things, including trust and honesty in varying, unmeasurable amounts.

Calendar Girl who is lost to the world Stay Alive
January, February, March, April, May I’m alive
June, July, August, September,October I’m alive
November, December, you all through the winter, I’m alive
I’m alive
–Calendar Girl, Stars