For most kids, Easter usually means school holidays, trips to the Royal Easter Show, swapping chocolate eggs with friends, and eating countless hot cross buns. I was certainly one of those kids, but these days I like to bake my own hot cross buns.

So far, I haven’t managed to do that this year. Not from lack of wanting to, mind you. I’ve just been a little busy with this and that. So a few days ago while I was making some chocolate cookie dough, it occured to me that I could rectify my hot cross bun-less situation.

The dough ended up being made into these caramel and chestnut cookies, but I also saved some dough scraps which I then added some raisins to, rolled out again and cut as rounds. Once baked, I piped crosses over the top of each cookie, using royal icing, and sandwiched them between vanilla ice-cream flavoured with lots of nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon (since I like my hot cross buns spicy).

I’m quoting the recipe for the basic chocolate cookie dough below, because it’s a handy one to have. As Fran Bigelow says in her cookbook, it is a very versatile dough which you can use not just for cookies, but also as a tart shell. I can imagine them being used to sandwich some salty caramel ganache, or mint flavoured buttercream or even fashioned into homemade Oreos somehow. In the meantime, I’m happy to have some Easter fare to enjoy.

Hot-Cross-Bun-Ice-Cream-Cookie-Sandwiches? Takes ten minutes to pronounce, I know, but only two seconds to scoff down.

Chocolate wafers :
(makes 24 cookies; recipe from Pure Chocolate by Fran Bigelow)

170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup dark Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 4 minutes.

Add the cocoa powder and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.

Add the egg and vanilla and blend thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl. Add the flour. Mix on low speed until the dough begins to hold together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 4 hours or overnight.

To bake, position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 162’C. Line a cookie sheet or two with parchment paper of Silpats.

Working quickly, on a lightly floured surface roll half the dough into a 12 x 12 inch square, about 1/8 inch thick. Using a 3 1/4 inch round cookie cutter, cut out about 12 cookies. With a metal spatula, transfer to a lined cookie sheet. Pierce each cookie with the tines of a fork several times. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until slightly dull on top. [Note : Mine were a little thicker and took slightly longer to bake] Transfer to racks to cool. They will crisp as they cool.

Repeat with the remaining dough, gathering the scraps together and gently kneading into a second batch. Store in an airtight container as long as 1 week.

The other day, my mother asked me if I would make some cookies for the upcoming visit of my sister and her family. Of course, I said yes straight away.

My sister, if you must know, is the model child in our family. Not only did she graduate from University with an honours degree, but she’s now married, and she had a wedding, which my mother got to organise in its entirety. She also now has two lovely little girls (and because she lives in New Zealand, my mother can play Granny without having to babysit too often). Furthermore, her husband happens to be the son of one of my dad’s childhood friends.

Even though being different personality types meant that we quarrelled a lot as kids (later to be united in our irritation of our much younger brother .. whom I must stress that I also love, just in case he reads this), I am in great debt to her because she was the one who introduced me to all kinds of literature. From Enid Blyton to Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman and William Gibson. Also, I still can’t imagine anyone else but my sister, who had no interest in my kind of music whatsoever, acquiescing to chaperone me to some extremely seedy pub in a dodgy location, just so that I could see a band I was obsessed with at the time.

When we were kids, we were rarely allowed to eat any kind of cookie beyond plain Marie biscuits or maybe homemade gingerbread. It was only during each Chinese New Year that there would be the unavoidable abundance of Chinese peanut cookies, love letters and tins of Danish butter cookies that at the time, we considered the ultimate luxury item.

I haven’t baked any cookies in awhile, so I guess I went a little bit overboard. This time, I have attempted a few new recipes, as well as some old favourites, like Alice Medrich’s Sesame Seed Coins. These cookies, which are quite similar in texture to Chinese Peanut Cookies, are incredibly tender and full of sesame flavour. In fact, you can even make them with peanut butter instead of tahini, but I think the original will always be the one I like best.

A good cookie, I believe, is like a celebration. A celebration of good ingredients, encapsulated in a few small bites. It connects me with the cup of tea I drink, the couch I’m slumped on, and the television I’m staring at, or a friend I’m celebrating the return of and the sister I’m looking forward to seeing again.

Pecan Penuche Shortbread with Rum :
(from Alice Medrich’s wonderful book, Pure Dessert)

170g unsalted butter, melted and still warm
99g firmly packed grated piloncillo sugar or light muscovado sugar
1 tablespoon dark rum
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/8 teaspoon salt
191g plain flour
73g pecans, coarsely chopped
Turbinado, Demerara, or granulated sugar for sprinkling

Line the bottom and four sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with foil. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter with the sugar, rum, vanilla and salt. Add the flour and half of the pecans and mix just until incorporated. Pat and spread the dough evenly in the pan. Let stand for at least 2 hours, or overnight (no need to refrigerate).

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 148’C.

Sprinkle the remaining pecans over the top of the shortbread and press them gently into the dough. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, leaving the oven on. Sprinkle the surface of the shortbread with pinches of the turbinado sugar. Let the shortbread cool for 10 minutes.

Using the foil, remove the shortbread from the pan, being careful to avoid breaking it. Use a thin sharp knife to cut it into squares. Place the pieces slightly apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment and return to the oven for 15 minutes to toast it lightly. Cool on a rack.

Shortbread keeps for several weeks in an airtight container.

A beautiful New Year’s Day. An opportune moment to rediscover the art of couch-potato-ing, and the perfect time for recovery. Not from the excesses of the night before, but from lack of sleep, due to the fire alarms going off at 4-5 o’clock throughout the whole of our apartment building this early morning. It’s cause remains a mystery still. All I know is that one alarm went off, and the other felt lonely so it started screeching too. Just like a koel.

Foggy mind notwithstanding, you can’t possibly go wrong when putting together these Cheddar biscuits. The recipe comes from Baking with Passion by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington; a cookbook from an artisanal bakery in London. I spied this book several months ago in a discount bookstore and bought it on a whim. The Benedict Bar and Oatmeal and Raisin Cookie recipes alone, have made the purchase worthwhile. These cheese biscuits, originally Parmesan (but mature Cheddar is an acceptable substitute), are delicious : crispy, buttery, lightly salty. The food processor virtually does all the necessary work and all you need to do after that is pour yourself a glass of tipple (Port, in this case, if it’s not too “last year” for your tastes).

Cheddar Biscuits:

335g plain flour
300g mature Cheddar, freshly grated
300g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Maldon salt, ground fine
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1-2 Tablespoons cold bottled spring water

1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons white sesame seeds
2 Tablespoons black sesame seeds

Put the flour, freshly grated Cheddar and chilled diced butter in a food processor with the cayenne, salt and black pepper. Whiz to a crumb, then slowly add the cold water through the feeder tube until the dough forms into a ball.

Scrape out on to a lightly floured surface and roll into a cylinder. You will cut the biscuits from this, so size the roll accordingly. Cling-wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Brush the cylinder with beaten egg and roll in the mixed sesame seeds to coat all over. Wrap and chill for a further hour.

Preheat the oven to 180’C. Cut the cylinder into 5mm slices and lay these on non-stick baking trays, leaving at least 2cm space around them. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.