I had lunch at a friend’s place over the weekend. She happens to make the most divine sweet things – most recently, a Noah’s Ark cake with little sugar animals – monkeys, lions, elephants. Clumsy me, I picked up an elephant to ooh and aah over it, and not only did the head drop off, but half of it’s ear also chipped off! So I don’t think delicate sugar art is really my thing.

Instead, for Habeas Brulee’s theme for SHF #26, I’ve raided my cupboard for some long-unused items. Along with a bag of coloured sugar and some maple sugar chips, I’ve used ye olde faithful icing sugar to decorate a batch of beautifully buttery shortbread biscuits. The biscuit is quite delicate with a nice snap to it, and an enhanced crunch and presentation factor thanks to the colourful sugar crystals. And might I add, a light dusting of icing sugar has managed to cure many a baking mistake of mine in the past. So here’s to the art of sugar therapy..

The recipe for these biscuits comes from Shannon Bennett’s My Vue. Instead of rolling each slice out individually as per the original recipe, I rolled and baked the dough as a large sheet, then stamped out the shapes after the shortbread was baked. The best part of making this, was nibbling on the trimmings!

Shannon Bennett’s Sable Biscuits :

450g plain flour
50g cornflour
400g butter, chopped into dice, at room temperature
200g icing sugar
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 160’C. Sift the flour and cornflour into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the butter and sugar, work together with your fingertips until no hard lumps remain. Add the egg yolks and salt, drawing in the flour. Work until the dough resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Do not overwork. Roll the pastry into a log and refrigerate for several hours. Cut the dough into 6mm slices and briefly knead each slice. Roll each slice out to a thickness of 3mm; they will be extremely delicate. Place on a greaseproof paper-lined baking tray, allowing space for spreading. Bake for 10 minutes, or until just golden on the edges.

It would take a strength too great to put into words, for me to resist the offer of a petit four. A little bite of something sweet is the perfect way to end a meal. Like a miniature dessert to be popped into the mouth and washed down with tea, especially if you don’t have the room to eat a whole dessert. This lack of room is a malady unheard of, by those of us who have a separate stomach compartment for desserts. But sometimes all you want is a wahffer-theen something-or-other, and that’s where the petit fours come in.

Chocolate is usually my favourite petit fours flavour. At Vue de Monde in Melbourne, one of the petit fours they serve are cute mini chocolate bars. I have also seen in various restaurants, chocolate truffles served up in all sizes, flavours and forms, and balls of ice-cream impaled on cocktail sticks and dipped in chocolate.

This month’s SHF event (#24) theme is petit fours, which I couldn’t resist having an attempt at. It’s my first time participating, so I hope you’ll forgive any transgressions as I veer off into the wilderness and present :

R2D2 chocolate caramel petit fours (or R2P4’s) : I had so much fun making and eating Stormtrooper cookies recently that I wanted to do more on a similar theme. And who more perfect than R2D2 with his little round body to sandwich a caramel flavoured chocolate filling? These R2D2s are small enough to be consumed in 2-3 bites and satisfyingly chocolatey enough to conclude any meal with.

Basic tuille mix :

125g unsalted butter, melted
125g caster sugar
125g egg whites
125g plain flour, sifted

Stir the butter and sugar together in a bowl. Gradually add the whites, stirring to combine. Fold in the flour. Place a third of this mix into a separate bowl. Add about 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder into this bowl. Mix well. This is your cocoa tuille mix for adding detail to your cookies. The depth of colour will depend on the type and quantity of cocoa you use. Cover and chill both mixes for at least 20 minutes before using.

When ready to be used, spread the mixture over your prepared template with a small palette knife. I used cardboard from a cereal box to make the R2D2 template. Add detail using a piping bag filled with cocoa tuille mix. Bake at 160’C until lightly golden brown (this only takes a few minutes). When cool, sandwich with a filling of your choice. Here, I have used a chocolate caramel truffle filling.

(I also submitted my little R2D2’s to October’s DMBLGIT, which is being hosted by Andrew at SpittoonExtra. Check out the other photos here).

A couple of weeks ago, B sent me this link, and all of a sudden I had this great need to learn how to knit, never having touched a pair of knitting needles in my life before this point. I must say, hats off (or cast off) to all those people who make knitting look easy, because I found understanding it to be quite a trial. It was as headache inducing as learning biochemistry. But now that I’m beginning to grasp it, thanks to Mir, I’m loving it. I love the whole process of creating something with your hands – which could explain why I love baking too.

To celebrate the completion of my Princess Leia beanie, I decided to make some Stormtrooper cookies, for a laugh. The batter is a simple tuille mixture, which I then spread over a hand-made template (couldn’t find a Star Wars cookie cutter on the internet,.. funny that, i thought the internet had everything!), drew the outlines with some mixture that had been darkened with cocoa powder, and then baked these until light golden. I found it better not to fill in the features that are supposed to be darker (eg. the nose and eyes), because I don’t think you can really respect a Stormtrooper if he looks like Ron Jeremy!

And so it was under the eaves of my new ear warmers, that I sipped some tea and did damage to a couple of Stormtroopers. All in a day’s work, folks.. all in a day’s work.

(This one is for Mir who jump-started my new favourite pasttime and for Maureen who brought it all together at the last minute. Mir, I promise I’ll post pictures of the beanie soon.)