Oma's Hazelnut Lemon Cookies

My beautiful Mum passed away on the 1st October 2013.

Mum never wrote down the recipe for her cookies. Luckily my niece knew the recipe by heart because she and Mum had made them so often together (hence the name 'Oma's cookies').

You can enjoy these cookies anytime (Mum always made sure the cookie jar was full!) but for me they are the perfect Christmas Eve treat.

Ingredients:
60g icing sugar
105g brown sugar
250g butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
200-250g plain flour (approx.)
175g hazelnut meal
Juice of half a lemon
Icing sugar (enough to form icing consistency)
Walnut pieces

To make the cookies:
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
2. Cream butter, icing sugar and brown sugar until light and creamy.
3. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla.
4. Sift half the flour into the mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon.
5. Gradually mix in the hazelnut meal.
6. Continue to add flour until the mixture forms a cookie dough.
7. Roll teaspoons of dough into balls and place on trays lined with baking paper.
8. Using a folk, gently press down on each ball until slightly flattened.
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until tops of cookies are only just starting to turn light golden brown at the edges (it is important not to over bake).
10. Cool cookies on wire racks.

To decorate:
1. Mix together lemon juice and icing sugar until desired consistency is achieved (just enough so that the icing doesn't run too much when placed on the cookies).
2. Using a knife or teaspoon, spread a small amount of icing over each cookie.
3. Place a couple of walnut pieces immediately on top of the icing.
4. Allow to set completely.

Variation:
To make plain chocolate chip cookies, omit the hazelnut meal, change the quantity of flour to 315g and add chocolate chips to the mixture after Step 6. Leave un-iced or ice with melted chocolate instead of lemon icing. You can also keep the hazelnut meal and just add chocolate chips to the mixture.

Lemon Shortbread Cats

Use the Lemon Shortbread Stars recipe but cut the dough into little cat shapes instead of stars. The silver cachous make perfect little cats eyes!

Almond Burnt Butter Biscuits

Ingredients:
125g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup plain flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup almonds, chopped

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays with non-stick paper.
2. Melt the butter over low heat and continue to cook until light brown; cool slightly.
3. Beat the sugar with the melted butter, then stir in the egg and vanilla.
4. Fold in the flours and salt.
5. Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place on baking trays.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until pale golden.

Jam Drops

Ingredients:
180g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 egg
2 cups plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
raspberry jam

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays with non-stick paper.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy.
3. Add the egg and beat well.
4. Stir in the flour and baking powder; mix to form a dough.
5. Roll heaped tablespoons into balls and place on baking trays, leaving 2 inches between each biscuit to allow for spreading.
6. Using the end of a wooden spoon, press deep dents into each ball of dough (you may need to dip the end of the spoon into some flour to stop it from sticking to the dough).
7. Fill each indent with a 1/4 teaspoon of jam.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden.

Adapted from "Spoon-dent biscuits with lemon curd" in Donna Hay Magazine, 33, June/July 2007. p. 144.

Number Birthday Biscuits

I made these biscuits for my 30th Birthday using the Lemon Shortbread Stars recipe. I then sprinkled each biscuit with hundreds and thousands: it's important that you decorate the biscuits straight after dipping them in the icing otherwise the icing will set and the hundreds and thousands will just bounce off!

Linzer Jam Biscuits

Ingredients:
180g butter, softened
155g brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon lemon peel
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
250g plain flour
125g almond meal
raspberry and/or apricot jam
icing sugar

Method:
1. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the brown sugar, baking powder, lemon peel, cinnamon, allspice and salt.
2. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla essence.
3. Beat in as much flour with a mixer as you can, then mix in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon.
4. Mix in the almond meal until the mixture forms a dough. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, then chill for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 190 degrees.
6. Roll dough onto a lightly floured surface to a 3mm thickness and cut out rounds (for the bottom layer) and rounds with shapes cut out of the centre (for the top layer).
7. Bake for 6--8 minutes, or until the edges are firm and the bottoms browned.
8. Cool on a rack, then assemble by spreading a layer of jam on the bottom side of a round and then placing a decorative round (dusted with icing sugar) on top.
Note: Store the biscuits unassembled, then assemble up to a few hours before serving.

Lemon Shortbread Stars

Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons rice flour
200g unsalted butter
1/3 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice, extra
silver cachous
coloured decorative miniature stars

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays with non-stick paper.
2. Place the plain flour, rice flour, butter and sugar in a food processor and process until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add the lemon rind and lemon juice; process until mixture forms a dough.
4. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, then roll out to a 5mm thickness.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until slightly coloured.
6. Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until smooth. Use a knife to spread the icing over the biscuits, then decorate the biscuits with the silver cachous and miniature stars before the icing sets.

Adapted from "Shortbread stars with lemon glaze" in Family Circle. (1994). Biscuits & slices step-by-step. Sydney: Murdoch Books.