Lemon And Lime Cookies With Poppy Seeds Recipe

My citrus lemon and lime cookie recipe with poppy seeds

Lemon and Lime zest cookies with poppy seeds

There's an amazing smell in the kitchen right now. There's a waft of lemon and lime throughout the house which is giving a fantastic citrus aroma. The bonus to that is that I really love the sour sweet taste of lemon. I'd rather have something lemony for dessert than chocolate and that seems really strange to friends and colleagues but that's just me!

Ingredients for making my Lemon and Lime Cookies

125 grammes of softened unsalted butter

175 grammes of caster sugar

The zest and juice from 1 lemon

The zest and juice from 1 Lime
250 grammes of plain flour
20 grammes of poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

Grating a lemon to add it's zest to my cookies

Making my lemon and lime cookies with poppy seeds

1. I started by melting the butter and sugar together in a large bowl perched over the top of a small bowl of hot water to allow the steam to warm the base of the bowl and slowly melt the butter. I find it's a great way to stop it being heated too quickly and curdling.

2. I then grated the zest from a lemon and a lime, adding it to the mixture as well as a healthy squeeze of the juices from both fruits.

Lemon and Lime zest ready to use in my biscuits

4. I then sifted the flour, baking powder and poppy seeds into the mixture before stirring together with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to form a dough. I then continued mixing together with my hands to really knead the dough together as it will feel rather soft and putty-like.
5. I split the mixture in two, then rolled it into balls and covered with cling-film and placed in the fridge for an hour to harden.

Tow balls of cookie dough in the fridge ready to roll out

6. After removing the dough from the fridge I further rolled it out into long round tubes and placed back in the refrigerator for a further hour

Two long tubes of lemon and lime cookie dough ready to go back into the refrigerator for an hour

7. Upon removal from the fridge I thinly sliced the tubes of dough to create rounds around 5 millimetres deep and then placed them on baking trays covered with greaseproof baking paper. The rounds will spread out slightly so it's best to leave around 2 centimetres to an inch between rounds prior to baking.
8. I then baked my lemon and lime cookies for 12 minutes at 170 Celsius (325 Fahrenheit or Gas Mark 3)

My lemon and lime zest cookies with poppy seed straight from the oven

Once baked, turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes before enjoying.

Lemon and Lime biscuits and a cuppa- Nothing better for a relaxing afternoon

Sesame and Linseed Biscuits- Seedy Pleasure

This week I thought I would try something new. I've never made biscuits which focus on the flavours of seeds but a quick browsing through the home baking aisle in Sainsbury's showed just how cost effective it is to buy packs of seeds instead of using nuts or good quality chocolate. I'm always looking for something that will save me a little money when preparing foods. Yes, ready made from the supermarket is often cheaper but there's nothing like baking your own. 

Sesame and Linseed Biscuits- Seed goodness in a sweet form

Ingredients for baking my seedy pleasures- sesame and linseed biscuits

Makes 25+ biscuits

100 g of sesame seeds
100 g of linseed
150 g of caster sugar

2 eggs (or one large double-yolk egg)

1 tsp vanilla extract or flavouring

2 tbsp plain flour

Making my linseed and sesame cookies was pretty simple

Biscuits and a teddy bear- sesame and linseed cookies

My recipe instructions..

1. Oven was preheated to 160 Celsius, (315 Fahrenheit or Gas Mark 2-3)
2. I Beat together a very large double yolk egg, the vanilla extract and the caster sugar until they were all combined into one wet paste.
3. I added the two tablespoons of flour to the mixture, turning it into the paste
4. Then I turned the sesame seeds and linseed into the mixture. It will feel a little runny but this isn't an issue. 
5. I set aside four baking trays covered with greaseproof baking paper although you could do two batches if you choose. If you do worry about sticking to the paper you could use shot of sunflower oil fry light (one calorie per shot) 
6. I placed 6 teaspoons of the mixture onto the covered baking paper as the mixture feels pretty runny. I've made the mistake of putting too much mixture too close in the past. It will run outwards over time so don't place it too close!
7. I baked each tray of biscuits for 15 minutes in the preheated oven.
8. After allowing each tray to cool I moved the paper sheets of biscuits onto a wire rack for further cooling. 

Nothing better- coffee and cake with my home-made sesame seed and linseed biscuits

Why use sesame seeds?

There are a large number of health benefits of sesame seeds

• Sesame seeds are rich in antioxidants which can help towards fighting cancers.
• High levels of minerals like iron and calcium give them a significant nutritional value.
• They're high in polyunsaturated fats which are the healthy fats.
• Sesame seeds are mentioned in many Ayurveda texts for their health benefits. 

Almond Crisp Biscuit Recipe- Go Nuts!

Simple and easy baking on a Saturday morning- 

My Almond Crisp Biscuits

My gorgeous almond crisp biscuits- These won't last for long!

It was pouring with rain this morning. Ideally I'd have been out training on the bike but having raced a couple of nights ago in abysmal conditions and been absolutely soaked I decided a better idea would be to do an easy hour on the cycling rollers and then head into the kitchen as I'd promised to bake some cookies for a friend.

I had a look through a few of my recipe books and decided on some Walnut crisps from a book a friend bought me as a birthday present knowing my love of sweet treats. Cookies- A fine selection of sweet treats (as featured to the right) from Murdoch Books.
Sadly I didn't have any walnuts at home so I have made mine with almonds instead.

Ingredients for baking my gorgeous almond crisp biscuits, 

170g of flaked almonds (Or ground almonds if you choose)

115g of caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract or flavouring

2 tbsp plain flour

Not sure I can resist eating these almond crisps for long!

How I made my biscuits

1. Oven was preheated to 160 Celsius, (315 Fahrenheit or Gas Mark 2-3)
2. I Beat together one whole egg, one egg yolk, the vanilla extract and the caster sugar until they were all combined into one wet paste.
3. I added the two tablespoons of flour to the mixture, turning it into the paste
4. Before turning the flaked almonds into the mixture. It will feel a little runny but this isn't an issue and is nothing to worry about.
5. I set aside two baking trays covered with greaseproof baking paper
6. I placed 6 teaspoons of the mixture onto the covered baking paper as the mixture feels pretty runny. I've made the mistake of putting too much mixture too close in the past.
7. I baked for 15-17 minutes in the preheated oven. The biscuits had a golden glow at this point.
8. The recipe in the book then said I should allow the tray to cool and transfer to a wire rack. At present I don't have a wire rack so I might need to treat myself to one of these next payday. Instead I just allowed them to cool on the trays before removing.

How long did they last- well my dad saw them and took a great big handful. I think there might be some left in the 'hands-off' bell jar I've placed them within for the moment. I never expect any biscuits to last long at home though.