Pumpkin and Sultanas Cookies

 I have a confession to make. I have never ever eaten or cooked pumpkin before. Ever.  

                        

Every autumn almost all stores packed full with pumpkins. Small and large, but always orange in colour would sit on the shelves. And every year I would slowly walk by them, hesitating to buy. 

I guess I was just afraid I won’t like how it tastes and not to disappoint myself I never bought one. Or maybe because I have never seen my mother cooking it. Either way, for the past seven years I avoided buying or tasting anything with pumpkin.

But every year seeing more and more scrumptious photos and recipes of pumpkin pies, cookies and soups, I finally decided to buy a pumpkin. 

Yes, I bought, cooked and ate it. And let me tell you, my oh my it was delicious! I only have one regret, and that is not buying one earlier!

First thing what I was eager to try were cookies. And you know what? They turned out better than I expected. Actually they were so good I made them twice since then. And I am sure there will be more pumpkin cookies in the future. Just maybe instead of sultanas there will be nuts or maybe chocolate.

Or both.

The Power of Buckwheat

 

Lately I see more and more recipes where buckwheat flour is used. I am not a stranger to the buckwheat and I enjoy it regularly but as a groats. I usually would have it with a simple sauce or just with a bit of butter. 

But seeing so many delicious looking recipes I was really tempted to try out a few.

So yesterday I spent quite some time in my kitchen cooking, baking and trying out and I ended up with 3 recipes I would like to share with you.

But before I will share them with you, let me tell you a word about the buckwheat.

The Daring Bakers’ September Challenge

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

This is my first challenge and I really enjoyed it :) For a quite some time I wanted to try to decorate with royal icing and that was perfect opportunity. 

Basic Sugar Cookies

Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

Preparation Time:
30 minutes: Making dough & rolling
1 hour min: Refrigeration
8-15 minutes: Baking per tray depending on size of cookies

Ingredients:

200g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

400g All Purpose

200g Caster Sugar

1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

In a bowl place butter, sugar and vanilla extract, beat until creamy. Add egg, beat until well combined.

Add sifted flour and beat on low until dough forms.

Knead dough into a ball then divide into 2-3 pieces. In between 2 parchment papers, roll out each piece of dough about 5 mm thick. Refrigerate for 30 min or more.

When ready, peel off parchment paper and transfer on a lightly floured surface.

Cut out cookies with cookie cutters or a knife. Transfer to a lined baking sheet and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

Bake cookies for 8-15 minutes in preheated to 180⁰C oven.

Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

315 g-375g Confectioner’s sugar

2 large egg whites

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Method:

In a bowl beat egg whites and lemon juice until well combined then sift sugar and add to the egg whites. Beat until smooth and well combined.

Use immediately or store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Swirls Cookies

(Makes approx. 25)

Ingredients:

For dough:

250 gram of flour

150 gram of softened butter

150 ml natural yogurt or sour cream

100 gram of sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

For filling:

60 gram of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

3 tablespoon sugar

Method:

For the dough, in a bowl combine together flour, baking powder and sugar. Add butter and mix well; then add yogurt or sour cream. Transfer dough to refrigerator for 30 minutes.

For the filling just mix all ingredients.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line baking tray with parchment paper.

Divide chilled dough in half. Place each half of the dough between 2 pieces of waxed paper and roll out into thin sheet. Sprinkle with cocoa filling and roll with hands using wax paper as support to oblong roll. Cut into 0.5-1 cm thick slices and place on the baking tray. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until done.