• About
  • Blog
  • Recipe Index
  • Your Celebrations
  • Contact Me
Menu

Serendipity Bakes

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number

Your Custom Text Here

Serendipity Bakes

  • About
  • Blog
  • Recipe Index
  • Your Celebrations
  • Contact Me

Anzac Cookies with Salted Caramel Sauce

April 25, 2016 Nicola King

Every year, we celebrate today with a batch of Anzac cookies. Although living in the UK, we want our boys to remember their New Zealand heritage and every year Anzac Day honours the armies of New Zealand and Australia who fought at Gallipoli. Sweet Anzac cookies have become associated with the war because their ingredients don't spoil easily and so the wives of the army men could send these little biscuits to their loved ones and they wouldn't spoil on the long journey.

These cookies are simple to make and are full of ingredients that could easily be found in your kitchen at home. I wanted to shake them up a little so thought it would be fun to add a drizzle of salted caramel to make them even more delicious :)

We start by popping the oats, sugar and coconut into a bowl and sifting the flour in there too, whilst the golden syrup and butter are melted together over a low heat. When the butter and syrup are smooth and well mixed, we take the bicarb and mix it a tablespoon and a half of water, pop it in the saucepan with your sugary mixture and stir. Remove it from the heat and then pour this into the dry ingredients. The mixture needs to be combined well and then you're ready to shape your little cookies.

To make my cookies evenly sized, I always take a little time to weigh each cookie (these ones were around 30G each) but you can eyeball each scoop if you prefer. We roll the cookies into little balls and pop them onto a lined baking tray. When they're all ready, flatten each one a little and they're ready to go in the oven. Super easy.

They're quick to bake but it gives you just enough time to make the salted caramel sauce. We melt the golden syrup and sugar in a saucepan and then stir in the butter, cream and salt. Super yummy! Let it cool down to room temperature and when the cookies are baked and cooled, you can have lots of fun drizzling them with the sweet, sticky sauce :) I topped them with another sprinkling of sea salt. And they're done!

It's great to honour traditions and with something so simple to bake you can get the kids involved in the kitchen. Last year, my little boy made Anzac cookies for his house cookery competition and loved every minute!

But don't think that their simplicity means that they're not absolutely delicious and I think the salted caramel gives them an extra special twist.

They're just perfect for sharing with loved ones and friends 💕 

Anzac Cookies with Salted Caramel Sauce

Makes around 20 cookies

Cookie Ingredients

  • 200G PLAIN FLOUR
  • 100G ROLLED OATS
  • 110G CASTER SUGAR
  • 65G DESICCATED COCONUT
  • 45G GOLDEN SYRUP
  • 150G UNSALTED BUTTER
  • 1/2 TSP BICARBONATE OF SODA

Caramel Sauce Ingredients

  • 100G LIGHT SOFT BROWN SUGAR
  • 50G GOLDEN SYRUP
  • 75G UNSALTED BUTTER
  • 75ML DOUBLE CREAM
  • 1 TSP SEA SALT

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan)
  2. Line two baking trays
  3. Put the oats, sugar and coconut in a bowl and sift the flour over the top
  4. Stir to combine
  5. Melt the butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over a medium heat until melted and smooth
  6. Mix the bicarb with with a 1.5 tablespoons of water
  7. Add this to the sugar mixture and remove from the heat
  8. Mix this with the dry ingredients until fully combined
  9. Form little balls of mixture (weigh them if you want identical cookies) and place them on the baking trays
  10. Flatten each ball slightly and then pop them in the oven for around 10-12 minutes or until they are golden in colour
  11. Whilst they're in the oven, make your salted caramel sauce
  12. To make this, place the sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan with a tablespoon of water
  13. Bring it just to the boil and then simmer for 3 minutes
  14. Add the butter, cream and sea salt in one go and stir for another minute until everything is melted and fully incorporated
  15. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature
  16. When they cookies and the salted caramel are cooled, drizzle the cookies with the caramel
  17. Add a final flourish of sea salt to the cookies and enjoy :)
In Celebrations, Biscuits & Cookies Tags Cookies, Anzac Cookie, Salted Caramel, Coconut, Golden Syrup
Comment

Bonfire Toffee

November 4, 2015 Nicola King

We're just one day away from Bonfire Night and the anticipation is hanging in the air in our house. The boys are SO excited! We're having a mini fireworks party with friends and have our sparklers at the ready. And what could be more perfect to eat but Bonfire Toffee?

I have been hanging on to this recipe for a few months until the perfect time, which would be right about now. I adore Annie Rigg and her beautiful photography which makes me want to go and make everything in her books right now. So it was hard work hanging on for this long. Believe me. I've read up on a number of recipes for this lovely toffee but decided to stick 100% with Annie's recipe. I don't consider myself a sweetie maker and on several occasions have fallen prey to not getting my temperature quite right and coming out with a sticky goo concoction, so I wanted a trustworthy recipe for my first attempt at this.

If you'd like to attempt this at home - it's easy as long as you (1) own a sugar thermometer and (2) follow the instructions like your life depends on it. It's all about timing. And patience. After putting all your ingredients into a large saucepan, you bring them slowly to the boil (stirring a few times to make sure it's all well-mixed and the butter has melted) and then slowly boil it for 20 mins until it reaches 130 degrees ("hard ball" stage). Then after submerging the base of the pan in cold water and giving it a couple of stirs, pour it into a tin lined with greaseproof paper. And wait for it to cool. Then snap it into pieces or cut it up and store it in boxes between layers of greaseproof paper or in little individual sweetie papers.

The taste of this toffee is a lovely deep flavour, sort of smokey where the undertones of the treacle really shine through. I can see why it's called Bonfire Toffee. It's reminiscent of big smokey bonfires with strong flavours and a lovely chewy consistency.

If you fancy having a go at making sweets, the only investment you need to make for simple sweets is a good sugar thermometer. Which also comes in handy if you like making macarons my way. Or jam. And if you do fancy having a go at sweets, do try this recipe (even if it's not Bonfire Night).

I promise you, it's gooooood!

Bonfire Toffee Makes around 50 squares (from Annie Rigg's Sweet Things)

Ingredients

  • SUNFLOWER OIL (for greasing the tin)
  • 20CM SQUARE BAKING TIN
  • 125G UNSALTED BUTTER
  • 200G CASTER SUGAR
  • 150G BLACK TREACLE
  • 125G GOLDEN SYRUP
  • 50G CREME FRAICHE
  • 1/4 TSP CREAM OF TARTAR
  • 100ML WATER
  • PINCH OF SEA SALT FLAKES

Method

  1. Grease the baking tin with sunflower oil and then line it with greaseproof paper
  2. Place the butter, sugar, treacle, golden syrup, creme fraiche and cream of tartar into a large saucepan (2.5 litre capacity)
  3. Add the sea salt and water
  4. Set over a low heat until the butter is melted and sugar dissolved
  5. Stir mixture from time to time until it's smooth
  6. Then put the sugar thermometer into the pan and bring to the boil
  7. Cook steadily for around 20 minutes until the temperature reaches 130 degrees (I have an induction hob and I kept the temperature on 6 out of 9)
  8. Remove from the heat and plunge the base of the saucepan into a sink of cold water
  9. Stir the mixture a couple of times and then pour it into the prepared tin
  10. Either score the toffee whilst it's still warm if you want to finally have it in uniform squares or you can snap pieces off when it's cold
  11. Leave in a cool place to set
  12. Enjoy for up to 2 weeks :)
In Chocolates & Sweeties, Celebrations Tags Toffee, Treacle, Golden Syrup
Comment

Monte Carlo Biscuits

September 8, 2015 Nicola King

We're back from our final fling of the summer in Tuscany and appear to have left the sunshine behind us! There are only two days left until the boys go back to school. Wow, where did nine weeks go? It's been a whirlwind of going away, entertaining the boys and having lots of visitors as well as a very important fifth birthday for my youngest. I've baked many of my favourite recipes time and again, recipes I've discovered through this blog. And when my gluten-free niece came visiting from New Zealand,  I didn't bat an eyelid at baking some special cakes and puds for her when a year ago the idea of gluten free baking would have sent me into a spin!

I have a stack of recipes I'm looking forward to trying when a little more of the day is my own again but for today, the weather is grey and gloomy so we're having our last lazy day of the summer hols and the boys wanted to turn their hands to baking something yummy. It had to be something whose ingredients are store cupboard essentials as we haven't been near a supermarket since our return from sunnier climes.

We decided upon Monte Carlo Biscuits. These Australian classic biscuits are sweet and filled with jam and buttercream and have been made by Arnott's Biscuits since 1926. I must confess I have never had one before. I saw a version of the recipe on the Australian Good Food website and Frank Camorra's comment on there made me smile: "I remember the first time I saw a Monte Carlo, I couldn't believe how big it was". Having made them today, I can completely relate to that. They are enormous.

I love coconut so for me, this is my favorite part of the cookie but the addition of golden syrup (or you could use honey) also makes them lovely and chewy too. As I said before, they are enormous and I would definitely make something a little daintier next time - I mean, my youngest struggled to get it in his mouth for a bite! There are a lot of recipes available for these biscuits, very similar in ingredients and method. Not having tasted one of these before, I opted for Donna Hay's vanilla buttercream filling which is pretty sweet and has a higher butter content than most of the other recipes - and is exceptionally yummy :)

As the finished biscuits are 7cm in diameter, next time I would divide the dough in half again and make 20 sandwiched biscuits. But these biscuits are gorgeous. I can see why they're such a favourite down under.

Not sure they'll be hanging around for long in this house. Especially when my antipodean hubby spots them ;-)

Monte Carlo Biscuits Makes 10 biscuits sandwiched together (adapted from Donna Hay and Modern Australia | Good Food)

Biscuit Ingredients

  • 125G UNSALTED BUTTER, SOFTENED
  • 160G LIGHT BROWN SUGAR
  • 2 TBSP GOLDEN SYRUP (or you could use honey here as an alternative)
  • 1 EGG
  • 300G SELF-RAISING FLOUR
  • 50G DESSICATED COCONUT
  • 70G STRAWBERRY JAM (or you could use raspberry jam)

Buttercream Ingredients

  • 160G UNSALTED BUTTER, SOFTENED
  • 200G ICING SUGAR
  • 1 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan)
  2. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper
  3. Beat together the butter, sugar and golden syrup until light and creamy - this should take 2-3 minutes
  4. Add the egg and mix it until just combined
  5. Sift the flour over the dough and add the coconut, then mix together until they're combined
  6. Divide the mixture into 20 balls (around 35g per ball) and place them on the prepared trays ensuring enough space for them to spread
  7. Bake for 12 minutes until they're golden brown
  8. Leave them to cool on their trays for 5 mins and then transfer them to a cooling rack until they're cool
  9. Make the buttercream by placing the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract in the mixing bowl and beating the buttercream for around 5 mins until smooth and creamy
  10. Either spread or pipe a dollop of buttercream on half of the cooled biscuits
  11. Add jam on top of the buttercream and then sandwich the biscuits together using one of the halves without cream or jam
  12. Enjoy :)
In Biscuits & Cookies Tags Coconut, Golden Syrup, Strawberry Jam, Buttercream, Monte Carlo
Comment

To subscribe, please enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Yay for the weekend!! If you saw how I made pineapple flowers earlier this week, here they are adorning my very first Hummingbird cake. I am totally in love with them! I also added a few @edible_flowers to complement them and this makes the perfect w
I was so grateful to be #gifted some beautiful @cotswoldflour flour recently with a challenge to make something from my #bakingbucketlist and so I set about making a Nutella babka and scrolls with them. I’ve had a mixed love affair with bread m
I found the cutest miniature pineapple in the local petrol station co-op so decided to make these roasted pineapple flowers. I think they’re so pretty and remind me of lovely sunflowers. I thought they’d go well with a Hummingbird cake so
We had great fun baking this Malteser Millionaire’s Shortbread which is absolutely delicious! This was something the boys wanted to bake - who can resist a delicious shortbread base, topped with gooey caramel and then a final layer of swirled m
As the rain and clouds returned to our skies this weekend, we’ve been looking for comforting lockdown treats. These Blackberry & Star Anise Friands, dripping with sticky blackberry juice icing are the perfect choice 💗 The recipe is from Sw
You might have seen from my Stories this weekend that I made cinnamon buns. I don’t have the best track record with bread but I’m overcoming my inner fear! These buns were so delicious. It was an amalgamation of a few recipes but the base
  • Serendipity Bakes
    Coconut & Raspberry Friand Muffins
    May 29, 2019, 9:38 PM
  • Serendipity Bakes
    Thank you for sharing my photo of your delicious recipe 😋 @rkhooks Happy Sunday! https://t.co/niKamgfjvt
    Mar 3, 2019, 2:38 PM
  • Serendipity Bakes
    RT @BiscuiteersLtd: Our friends at @thewhitecompany asked us to design something special to celebrate their New York stores first birth… https://t.co/kTsMH57wRv
    Jun 28, 2018, 11:09 AM

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Powered by Squarespace

Nicola King at Serendipity Bakes Follow my blog with Bloglovin Follow