Double Chocolate Freckles

Carmen of Awesome's birthday is upon us again and to help celebrate I decided to make these Double Chocolate Freckle Biscuits, as there are very few things happier than a bag of hundreds and thousands. This recipe is from the Australian Women's Weekly Cookies and you'll need to be prepared to giggle like a school girl as you bake as they are just so much fun Beat 125g soften butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1 egg with an electric mixer until combined. Then sift in 1 1/2 cup plain flour, 1/4 cup self raising flour, 1/4 cup cocoa powder and gently combine. To fully combine the dough you will need to knead it with your hands.

Take a sheet of baking paper, grease and gentle flour the surface and roll the dough until it 5mm thick. Cover it with baking paper and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced and cut the dough using 3cm round cutters and place them on grease cookie sheets.

Bake the discs for 12 minutes and when they start to firm up on the trays, move them to a cooling rack to complete the process. Though they appear soft and under cooked, I promise that the sugar will set them and you'll be left with delicious chocolaty slightly chewy cookies.

Melt 200g of 70% dark chocolate and pour 1/3 cup of hundreds and thousands into a shallow dish. Coat the plain discs with melted chocolate, dip it into your dish of technicolour goodness and allow them to set. Voila! The most amazing, happy biscuits ever! So simple, but so much fun!

Rhubarb Custard Melting Moments

To truly appreciate food you have to know how to cook and Food Bloggers are no exception. With the upcoming Brisbane Food Bloggers Picnic I knew I had to plate up something unique, tasty and visually splendid so I turned to my book shelf. I settled on Rhubarb Custard Melting Moments from the Women's Weekly Cookies cookbook as there something so appealing about the bright red rhubarb custard nested between two golden discs. I started by stewing 3 large stems of chopped rhubarb with 3 tablespoons of sugar and three tablespoons of water on low heat until the rhubarb was pulpy. Try to avoid taste testing as you could quite easily polish off the stewed rhubarb at this stage.

I then placed 2 tablespoons of custard powder, 2 tablespoons caster sugar and 1 cup of milk in a saucepan. I stirred it until the mixture boiled and thickened. Once I was happy with the consistency I removed it from the heat and added 2/3 cup of stewed rhubarb and was disappointed with the colour.

Thankfully my red and pink food colour pastes came to the rescue and gave the custard the desired colour. Once the custard had cooled, I covered the bowl in cling wrap and placed it in the fridge to set.

I preheated to 160°C before whipping 500g softened butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 cup of sifted icing sugar until light and fluffy. I then sifted in 2 cups of custard powder and 2 cups of plain flour and combined.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet and roll rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls. Place then approximately 5cm apart and flatten slightly with a floured fork. Bake for 15 minutes and allow them to stand for at least 5 minutes.

Once they are cool, take two golden discs and sandwich them together with your rhubarb custard. If you pad your container, they travel quite well and are best enjoyed with a cup of tea. Yum!