It has been a busy crazy two weeks. I say goodbye to living the high life of rent-free-North Shore living with my Aunt to living in the hipster Inner West in Sydney with good friends whom I had lived before with back in Canberra. Let’s do the time warp again!
So now I *must* stick to a budget.. ha ha ha and pay rent. I am very excited about this because it means I will go back to creative cooking again like the good old days! Focusing on flavours with cheaper ingredients. Though these last eight months without saving and spending loads of money on ‘special’ foods, pricey foods and eating at various restaurants have given me excellent ideas and motivation to test the waters of what I can eat and what I cannot (also accepting and enjoying food in general and not starving myself).
I recently made my well-known cupcakes (see the recipe under Non-Whipple Recipes) for my new work and all of them were gone by the time I finished my shift 3 hours later! I have a wonderful workplace with co-workers actually telling you how they like the food, especially when I try to make vegan food. One of the two vegans that has recently left work to have an adventure on a country farm gave me her baking stuff with a lovely note.
The next day, I took her advice and took an idea from the experimental rosemary chocolate brownies and the vegan chocolate biscuits that went down a treat with everyone and combined to make Rosemary and Dark Chocolate Biscuits. These are vegan (therefore lactose free), low sugar and of course, gluten-free! Almost like shortbread, not overly sweet and people will be at first uneasy about the rosemary yet will scoff them all.
So, heres to the next 6 months living in cool Inner West of Sydney and future adventures of cooking!
Rosemary & Dark Chocolate Biscuits
Prep time: 30mins – Cooking time: 10/15mins – Makes: at least 20
Rosemary & Dark Chocolate Biscuits
1 cup GF plain flour
1/2 dairy free spread (I used Light Nuttelex)
1/4 castor sugar
1/3 cup finely chopped dark chocolate (for vegans: double check ingredients)
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
pinch of xanthan gum (1/8th tsp-ish)
pinch cooking salt (1/8th tsp-ish)
In a medium mixing bowl, cream the spread and sugar with an electric whisk for a few minutes (the longer the better). Shift the flour on top and add the rest of the ingredients. Whisk the ingredients until satisfied and the electric whisk starts smoking and wishes to die (ok, don’t do that).
Gather the dough into a big ball, wrap in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for half an hour… this helps the spread to harden a bit and its traditional for these shortbread types to be chilled, I don’t know why they are so uptight that they need to relax. If I was still in Canberra I would offer the dough a joint to help it chill.
Anyho, after the joint. Heat the oven to the usual 180 degree Celsius, line two baking trays with baking paper. Retrieve the dough from the fridge, unwrap (duh) and pinch off a small amount (between a teaspoon – tablespoon), roll with your cool hands (I am actually blessed with cold hands and feet, making me perfect for pastry work and to ensure no one sleeps too close to you in bed). Pop onto the trays 2-3cm apart and press down a little.
Bake for at least 10 minutes. The sides will become golden and the insides are dry, though do be careful as these tiny biscuits can be cruel bastards and burn like hell when you’re pulling them a part to check.
Keep them on the trays until cool and put onto cooling rack.
Use them for bribery… or a gift. Bribes are more fun.
Love, the new-hipster-Inner-West-Sydney
Whipple Girl
The Whipple Girl's Cookbook 