Meltaway shortbread cookies

These shortbread-like biscuits have almost become a pantry staple in our house, where, thanks to the 3 year old, they have become known as "circle bikkies", despite being only roughly round. They are more circle-shaped than "egg bikkies" (oval-shaped milk arrowroot biscuits) and Tiny Teddies, hence the name. ;-)

This recipe was adapted from the Meltaway Cookie recipe on Landee See, Landee Do, where the blogger ices them with enticing-looking cream cheese icing, but I have never felt the need to make these any sweeter. If you wanted to make the icing you could simply substitute dextrose for the powdered sugar at a 1:1 ratio. 


Meltaway shortbread cookies (AKA "circle bikkies")

Makes about 40 cookies, fitting on 3 large trays. 

• 250g butter (salted, or add a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter)
• 3/4 cup cornflour (cornstarch)
• 3/4 cup dextrose
• 1 cup plain (all purpose) flour

In a medium bowl, cream the butter until fluffy. Add cornflour and dextrose and blend well. Beat in flour until thoroughly mixed. Drop by small teaspoons onto baking sheet and flatten out with the bottom of a glass, dipping the glass in dextrose each time to prevent sticking. Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes or until just starting to brown. Allow to cool before storing in airtight container. 

Vanilla ice cream with homemade condensed milk

Have you ever made that ice-cream sandwich slice where you mix together condensed milk, whipped cream and a crushed chocolate bar, and sandwich it between two layers of malt biscuits? I love it every time, despite the fatty layer it leaves on the roof of your mouth. :D This is that recipe, with a homemade fructose-free condensed milk... minus the chocolate bar and biscuits, but still with the roof-of-the-mouth coating. If you give this a try, hopefully you'll agree with me that it proves it's not just the chocolate and biscuits that make it so good. 

Make condensed milk:

• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 1/3 cups dry milk powder (unsweetened. Maybe double-check that yours is gluten-free if you need that. My Coles brand milk powder lists only milk and soy emulsifier in the ingredients.)
• 2/3 cup dextrose (NOTE: I have updated this from 3/4 cup to 2/3 cup as it was very sweet.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Stir milk into cold water.

Microwave on high 45 seconds to 1 minute until steaming, then stir in dextrose & vanilla.

Refrigerate till cool before using.

You can use this condensed milk for other recipes, but I haven't tried it yet myself. It does seem much thinner than the canned stuff. 

After chilling, add

600ml thickened cream

Whip cream and condensed milk together until thick, then transfer to sealed container (at least 1.5L) and freeze. 

Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from http://www.glorioustreats.com/2010/04/recipe-perfectly-chocolate-cupcakes.html, which is from a Hershey's recipe.

Makes approximately 24 standard sized cupcakes

2 1/4 cups dextrose
1 3/4 cups plain (all purpose) flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Nestle baking cocoa)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cooking oil (I use coconut oil or extra light olive oil)
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup boiling water

1. Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 180C.
2. In a large mixer bowl, stir together dry ingredients (dextrose, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt).
3. Add milk, oil, rice malt syrup, vanilla and eggs. Beat on medium speed for one minute. 
4. Stir in boiling water. (Don't worry if the batter seems extremely thin – this is right.)
5. Fill liners 2/3 full with batter, leaving approximately a 1cm gap from the top of the liners. The easiest way to do this is to put the batter into a large measuring cup/jug with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.
6. Bake cupcakes for approximately 18-24 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean. 
7. Cool completely on wire rack before icing. My favourites are Whipped Chocolate Cream Icing and Raspberry Cream Cheese Icing - see below.

The cupcakes photographed here actually have chocolate cream cheese icing, which I had several attempts at but never really liked. My first attempt (following the recipe linked to above) was way too sickly-sweet for me. When I reduced the sweetening it was a bit sour-chocolate-yoghurt, which is not usually what I'm after for a chocolate treat. ;-P You could make a chocolate buttercream icing, but I'm not a buttercream fan... probably overdosed as a kid! I find the cupcakes go perfectly piped with these:


Raspberry Cream Cheese Icing

This is enough for more than 12 cupcakes but not enough for all 24 cupcakes if you are extravagant when piping!

250g cream cheese (I use the spreadable version in the tub)
100g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup – 1 cup dextrose (I used 7/8 cup – ie ¾ cup + extra 1/8 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs (60ml or ¼ cup) thawed, mashed frozen raspberries (or fresh raspberries, or try substituting other berries)

Whip together. Add dextrose to taste. Transfer to piping bag and pipe on to cupcakes (or dollop/spread). Keep refrigerated!

Berry cream cheese icing
(blackberries, blueberries & raspberries)

Whipped Chocolate Cream Icing

This is enough icing for about 12 cupcakes – double if icing all 24 cupcakes

200ml thickened cream
2 tsp cocoa (I used Van Houten dutch processed cocoa powder, as it gives a darker colour)
1 ½ tablespoons dextrose
½ tsp vanilla extract

Whip together. Add extra dextrose or cocoa powder to taste. Transfer to piping bag and pipe on to 12 cupcakes (or dollop/spread). Keep refrigerated! This icing will not hold its shape for long out of the fridge.

Red velvet cupcakes

Make these for the cream cheese icing - it goes great with these cupcakes, but the cake is really just along for the ride and the icing is divine. 

Adapted from http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/26697/red+velvet+cupcakes

Makes 18-24 cupcakes* 

Cupcake ingredients 

• 300g (2 cups) plain flour 
• 30g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder 
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 
• 1 1/2 cups dextrose (I used 1 3/4 cups but would reduce to 1 1/2 cups in future - too sweet) 
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked 
• 250ml (1 cup) buttermilk 
• 200g unsalted butter, melted 
• 1/4 cup rice malt syrup 
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 tsp red food colouring (I used 2 tsp Queen's red pillar box food colouring, but this did not result in a very red cake. If you want a redder cupcake, experiment with different brands of food colouring or add lots more. Food colouring is entirely optional of course – there's nothing wrong with chocolate coloured cake – but you can't get away with calling it red velvet if it's not red!) 

Cream cheese icing ingredients

• 250g cream cheese block, at room temperature 
• 3/4 cup dextrose 
• 100g butter, at room temperature 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract Method 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C*. Line at least eighteen 80ml (1/3 cup) capacity muffin pans with paper cases*. 
2. Sift dextrose, flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Whisk the eggs, buttermilk, butter, rice malt syrup, vinegar and vanilla in a large jug until combined. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in the food colouring. 
3. Divide the mixture among the lined pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes* or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 
4. Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, dextrose, extra butter and extra vanilla until smooth. Spread or pipe over cupcakes. (NOTE: This didn't make quite enough icing to pipe on all 24 cupcakes. I think it piped 20 cupcakes, and spread on 2 more, and 2 cupcakes were un-iced. If I'd eaten less of it as I piped it may have gone a lot further. ;) )

* I made 24 cupcakes, filling the liners half full, or 1.5cm from the top. 
* Oven temperature and cooking times are based on original recipe. I generally need to turn my (non fan-forced oven) up 20°C and increase the cooking time. I baked these in my oven at 190C for 25 min, but 20 min probably would've been enough - dextrose-based cakes seem to need a little less cooking time than sugar-based cakes.