Spring forward

With spring comes unpredictable weather and allergies. Sadly these two things make me grumpy and depressed. The only way to cure this is by eating junk food. But shortly after, I feel bad for stuffing my face and the cycle continues. Grumpy-depressed-grumpy-depressed.

These cookies were the output of my baking session with Natalie yesterday afternoon. Everyone in my family thought they were cupcakes. But after biting into it, they realised how hard they were and thought we had messed up. I simply told them they were shortbread and they proceeded to be happy again. If only things were that easy.

Almond Shortbread
(Adapted from "The Australian Women's Weekly: The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits")

Ingredients:

• 250 g butter
• 1/3 cup castor sugar
• 60 g ground almonds
• 12/3 cups plain flour
• 1 packet chocolate drops

Method:

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add ground almonds, beat until combined. Add sifted flour. Mix well.
3. Put mixture into lnto piping bag fitted with fluted tube. Pipe small stars into small patty cases, top each biscuit with a chocolate drop.
4. Bake in oven at 180C for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about 50.

N.B. The original recipe is called "Hazelnut Rosettes". We substituted ground hazelnuts for ground almonds and decorated with orange-chocolate MnMs.