2012 best bits

Just a few homemade highlights from last year...Here's to 2013!

Vegetarian cottage pie

Japanese beef and mirin sauce

Homemade fish cakes with broccoli and salmon

Chinese Almond cookies

Gingerbread butterfly biscuits

Pizza dough

Paella and chicken wings

Savoury muffins with bacon

Chinese soy sauce chicken

Watercress, onion, mozzarella and egg pizza.

Chinese breakfast: congee and savoury churros.

Chinese Almond Cookies

• To make 24 cookies:
• 170g sifted all-purpose flour
• 100g white sugar
• 1g baking soda
• 2g salt
• 100g lard or margarine
• 1 egg
• 3ml (or to your liking) almond extract
• 24 almonds

1. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together into a bowl. Cut in the lard or margarine (I used margarine in this instance) until mixture sticks. Add the egg (I ended up using the 1 whole egg and some water) and almond extract - I only put in 1 teaspoon, but on tasting, don't be scared to put a bit more. Mix well.
2. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Set them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Place an almond on top of each cookie and press down to flatten slightly.
3. Bake in a pre-heated 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) oven for 15-18 minutes. They will seem like they are under-cooked when you take them out of the oven, but this gives a more chewy taste, leave in longer if you prefer a bit of a crunch.  Cool on rack.
4. Voila!  Scrumptious cookies to nibble at!