Athertonia Nut Biscuits and Nut Roll

This season there is a shortage of bunya nuts but an abundance of Atherton Nuts. After collecting the nuts in between Jack jumper ants nests, their beautiful skin needs removing. The cracking is best done with a hammer or a rock. After blanching, the nuts are ready for use.

Here are some more pastry wonders from Jan and Ross. The nut roll is filled with pure nuts and honey. The small pastries are reminiscent of the famous Frankfurt pastry Bethmännchen (German for "a little Bethmann") which are made with almonds and sugar. Not being bankers, there is only one nut on top. They are pure nuts with honey and they are delicious.

Baked Marzipan Biscuits

These biscuits are pure nuts and honey. They can be very brittle.

Get
300g organic almonds
2 tbsp honey (Prickly box honey, Bursaria spinosa)
Some (macadamia) nuts for decoration
2 tbsp organic cocoa powder optional
1 egg yolk

Unglazed

Do
Blanch almonds.
In a saucepan or bowl, use a puree stick to make a smooth paste from the almonds and the honey. Kneed the paste to marzipan. Cool for some time in the fridge.

Take a clean (pure linen) tea towel and role out the ball of marzipan. Use cookie cutters to get the desired shapes or make a roll and cut into pieces and decorate with nut pieces. Mix the egg yolk and paint biscuits. Put into a preheated oven and bake at 180°c for about 10 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom. They should be golden.

One traditional shape is little cones, called Bethmännchen ("a little Bethmann"). They have been around since 1393 on Christmas markets in Frankfurt. They usually contain powdered sugar, rosewater, flour and egg as well.

Click to enlarge

For our cones we made a ball, flattened it with an indentation in the middle, and added a fresh macadamia nut in the centre. Pinch the top to close around the nut.
When little bits are left over that cannot be rolled out at the end, cocoa was used to hand kneed them into shapes.
Refrigerate if done anywhere on The Mid North Coast at this time of the year.

Chocolate Nut Biscuits

Designed and baked by Ross in Bellingen

GET:
1 cup macadamia oil

2 eggs (reserve yolk of one to glaze)

0.33 to 0.5 cups of honey (to taste)

100-200g of chipped chocolate (90% cocoa)

5 cups flour (w/meal wheat or spelt - or replace with a % of nutmeal of choice to taste and may need to adjust total flour to get nice crumb consistency)

1 tsp ground cinnamon or more to taste

Here with chocolate chips

DO:
1 Mix oil, eggs and honey.

2 Add flour, cinnamon and chocolate chips and to make a biscuit crumb consistency

3 Press and smooth into papered baking tray

4 Cut to desired shape/s and size/s

5 Glaze with yolk, reserving a little

6 Garnish each biscuit with almond or nut of choice

7 Glaze nuts with remaining yolk

8 Bake in 160 C oven for 15-20 minutes

9 Remove and cool in tray for 10 minutes then recut shapes.

10 When firm remove biscuits and cool on rack

Bunya Tree Seasonal Celebrations

This living Bunya tree makes a beautiful recyclable x-mas tree. Providing food for the next 1000 years. All chocolate wrappers can be reused in the next season. No waste! Patented by Jan.

Macadamia Lemon Slices

get
300 g light wholemeal flour
2 tbsp agave nectar
1 egg
140 g butter

300 g macadamias
5 tbsp agave nectar
4 Meyer lemons

do
Add agave nectar then the egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon into a paste and then into the flour. Add butter in flakes. Knead to a pastry. If it is sticky add more flour. If it is too dry, add more agave nectar. Cool for 15 minutes covered with a linen cloth (tea towel).

Medium grate the macadamia nuts with a hand grater.
Coarsely grate the lemon peel into the macadamia meal. Add the agave nectar. Add the juice of 3 lemons or as much as necessary to make a wet, sticky paste and mix well.
Preheat the oven to 190°c. Butter a baking tray. Roll out half of the pastry on a linen tea towel. Turn it over from time to time and use the tea towel to fold over and straighten the the edges. Roll out a thin pastry the size of your baking tray and place it on the tray using the tea towel. Adjust the edges. Spread the macadamia paste on the pastry, right to the edges. Roll out the other piece of pastry to the size of the baking tray. Use the tea towel to lift it onto the top so it fits exactly. Use the flat edge of a knife to press the macadamia paste inside the pastry, straightening and closing the edges as much as possible.

Bake for about 25 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom until light brown.
Cool in the turned-off oven with the door open.
When cool, or before serving, cut off edges for private use. Cut into slices about 2 x 6 cm for public presentation. Alternatively leave it as one piece and cut off slices as required when required.
This is a variation on an earlier lemon slices recipe using almonds, honey and icing.

Plain almond biscuits

get
350 wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teasp ground cinnamon
250g butter
200g almonds

do
Mix honey and egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl.
Add cinnamon, butter flakes, ground almonds
Knead to a pastry. Add extra flour if sticky.
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin and cut out circles (or shapes)
Bake at 190°c for 10 minutes on a baking tray. Cool.

Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper.

These biscuits are soft and without any chunky bits in them. Just a homogenous nutty taste with a touch of cinnamon. They go well with coffe and tea. Best on the second day and after.

Image
August Macke, Still life hyacinths carpet, 1910

Pilgrim biscuits

get
250 g unsalted butter
4 tbsp clear organic honey
2 eggs
100 - 200g organic macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
400g spelt flour

do
Beat the soft butter with a wooden spoon in a bowl. Add 2 tbsp honey while beating.
Use a whisk to beat in the eggs one at a time, alternating with the remaining honey.
When smooth, resume beating with the wooden spoon. Mix in half the flour gradually while beating, then the chopped macadamia nuts.
Add as much of the remaining flour to create a sticky mass (maybe all of it).
Cool in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Using 2 tablespoons. place heaped spoonfuls of the mixture on a buttered baking tray. They will spread out while baking. You can make them round or oblong according to the shape of your spoonfuls.
Bake for 25 minutes at 190°c on the second shelf from the bottom of the oven.
These soft biscuits are best served cut into slices. The biscuits are reminiscent of the twice baked almond biscotti from Tuscany. Also known as biscuits of Prato. As we would like to keep it local they are made from regional ingredients.

Pilgrimage, because the Way of St. James in Europe seems walkable and relative car-free. On the French section these nibbles would come in handy out of the backpack.

Lemon slices

This is a new recipe for lemon slices which we developed while living next to a few well-endowed lemon trees. The slices are very juicy and the filling is very thick. It is an alternative to the lemon slices recipe previously published, but more time consuming.

get
300 g light wholemeal flour
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
140 g butter

500 g almonds
5 tbsp honey
4 juicy lemons

7 tbsp icing sugar

do
Add honey then egg in the middle of the flour in a bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon into a paste and then into the flour. Add butter in flakes. Knead to a pastry. If it is sticky add more flour. If it is too dry, add more butter. Cool for 15 minutes covered with a linen cloth (tea towel).
Blanch almonds. Grate finely with a hand grater.
Grate the lemon peel into the almond meal. Add the juice of 3.5 lemons. Add the honey. Mix to a sticky paste.Sieve the icing sugar. Add lemon juice slowly until it is a thick liquid while mixing with a spoon. If there is too much lemon juice add the rest to the almond paste.
Preheat the oven at 190°c. Butter two baking trays.
Roll out half of the pastry on a linen tea towel. Turn it over from time to time and use the tea towel to fold over and straighten the the edges. Roll out a thin pastry, rectangular if your baking tray is rectangular. When it is as thin as possible, turn it again and cut into the pastry along the middle so two identical rectangles are mirrored by the cut.
Spread half of the almond paste on one side evenly, right to the edges. Use the tea towel to lift to other side onto the first so it fits exactly. Use the flat edge of a knife to press the almond paste inside the pastry, straightening the edges.
Place on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
Remove from the oven and paint with half of the icing while hot. Allow to cool.
Repeat with the other half of the pastry and the rest of the almond paste.
When cool, or before serving, cut off edges for private use. Cut into slices about 2 x 6 cm for public presentation.Store on a plate wrapped in a fine linen cloth. Linen is highly absorbent so the biscuits will remain dry. Do not put in a tin or under a bowl or they will go soggy quickly. Use fine linen to prevent linen fibre getting on the biscuits.


Macadamia Lemon Slices without icing

Macadamia Honey Biscuits

get
250g organic unsalted butter
170g organic honey (bush honey)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 nutmeg, grated
250g organic chopped macadamia nuts
600g organic spelt flour


do
Beat butter and honey smooth with a wooden spoon.
Add cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat.
Mix in nuts.
Mix in 550g flour and knead into a dry dough. Add more flour if sticky. Cool for 15+ minutes.
Preheat oven to 190°c.

Sprinkle a little of the remaining flour on a tea towel (linen). Roll our half of the pastry quite thin. This will further crush some of the nuts. Turn the pastry once or twice so it does not stick to the cloth.
Stamp out biscuits. Press down hard to cut through any large pieces of nut.
Butter a baking tray.
Place the biscuits on it and bake in the oven for 13 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
Repeat until all the dough is used up.
Store in a tin.
Image: Franz Marc, Wheat, 1907 via Zeno

Honey biscuits with apricots

Get:
200g soft organic butter
150g organic honey
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 nutmeg, grated
150g chopped dried unsulphured apricots
200g chopped blanched almonds
450g organic spelt flour

Do:
Preheat oven to 190°c.
Beat butter and honey smooth with a wooden spoon.
Add cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat.
Mix in apricots and nuts.
Add 400g flour and knead into a dry dough. Add more flour if sticky. Cool for 15+ minutes.
Sprinkle a little of the remaining flour on a tea towel (linen). Roll out half of the pastry quite thin. This will further crush some of the nuts. Turn the pastry once or twice so it does not stick to the cloth.
Stamp out biscuits. Press down hard to cut through the fruit and nuts. (Alternatively make the pastry into a roll and cut off round discs).
Butter a baking tray.
Place the biscuits on it and bake in the oven for 15 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
Repeat until all the dough is used up.
Store in a tin.

Tip.
Make biscuits of different sizes for different occasions. Small ones are good portable food. Big ones for home use.

How to blanch almonds

Almond biscuits

get
450g wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teasp ground cinnamon
250g butter
450g organic almonds

do
Blanch almonds: add to a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Pour out hot water and add cold water. Rinse twice in a sieve. Rub almonds repeatedly between the hands and remove skins. Wash from time to time to assist with separation of almonds and skins.
Mix honey and egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl.
Add cinnamon, butter flakes. Grate 300g almonds and add to the mixture.
Knead to a pastry. Add extra flour if sticky.
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin.
Using cookie cutting tools cut out shapes. Place a whole or half an almond on each cookie, pressing lightly.

Bake at 190°c for 8 minutes on a baking tray in batches. Cool.
Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper in a cool place.

Also delicious as filled cookies (as shown in the second picture).

Filled almond biscuits with apricot and blackcurrent

get
450g wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teasp ground cinnamon
250g butter
200g blanched almonds(+)
100g blackcurrent jam
100g apricot jam
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp icing sugar

do
Mix honey and egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl.
Add cinnamon, butter flakes, ground almonds
Knead to a pastry. Add extra flour if sticky.
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin.
Using 2 cookie cutting tools, the same shape but different sizes:

• Stamp out cookies with the larger cutter
• Use the smaller cutter to stamp out a hole in the middle of half of them making frames
• The frames should be about 1 cm wide or they are unmanageable and break easily
• Use the cut-outs too.
  

Bake at 190°c for 8 minutes on a baking tray in batches. Remove delicate frames carefully from tray. Cool.
Spread a little jam of one colour on the outer edges of the whole cookies. Place the frames on them and press lightly so they stick. The outer edges should match. Mix cinnamon and icing sugar. Sprinkle a little on each cookie frame through a fine sieve. Put half a flat teaspoon of jam (same colour) into the hole to fill the biscuit to the level of the frame. Carefully press it flat with the spoon. Do not use too much jam or they cannot be stacked in a tin.
Repeat with half of the biscuits and then change colour for the other half.
Spread a little jam on half the cut-outs and put the other half on them. Sprinkle with cinnamon-icing sugar mixture.
Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper in a cool place.

Lemon slices

GET
300 g organic wholemeal spelt flour
1 heaped tbsp organic honey
1 organic free range egg
130g butter

200g organic almonds, blanched and finely grated
2 lemons
2 tbsp honey

50 g organic icing sugar

DO
Put flour in a large bowl
Add honey and egg in the middle
Mix to a thick paste
Add flakes of butter
Knead to a pastry. If it is sticky, add more flour, if not smooth add more butter
Cool for an hour.

Mix almonds with grated lemon rind (zest), juice of 1.5 lemons and honey to make a thick spreadable paste.
Roll out half the pastry into a large thin rectangle on a linen cloth. Turn it over as you go to facilitate rolling it thinly.
Place on a buttered baking tray (e.g. 40 x 30 cm). Cut the edges to fit
Spread the lemon-almond paste evenly on the pastry
Roll out the other half of the pastry to the same size and place carefully on top.
Bake at 190°c for 15 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
Mix 0.5 lemon juice with icing sugar. Paint it on the hot pastry.
Cool
Cut into slices (about 40 rectangular biscuits)
Remove from baking tray and store in a tin.These biscuits are very tangy and light. The recipe seems quite simple and it is. Most of the time is spent rolling out the pastry thinly. This involves rolling it on a tea towel, squaring the edges, turning it over and rolling again. You need to turn it and roll it a few times before it is large enough and thin enough. Carefully turn it on the backs of your hands.
Arranging the top pastry on is also tricky. If necessary, cut it into 2 pieces.
These lemon slices last well in a tin, but are generally eaten very quickly.
>Check also the alternative jucier variety out.

Cinnamon biscuits filled with Davidson plum jam

get
450 wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teasp ground cinnamon
250g butter
200g blanched almonds(+)
250g Davidson plum jam
1 tsp ground cinnamon




do
Mix honey and egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl.
Add cinnamon, butter flakes, ground almonds
Knead to a pastry. Add extra flour if sticky.
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin and cut out circles (or shapes)
Bake at 190°c for 10 minutes on a baking tray. Cool.
Spread Davidson plum jam to cover the surface of half of the cookies. Place the other cookies on top of them and press lightly.
Sprinkle cinnamon on each cookie through a fine sieve.
Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper.Davidson's plum jam is made in the oven at 200°c in a baking dish. The plums are halved, sprinkled with raw sugar and stirred from time to time in the oven, adding more sugar until it tastes right. This may take a couple of hours. Then press through a sieve and bottle it up. This method of baking results in a rich, dark-red jam.
See Davidson plum sauce