Maple Morsels- Gluten free Spritz Cookies

I love Spritz Cookies

Each the perfect little size for popping into hungry mouths, but small enough that you can happily take a handful and still not feel guilty!
Such a small amount of effort, but it sure looks like you've been cooking up a storm as pile after pile of little moreish morsels stack up, and by dint of changing the shape you have created a whole new cookie too :)

Do you remember Dear Readers, me showing off some yummy maple products in my November In My Kitchen post? (look here,) Well I wanted to use them a bit more creatively then just slathering them over pancakes or waffles, and as the sugar was really quite expensive I also wanted to find a way to make a little go a long way.
I figured the best way to get bang-for-my-buck was to layer the flavour effect with Maple Syrup and Sugar in the cookie dough, glaze with Maple Icing, then dust with Maple Sugar- too much is never an option!

Gorgeous sticky Syrup and fine-as-sand Sugar, you can see I couldn't help running my fingers through it :)

Another ingredient I wanted to trial today was this new Spread from Liddells. Liddells have released quite a lot of new products in the chiller section lately, and as I've been loving them I thought I'd see how it stood up to cooking as opposed to just spreading

Glazed Maple Spritz Cookies

Cookies:

1 1/2 cups Liddels Lactose Free Dairy Spread (or lactose free/dairy free alternative)
3/4 cup Castor Sugar
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
1/3 cup Maple Sugar (or just use 2 tab Castor Sugar if you can't find any)
1 Egg
4 cups gluten free Plain Flour
1 tsp gluten free Baking Powder

Glaze:
gluten free Icing Sugar
Maple Syrup
Maple sugar for dusting


Cream together the sugars and spread, and beat until nice and light and fluffy

Add in the egg and maple syrup and mix again

Gently mix in the flour and baking powder until just pulled together

A nice light dough- don't chill it or it will be too firm to push through the spritz press properly

If you don't happen to have a Cookie/Spritz Gun, this dough works really well just rolled and flattened into little discs. It may need to bake for a minute or two longer, but it still tastes just as lovely- I promise

Prepare your dough ammunition

Load up your Cookie Gun

Fire when ready!

So pretty indeed

Bake your little Spritzies for 12-15 minutes at 180*C
Let them cool on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling down

To Glaze the cookies, combine the icing sugar with enough maple syrup to make a nice thin mixture. The easiest way I've found to get a nice even coating without taking ages to dip each little baby, is to line all the cookies up closely and paint them. The wider your brush the better. Much easier than fussing around any other way. Then while the glaze is still wet, sprinkle with the Maple Sugar or a little Castor Sugar for extra bikkie bling

These little Cookies were just lovely indeed. Very tasty and surprisingly not too sweet for me. The Maple Sugar is subtle and not as strong as raw or golden sugar and the fine texture looks very pretty sprinkled on top. The Liddells spread worked really well- it didn't melt too early or while baking, and the moisture content was just right. Some margarine type spreads have a lot of water and it can make baking a bit tricky

All in all, a perfect little compliment for my afternoon Earl Grey!

So Dear Readers, what little morsels do you like to munch on with a cup of tea, and have you ever tried Maple Sugar?

A Bit On The Side

When you go to a cafe, do you like to get a little treat on the side of your Lactose free-Weak-Decaf-Coffee?









I've come across tiny meringues, little chocolates, and of course- biscuits aka cookies. Now I think it's always exciting to look at, but of course I have to leave it there :(

However, the cafes certainly mean well, and at one cafe I worked at it was my job to make the little 'freebies', several hundred at a time. The biscuits had to be quick, cheap, easy, and of course yummy! After a bit of trial and error, I decided the best option was to use a cookie press.

Have you used these before? They're like a caulking gun for builders, but of course for cooks and cookies! You fill the cylinder body with a nice soft dough and depress the plunger which releases a measured shot through various shaped nozzles. This means you can pump out lots of cookies in a very short time and they have the added advantage of uniformity of shape and size, very important when every customer should be loved equally!

I love having good quality InTolerant options available at the major supermarkets!

Cookie Press Cookies (3 dozen)

1/2 cup Castor Sugar
185g Butter/Nuttlex
1 Egg
2 cups gluten free Plain Flour
1/2 teaspoon gfree baking powder
1 Tablespoon Lactose free Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Pinch of Salt






Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add in the egg and milk, and I like to put in the baking powder and salt now too as it mixes in evenly. Beat through for a second or two.

Add in the flour and mix on very low speed until combined.

Now is the time to divide the dough and add in any extra flavourings. I usually just knead it in by hand.

Bring the dough together and roll into a shape that will fit into the cylinder body of the cookie press. Let it rest for about 20mins just to firm up a little.

Put the dough in the press and cookie away! Now DON"T WORRY IF YOU DON"T HAVE A COOKIE PRESS, you can just roll out little balls of the dough and press it down gently with a fork. It works just as well, it's just not quite so fancy!

This is such a nice basic recipe and just about any extra flavourings can be added to change it up and various yummy things sprinkled on top before baking. About the only thing you can't put in a cookie press are chunks. They just won't fit through the holes. So no chocolate chips, or fruity bits, sorry, but cocoa and purees are fine for flavour.

Don't worry that you'll have hundreds of biscuits either, the dough freezes fantastically whether in a big lump, or carefully spritzed out on sheets ready to pop in the oven at a moments notice.

The basic recipe has a good shortbread style flavour with a nice crisp bite. It can even be dunked quickly into your coffee, win-win!

Here I've made 3 variations, the palest is just plain, the brown has cocoa powder added, and the one in the middle has spices. You can also give the raw biscuits a very light spray or brush with water, and top with pretty coloured sprinkles too.

Editorial Note:
Now while the little bit on the side of your coffee is cute and all, I have to admit I think it's not always so good for business- before you shout me down just think about it for a sec; while drinking your beverage of choice you might fancy a little something something, just to take the edge off your sweet tooth or to tide you over to lunch... that little biscuit is probably juuuuuust enough, and free! But now you won't look longingly across at the lovely array of cakes or bigger bikkies on the counter, be tempted and spend a couple more dollars. There's only so much you'll spend on a cup of coffee, so factoring in the price of a free cookie isn't really an option, even if it's low cost to produce; so an extra sale is always welcome. I would rather reward my customers by putting that money spent into a better quality coffee or lower prices over all.
This is the business side of me speaking, not the customer side though, just want to clear that up :)

So Dearest Readers,


would you travel further to a cafe just for the free little biscuit, or would you have a different cafe-choosing-criteria?