Sunday 19 January 2014

Cream cheese biscuits




For reasons I won’t bore you with, it’s not been a great start to the year so I felt justified in ‘buying me a little happy’.  This manifested itself in an Oxo Good GripsCookie Press. Regular readers of the blog will know that I’ve never had much success in piping biscuit dough and usually end up spooning it onto the baking sheet instead, but with this lovely bit of kit my luck has changed!


The recipe is from the instruction book that comes with the cookie press and Mr CC declared them the best biscuits I have ever made.  I think he’s right.  They are lovely: crisp, buttery, flavoursome and small enough that there’s no shame in eating several!




Because they are small and thin they crisp up quickly from the oven.  We ate some warm and they had an almost nutty flavour, which was surprising given that they don’t contain any nuts.  When cool that nuttiness goes, but the cream cheese gives a boost to the flavour; you wouldn’t know they contained cream cheese but it does add something.




The recipe said the yield would be about eight dozen biscuits.  I never have a lot of luck in getting the suggested amount thus expected to get half that.  I got well over 100!  It is the recipe that just keeps on giving!  The shape looked so crisp unbaked that I thought I would lose all that definition on baking:


But guess what?  They kept their shape:




Ingredients

230g unsalted butter, at room temperature
85g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
250g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
310g plain flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon


Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line baking sheets with baking paper or non stick foil – you will need about six, but I only had three so re-used them as the batches finished baking.

Beat together the butter and cream cheese until combined.

Add the sugar, egg yolk and vanilla and beat until combined.

Weigh out the flour and cinnamon.

Gradually beat into the butter mixture.

At this point you can spoon small teaspoons full of the dough onto the baking sheet, but I used my cookie press.  Fill the cookie press with dough (you will have to refill about four times) and press your cookies onto the prepared baking sheet.  They don’t spread a lot so place them as close together as the cookie press will allow.

Bake for 15 minutes, turning the trays halfway through the baking time.  The biscuits are ready when they are a light golden colour.

Leave to cool for five minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack and leaving to cool completely.

If using a cookie press this recipe will make about 100 biscuits.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.


Eat.

23 comments:

Soo said...

Those are so cute!!! I now feel compelled to buy one of those cookie press things.

Lucy said...

These are so pretty! I love how well they've held their shape and they sound like they tasted pretty delicious too. I hope they were the perfect thing to cheer you up.

Cakeyboi said...

I've used this cookie press too CC - it is very impressive isn't it! I didn't use the daisy shape on mine, but it looks very cute.

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

These are utterly perfect- they looks so crumbly and delicious! One question, how many of the one hundred cookies do you have left?!

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Kate

Well, I gave away half to family and of the half we kept....hmm, there's about 20 left - but not for long!

Happy baking

Victory Rolls & Mixing Bowls said...

I've been thinking of getting a biscuit press for ages but wasn't sure how well they worked in reality, this has definitely changed my mind :)

Nom!

Izzy said...

Wow! The biscuit press makes such great shaped biscuits… now I really want one! They look really good. Could I make them without a press?

Nickki said...

Wow, how pretty are these? I have a cookie press but I've never used it because I just thought it would be too much hassle...your post is seriously making me want to rescue it from the back of the cupboard and have a go!

Jo said...

What a great little gadget. I'm impressed how well the biscuits held their shape.

Kit @ i-lostinausten said...

Lovely & yummy looking cookies .

Snowy said...

What pretty biscuits. Am sure you'll have great fun with the biscuit press.

Maggie said...

I like a new kitchen gadget too. The biscuits look very pretty but I eat far too many biscuits. I would still buy into one of these gadgets though.....

Francesca Parise- In my sweet kitchen said...

Hello, my name is Francesca and I'm Italian. I stumbled upon your blog and I liked it because there are so many nice recipes that I would like to learn. I have joined your supporters. If you go too foul. Thank you.

Choclette said...

Wow - soooo many biscuits! They look fantastic though. I have real problems keeping any definition with mine. I now have another thing to add to my wish list.

Cakelaw said...

They are so pretty - like a field of summer flowers.

United Cakedom said...

Those are some gorgeous cookies, I'd tell everyone they I did by hand! ;0) however, that's a nifty gadget... Adding one to my amazon Wishlist!

A Way With the Fairy Cakes said...

Wow!! These look incredible!! I might have to invest in that clever bit of gadgetry... I made a batch of the white rocky road that you'd made a few weeks ago BTW (see: http://www.a-waywiththefairycakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/snowy-road.html) It's a great recipe, isn't it?

Unknown said...

Hi,

Is this recipe correct or is there a type the sugar to flour ratio doesn't seem correct. 230 g of sugar for 310 g flour?

Love your recipes!!
x

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Ummu

Yes, that is correct - it's not a firm dough, and needs to be very soft to pipe or press.

Happy baking

Unknown said...

They look absolutely fab! Your post has inspired me to hunt out the cookie press from the back of my cupboard...! Love your blog. It's so down-to-earth, but great fun.

Anonymous said...

Agree with everyone. Ive got one of those machines love em. Have you got any peanut butter recipes? Thank yoi

Anonymous said...

Agree with everyone. Ive got one of those machines love em. Have you got any peanut butter recipes? Thank yoi

Vix Johnston said...

I've had a cookie press in the back of my baking drawer since you published this post! I am now planning to use it to stock up for a family gathering in the summer... I have a few questions that I suspect I will discover the answers to as I go, but what are your thoughts on the following... 1. Would these sandwich well? They look small enough, but I'm unsure if the addition of jam or ganache would be too much. 2. Could I replace part of the flour with cocoa without affecting the texture? 3. Could they be frozen (once piped) for cooking at a later date? I love your posts, and I would love it if you came back - even once a month might satisfy the blog's hunger without being too much of a drain on your free time. All the best, Vix.