It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go...
Well,
at the time I dreamed up these delicate miniature chocolate chip cookie
cups filled with creamy malted milk, it was beginning to look a lot
like Christmas in New York. Fast forward six months and it is beginning
to look a lot like winter in Australia, which is still the perfect
season for cookies and milk in front of a roaring fireplace.All my life I have been obsessed with Christmas; the lights, the trees, the songs, the spiced baked goods and lashings of mulled wine. As I don't actually celebrate Christmas, my theory is that the film industry (coupled with Coca Cola's genius branding of the big jolly man in the red suit), has a lot to answer for in the way that this particular festive season is sealed into my subconscious desires.
Nevertheless, my most beloved Christmas tradition speaks to my baker within. I am speaking of the ritual that requires you to leave cookies and milk for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve so that when he shimmies down the chimney (or crawls through the doggy door) his are desserts await. The origin of this practice is unclear, but I do have to wonder whether it was developed as a practical security measure.
Reflect for a moment if you will; an old man in a red suit is breaking into your house while you are sleep.
Far from ideal.
Perhaps this particular bake-dition was created by the local neighborhood-watch, in the hope that by the time Santa reached your house, he would be too hefty to fit down the chimney, or crawl through the doggy door or even squeeze between the burglar bars (you can take the parents out of Africa, but you can't take Africa out of the parents). Whatever the basis for the mysterious tradition is, I am a fan. In fact it was this very Christmas ritual that inspired my invention of baked cookies & milk (I figured if I was the big man, I would not want to waste time sculling a glass of milk at every house all over the world in one night. The lactose intolerant in me sympathizes with the consequences of such an action).
The only part of Christmas that I have never understood is why it exists only once a year. Surely a holiday this spectacular should be celebrated all year round and is to be enjoyed 365 days of the year? Baking these buttery, malt infused goodies taught me an unexpected lesson that answered my (Chris)mass pondering session. While making these biscuits I was sick... really sick... lost-my-sense-of-smell-and-taste sick. I could not enjoy the scent of butter wafting from my oven (nor the milkshake scented filling) or taste the tiny bits of milk chocolate that I had lovingly chopped into the shortbread batter. Friends and family popped them in their mouths one at a time, with the look reminiscent of a child the night before Christmas plastered on their faces, fascination, awe and unadulterated joy.
I was in Hell.
I was the Grinch who wanted to destroy Christmas (and those little cups of cookies & milk).
Instead, I put one biscuit aside and waited for THREE whole days until a flicker of taste had returned. Then, I opened the container, pausing to savour the rich, buttery aroma and nibbled just a corner...then engulfed the rest. All my Christmases had come at once and I learned the lesson of patience and anticipation. The deliciousness was magnified because I had to wait, counting down the days until I could appreciate all that tiny, but mighty, biscuit had to offer. This is why Christmas can only fall once a year, it's special festivity is to be anticipated for 364 days, but savoured and celebrated for just one...on the other hand, you can just make these divine biscuits every day of the year, and Christmas can be eternal!
Shortbread cookie cups
250g butter
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup cornflour
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/3 cups plain flour
1/2 cup milk chocolate drops chopped finely
Set the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Melt the butter in the microwave using short bursts of 45 seconds. Allow the melted butter to cool slightly. Into a mixer, sift the icing sugar and cornflour, then add the caster sugar. Then add the cooled, melted butter and vanilla essence, beating until the consistency changes to thick and creamy (this will take about 5-6 minutes). Add the sifted flour and mix well until a soft dough forms. By hand, fold through the finely chopped milk drops, until evenly spread throughout the dough.
Picking up about a tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball and use your palms to flatten into a disc that it approximate 10cm in diameter. Then, using a 24 capacity mini cupcake tray (not greased or lined), ease the disc into the tray gently lifting the sides in order to press the base down flat. You will want to make sure that disc is beg enough and thick enough to cover the capacity without any wholes or breaks. The disc will slightly overhang the edges of the cupcake capacity, but this is fine as it will form a lip around the cookie cup making it sturdy and easier to remove from the tray once baked. If any cracks form as you are easing the disc into the tray simply pinch the dough to seal the cracks. Once you have repeated this process and all the cupcake cases in the tray are filled, use a dessert fork to gently pierce the bases (I pricked the cups three times with the fork, this will help to reduce to amount that shortbread rises, allowing for them to retain a cavity which will then be filled).A tip: if you have dough left over, grab another mini cupcake tray and repeat the process. All the shortbread must be molded at the same time (not one tray at a time), otherwise the dough dries out which will cause it to crack and become impossible to be transformed into cookie cups.
Bake the cookie cups for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes. Then, gently give the cups a twist in the tray and remove onto a cooling rack. The high butter content in shortbread means that the cups will not stick to the tray and easily pop put after baking (the wonderful miracle of butter!)
Once completely cooled, the cups are ready to be filled.
Malted Milk Filling:
50g butter (softened)
50g malt powder (not Milo, but rather the Nestle Malt powder)
35g white chocolate
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp milk
In a mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy and then gradually add sifted icing sugar
and continue to beat until smooth and pale. Add melted chocolate, malt powder and milk and once more beat the mixture
until smooth. Using a spatula, scoop the icing into a piping bag (my fancy piping bag is actually a disposable zip lock bag, from which I fill and then snip the corner off to pipe - works a charm). Fill each cookie cup with a generous amount of malt filling and allow time for it set.The beauty of shortbread biscuit is that the filling won't make the biscuit base soggy, rather it remains crispy and buttery short, while the malt filling is a smooth and creamy contrast. Pre-filled cookie cups will last up to a week in an airtight container, and unfilled cups can be stored and frozen for up to two months.
Note: If the cookie cups are filled, they won't even last a week because, between the likes of Santa Claus, family and friends, they will be gone in the blink of an eye.
