Pecan and Salted Caramel Butter Cookies

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Recipe by Sharon Hearne-Smith

Ingredients

  • 225g Avonmore Unsalted Butter, softened
  • 200g icing sugar
  • 300g plain flour
  • 125g cornflour
  • 100g pecans, finely chopped
  • 1tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2tbsp whole milk
  • 150g Avonmore Salted Butter, softened
  • 200g icing sugar
  • 100g caramel (from a can or jar)
  • 1/4 tsp roughlycrushed sea salt flakes
  • 1tsp vanilla extract

Directions

The melt in the mouth, buttery cookies can be enjoyed as they are. However, when combined with the sweet but salty caramel buttercream filling, there will be no going back for you!

Enjoy these as an afternoon treat with a tea or coffee, include them on a party table or make for a school bake sale

First, to make the cookie dough, beat the butter and icing sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add the flour, cornflour, pecans, cinnamon and milk and beat until well blended to give a smooth dough.

Divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a 25cm sausage shape. Wrap each one in a piece of parchment paper, twisting the ends to secure. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour until firm. This can be made up to a few days in advance or longer if frozen.

Meanwhile make the salted caramel filling. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer or processor until smooth. Add the caramel, salt and vanilla and beat until well combined. Spoon into a piping bag which has been snipped to a 1-2cm opening and refrigerate until needed.

When ready to cook the cookies, preheat the oven to 160C (fan 140C), 325F, Gas Mark 3.  Line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper. Unroll the cookie logs, trim the ends and cut each one into 24 x 1cm wide slices, arranging them spaced apart on the tray as you go. Bake for 20 minutes until just firm to the touch and just beginning to catch colour.

Remove and leave to cool on a wire rack, arranging half of them underside up. Once cool, pipe about a tablespoon of the filling into the centre of each of the upturned cookies. Top each one with another cookie, pretty side up, pressing it down gently to allow the filling to ooze to the edge. If the filling is quite soft them pop them into the fridge for about 20-30 minutes until firm.

These will last for about 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

 

TIPS

Use walnuts, almonds or roasted hazelnuts instead of the pecans if preferred.

Try out different cookie flavours by replacing the cinnamon and pecans with dried cranberry and white chocolate chip or lemon zest and poppy seeds. In which case replace the caramel sauce in the filling with melted and cooled white chocolate or lemon curd respectively.

Make minature versions by simply rolling the dough into longer and thinner rolls.

If you only need 12 cookies at a time, then freeze one dough roll and make half of the filling with each bake.

    
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http://cookwithavonmore.ie/recipe/pecan-salted-caramel-butter-cookies/

Darina Allen’s Sea Spinach Soup

 

darina allen sea spinach soup

Sea Spinach Soup

Sea spinach is at its sweetest and most delicious at present…. I absolutely love it and really want you to know about it so if you live near a rocky strand, look out for it – the shiny green leaves are unmistakable. It is, in fact, the ancestor to most cultivated varieties of beet, from beetroot to spinach beet. It can be cooked exactly like garden spinach and used in the same way, for example, try serving it in Middle Eastern style with raisins and pine kernels and a touch of cinnamon. Not surprisingly, because sea spinach is washed by the tides, it is full of iodine, minerals and other trace elements and it has an addictive salty tang. Sea spinach is tougher and slightly stronger in flavour than garden spinach, so it takes a little longer to cook.

The trick with these green soups is not to add the greens until the last minute, otherwise they will overcook and the soup will lose its fresh taste and bright green colour.

50g (2oz/1/2 stick) butter

110g (4oz/1 cup) onion, chopped

150g (5oz/1 cup) potatoes, chopped

600ml (1 pint/2 1/2 cups) homemade chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

425-600ml (3/4-1 pint/2 – 2 1/2 cups) creamy milk (1/4 cream and 3/4 milk)

salt and freshly ground pepper

225-350g (8-12oz/3 cups) sea spinach, destalked and chopped

Freshly ground nutmeg

Garnish

2 tablespoons (2 American tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) whipped cream (optional

Freshly chopped parsley

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When it foams add the onions and potatoes and turn them until well coated. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Add the boiling stock and milk, bring back to the boil and simmer until the potatoes and onions are fully cooked. Add the sea spinach and boil with the lid off for about 3-5 minutes, until the sea spinach is tender. Do not overcook or the soup will lose its fresh green colour.

Liquidise and taste and add some freshly grated nutmeg.  Serve in warm bowls garnished with a blob of whipped cream and some chopped parsley

Ballymaloe Cookery
@BallymaloeCS

 

Setanta Potatoes with Basil & Dairygold

dgold setanta pot mar 16

If Roosters always rule at your dinner table, why not give Setantas a go? Named after the young Cú Chulainn, these floury new season potatoes have Rooster lineage – and speaking of Irish legends, they’re only fabulous with a dollop of Dairygold! If Setantas aren’t in season, Home Guards are just as good.

Ingredients

  • 1 large Setanta potato
  • 1 tbsp / 15g Dairygold
  • Cracked black pepper
  • Sea salt
  • Sprinkle of fresh basil (optional)

Instructions

Boil or steam a large Setanta potato until light and fluffy (this should take about 20 minutes).

While you’re waiting for the potato to cook, if any of the family want to know who the original Setanta was, now’s a good time to tell them. You can’t beat a good Irish myth.

Add a pinch of salt, a dash of cracked black pepper and (of course) a dollop of Dairygold.

If you have some to hand, add a little extra depth by topping with a sprinkle of fresh basil. This will really bring out the potato’s natural flavour.

– See more at: http://www.yourdairygold.ie/food-made-better/setanta-potatoes-with-basil-dairygold.aspx#sthash.EgeAahLr.dpuf