Christmas biscuits

Hello everyone, I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and have enjoyed getting together with family and friends.  I wanted to share with you a recipe for Christmas Biscuits I came across a few years ago, the same biscuits I was making when I chopped the end of my thumb.  Fortunately Miss G. was on hand to take over so we were still able to enjoy them on Christmas Day.

Christmas Biscuits/Cookies

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Makes about 50 - 60 biscuits

Ingredients:

100g macadamia nuts (almonds would work too if macadamias are too expensive)

125g dried apricots

180g white chocolate

250g unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

2 eggs

2 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 cup of craisins

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1.  Preheat oven to 180C.  Line baking trays with baking paper.  Using a large sharp knife, roughly chop macadamia nuts and put in a mixing bowl.  Roughly cut apricots with scissors and add to nuts.  Roughly chop chocolate (under no circumstances allow your fingers or thumb to make contact with a very large, very sharp kitchen knife), and add to nut and apricot mixture.

2.  Chop butter into small pieces and put in a large mixing bowl.  Beat with an electric beater until soft and creamy.  Add brown and caster sugars and beat until the mixture has increased in volume and the sugar has dissolved.  Add vanilla essence and eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.

3.  Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda and add to the creamed butter and sugar mixture.  Add prepared nut, fruit and chocolate mixture, craisins and rolled oats and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well combined.  

4.  For each biscuit measure about two teaspoons of the mixture and press into a round shape.  Mixture will be sticky.  Allow for biscuits to spread on trays.  Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.  Remove cookies from the ray and stand on a wire rack until completely cold.  Enjoy.

Anne xx