Rainy day, biscuits time!

I like the rain...when I'm indoors, that is, and I fancy baking biscuits whenever it rains, and living in London you could say that I could be baking and baking and baking...It doesn't rain that much lately...just as well. The recipe for these lovely biscuits are from The Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks, I love those books, and I have loads of them (books, not biscuits)

Frangipane jam drops

Ingredients:

125g softened butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 cup ground almonds

1 egg

2/3 cup plain flour (100g)

Jam (any flavour)

Method:Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a baking tray. Beat butter, vanilla, sugar and almond with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, add egg, mix, add sifted flour. Drop level teaspoon of mixture on trays 5cm apart. Use handle of wooden spoon to make small holes in top of each biscuit. Fill each hole with jam, very carefully. Bake for 15 minutes and cool.

Viennese orange kisses

Ingredients:

220g softened butter

2 tablespoons grated orange rind

1/2 icing sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup self raising flour

Orange cream

60g butter

1 cup icing sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

Method:

Beat butter, rind and sifted icing sugar in bowl with an electric mixer, stir in sifted flours. Mix. Spoon mixture into pipping bag and pipe 3cm stars onto a greasedoven tray, and bake in the oven at 180degrees for 12 minutes. Place in cooling racks. Sandwich the kisses with the orange cream, and dust with extra icing sugar.

Maple syrup butter biscuits

Ingredients:

125g softened butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup maple syrup or golden syrup

110g plain flour

35g cornflour

Method:

Preheat oven to 180degrees. Grease and line a baking tray. In a bowl, mix the butter, vanilla and syrup, until light and fluffy, add the sifted flours. Spoon this mixture into a pipping bag and pipe stars 3cms apart onto tray. Bake for 15 minutes and cool in racks.

Chocolate viennese

For the chocolate ones, I just followed the viennesse orange kisses recipe without the orange, once baked, and cool, dunk them in melted chocolate and leave to set in the fridge.

Once they're done, you can keep them in an airtight glass or tin container for some days. Here's a useful tip: put them in a tray and back in the oven at 180 degrees just for 3 or 4 minutes, and they will taste like freshly made (don't do this with the chocolate ones, of course)