Custard Creams

It's not often that I fall IN LOVE with a cookie recipe. I am an adventure-cookie-bakin-kind-of-person. I love to try out new cookie recipes, and it seems so does every other food blogger, so recipes for any-kind-of-cookie are in endless supply. This recipe, however, is a recipe that I crave, that I love, that I will make again and again.

Let me tell you why:

1. These cookies taste like custard shortbread
2. Their texture is delightful (corn flour - the secret to an amazingly crunchy, yet soft cookie!)
3. They are buttery and flavourful
4. You can eat the dough, by the handful.
5. They require very little effort

So - what is not to love about that?

In fact, I used to make these for my friends at school. Sometimes we would sit and discuss baking cookies during accountancy classes (yes, cookies are far more educational and interesting!) And they were always such a hit.

Speaking of school, you know before you leave high school, everyone says to you: enjoy your last year...you are going to WISH you could go back once you start work. Well, I have never really felt that way. I have always LOVED the freedom of no homework, no routine, no EXAMS! That was my blissful life, before I started studying again. BLEH. Now I have all the normal activities to do as well as trying to fit in all my assignments and studying for exams.

Next week I get to mix up my normal life, I am starting my prac teaching - and I am both nervous and excited for it! I get to do something new. I have been working as a graphic designer for the last 5 years, and my life has pretty much been the same everyday for the last 5 years. Crazy. Now I have to break out and mix it up. The biggest downside for me is leaving my little pooch at home. She goes with me everywhere, yip, even to work. And leaving her at home is already breaking my heart. She gets all sad! Sigh.

Anyways, 

This is what you will need to make these work:
250g butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 cup custard powder
2 ¼ cups flour

and then you pop all of these into your mixer

and mix! Until it looks like this..

 Perfect!

 Then roll some dough into little balls, and press them down with a fork.

Have I ever told you that I love my silpat baking mat? I would even go as far as saying - it may be one of the best baking 'tools' I have ever bought! I highly recommend getting one. I know so many girls debate about which is better, a silpat or baking paper...but I think a silpat wins hands down. It is like magic! Nothing sticks to it (so there are no tears of despair because your cookies are ruined because they have stuck to the paper (not that this has ever happened to me! ha!)). The cookies literally glide off. It also distributes heat more evenly then a baking sheet. Win, win.

So after you have rolled and pressed, it time to bake.

This time will vary according to the thickness of your cookies, but I baked these ones for about 18 minutes at 180°C/350°F . The longer you bake them, the crunchier they will be.

Custard Cream Cookies Printable



Yield: about 40 cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Baking time: 15-20 min

Ingredients:
250g butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 cup custard powder
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• combine all the ingredients together, starting with the wet ingredients then add the dry ingredients and mix until a firm dough is reached
• shape into balls and press flat with a fork or your hand
• space each cookie on a greased baking sheet (they don’t grow/rise much)
• bake at 180°C/350°F for about 15 - 20 minutes on the middle shelf
• keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t brown around the edges
• enjoy!

www.bitsofsunshine.com (c) 2013 Heidi Hawyes

When to up your ISO!

ISO, aka, the potential to add grain and noise to your photos. Ha! I bet you can tell how much I love ISO! Just kidding, there is a far greater purpose for ISO, it is just such an over used, misunderstood setting! I hope by the end of this post, you will learn when to use ISO so it enables you to get get a shot you NEED to.

First of all, what is ISO? ISO is actually a measurement of the sensitivity of the image sensor to light. For a more detailed explanation, hop on over to Digital Photography School.  They explain it way better then I ever could!

If you want to skip all the boring details and just want to know what this has to do with YOUR food photos, read on!

I think the golden rule where ISO is concerned is this: keep it as low as possible. The lower your ISO, the smoother the picture will look. Check out these shots:

Do you see the first picture is actually AWFUL! All that noise and grain, yuk! And how SMOOTH the lower ISO picture is?

Here is a close up comparison. Ah - the high ISO makes the first two pictures look ghastly!

Seeing these pictures may make you think - heck, I never want to set my ISO up - EVER! Truth is, ISO can be a good thing! There are some situations where you will need to turn you ISO up.

But when?And how much?

Well, since ISO has to do with the cameras sensitivity to light, when there is not a lot of light around, and you need to get a shot, push your ISO up as far as you need too ( if you have a camera like mine, I don't recommend going over 600 / 800) and take your shot!

HOWEVER, there are better ways to combat low light that will preserve your photo. Like using a tripod or an external flash. I would recommend these over upping your ISO.

Sometimes you just have to weigh your options - is it better to have a lightly grainy picture, or miss that shot because there is not enough light around and you forgot / don't own a tripod? I think it all depends on you, and what you think. I think, when it comes to family and friends,  its better to preserve a memory then to worry about ISO and grain (but I really do feel too much grain and noise ruins a picture and you will proably not use it anyway!), but when it comes to blogging and food, go and get your tripod!

These Chocolate Mugcakes were taken with a rather high ISO, and together with the yellow lightening, make this whole post look a little dull. Looking back I should have just made them and photographed them when there was enough light available. Light can make or break and entire post, a clean, fresh looking photo gives the impression that you are a clean, fresh baker! Your photos are what people see of you!

This is one of the reasons I recommend people don't use the AUTO mode on their camera, as this will most probably adjust ISO to compensate in a low light situation.

So, in conclusion, keep your ISO down and your pictures beautiful!

Till next time!
xxx