Santes
I promise that I will move on from the baking section of my Edmonds cook book some time soon. Right now I’m stuck in the sweets. There are just so many delicious-sounding baked goods to be made and the recipes are so simple.
My most recent creation was a big batch of Sante biscuits. On this occasion Google has let me down and I can’t give you an explanation of why they are called Saint biscuits (Charlie can you help!) but I’m going to guess it’s because they’re heavenly.
Santes
I changed up the recipe ever so slightly by using three types of chocolate because why use one when you can use three? If you like a chewy and soft chocolate biscuit then these aren’t for you. They have a lovely crunch but they’re not too sugary.
Please try them out this weekend and then tell me why you think they’re called saints.
The ingredients
Butter and sugar
Start by beating the sugar, condensed milk, butter and vanilla together in an electric mixer until they are nice and light and fluffy.
Flour
Add the sifted flour a little at a time and keep mixing until it’s all combined. You should probably stir it in my hand but you know I like the lazy route. It worked so I don’t see why you’d dirty another spoon!
Choc-chip
With the motor running on slow, add the chocolate chips and keep mixing until they’re just distributed. You don’t want any cookies to be chocolate-less though so make sure you give it a reasonable mix.
Dough balls
Use about a tablespoon of dough at a time and roll it into balls then put it on a lined baking tray. They don’t spread too much but I still left about 3cm between mine.
Ready for baking
The recipe says to press the tops with a floured fork but again, why dirty a fork when you have perfectly good fingers. Press them down gently. They won’t really change shape much after baking so make sure you press them down to the thickness you want the finished biscuits to be.
Bake them at 170C fan-forced for 20 minutes or until they start to turn golden.
Resting
Leave the baked cookies on the trays to set for about 10 minutes.
Cooling
Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Santes
These little babies are quite moreish. They’re sweet but not so sweet that after one you feel you’ve had too much sugar to have another. This can be a good thing or a bad thing if you’re trying to resist a second. Enjoy!
Santes
What are you up to this weekend? I’m heading up the beach for our first visit back there since the wedding!
Santes
Santes
recipe from Edmonds Cookery Book
makes 25
- 125g butter, softened
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 3 tbsp sweetened, condensed milk
- few drops of vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup mixed chocolate chips
Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan-forced and line two baking trays with baking paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and condensed milk together until they are light and creamy.
Add the sifted flour and baking powder and beat until combined.
Add chocolate chips and beat until nicely distributed through the dough.
Take the bowl of the stand and roll tablespoons full of dough into balls.
Place the balls on the trays, leaving 3cm between each one and gently press the tops using a floured fork or your fingers.
Bake the biscuits for 20 minutes or until golden.
Leave them to rest on the trays for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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I am Claire & I love food. Here you'll find my favourite recipes, tips, tricks, restaurants & plates full of frivolity with the odd crafty post. New inspiration posted daily.
Those biscuits look dangerously addictive Claire! I think I’d find it hard to stop at one.
and you would be right!
Well, I think they look heavenly!
Great recipe, Claire! I love a cookie that you can eat more than one of without feeling sick..
That is the key to a good cookie isn’t it?
Three kinds of chocolate?! they MUST be good
Yes indeed!
Hi Claire, no, I can’t help. I have no idea why they’re called Sante Biscuits. I thought they were called Chocolate Chip Cookies so when I couldn’t find that listed anywhere in the index of the Edmonds Cookbook I thought I was going mad. I rang my mother and she said, ‘They’re called Sante biscuits’ but I didn’t ask why. Mum used to make them almost weekly and they would be sitting on trays, just out of the oven when we walked in from school. They are delicious aren’t they. Hard to stop at one or two or five. Yours look great. Have a lovely time at the beach. I do hope the weather is favorable. I’ve heard it’s been very cold on the Sunshine Coast. Coldest week on record apparently xx
The weather is just beautiful Charlie! I packed all jeans and jumpers and I’ve been hot. I would have loved to come home to a few batches of these when I was litte! x
So what do you think if I send you a bill for a new computer? After all, you’re the one responsible for all this drool on my laptop! Claire, these look melt-in-your mouth delicious! If you don’t put that cookbook away, we’re all going to be fat as pigs! But what a fun way to go to oinker land ………….
Sorry about that Chris! Yes I think I need to move on to some healthier recipes. I’ve been doing way too much baking lately! It’s what I do to keep warm.
Ooh have you made Afghans? I think I may have seen you make them in April? They’re my favourite NZ biscuit-so addictive
I should give these a go as I can imagine that they’re also lovely.
I have! They are so good. So very easy to make too!
They are called Sante biscuits because traditionally we made them by cutting up Sante bars: Sante bars are dark chocolate, in narrow bars, which were sold individually (no wrappers, just out of a box of bars) in dairies — when I was little, they were about 5 cents each. My grandparents would buy a box of sante bars when they came to visit us each christmas and it would sit on the counter in the kitchen for us to help ourselves from – it was always an exciting part of their visit. The Sante bar is now made by Whittakers (who also make our famous peanut slabs), they cost a lot more, and they come in a wrapper these days, but they are still much the same:
http://shop.countdown.co.nz/Shop/ProductDetails?Stockcode=267011&name=whittakers-chocolate-bar-dark-sante-75g
: )
What a lovely story Emma thanks for sharing!