Tea and sympathy

Funny Story: Two weeks ago David and I were are the Fresh Market buying food and complaining about the prices. We longingly looked at the nuts in the bulk-food section and fantasized over what we could do with a pound of hazelnuts (questioning if haselnut coffee was actually made from hazelnuts and if we could make hazelnut butter). Then the price - $15 a pound! Please, no way! Suck it Fresh Mart with your narrow aisles and perfectly arranged produce! Then I picked up a pre-packaged hazelnut container only to discover with overwhelming joy that it was mispriced as peasnut! PEANUTS, HA, silly Fresh Market. After scheming, we decided that saving $13 a pound was well worth the risk of embarrassment at the check out counter and "be cool" if something went wrong. I was so nervous because I felt like I was stealing (I wasn't, it was their fault). To my surprise we made home with out stolen treasure. To make the story even funnier, we have yet to use the nuts and they are still stilling in their original container......needless to say this recipe may be a great way to use the glorious nuts before they go bad ;)





Tea and sympathy: "

I made these biscuits because I wanted a tinful of something sensible to have with tea when I came home from the office after a long day at the thesismill. I did not want a cookie; cookies are big and soft and chewy and rich. If a cookie was a drug it would be xanax, something you turn to when everything’s a bit overstimulating and you need to return to the womb for a minute. A biscuit is drier, less sweet, thoroughly anglo Australian, a panadol to take the edge off before you get back into doing the dishes or sweeping the floor or feeding the murdercat.

These honey and hazelnut biscuits did exactly that. They are wheaty and warm, layered, complex, creamy with vanilla and barely crushed hazelnuts, not much to look at but completely, remarkably delicious. They keep well. Take two and call me in the morning.

Honey and Hazelnut Wheat Biscuits

Adapted from an elderly Margaret Fulton cookbook I brought home from an op shop long ago. Makes ~ two dozen

• 125g hazelnuts


• 125g butter, softened


• 2/3 cup honey


• 3/4 cup raw sugar


• 2 eggs


• 2 tsp vanilla


• 1 cup wheatgerm


• 2 cups wholemal flour


• 1 cup plain flour


• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder


• Fat pinch salt

Toast hazelnuts in a very hot oven on a baking papered tray for 10-15 minutes, until the kitchen smells like all things good. Tip hot hazelnuts into a clean tea towel. Fold the towel over, then rub off the skins. Put the nuts into a heavy bag - I used a zip loc - and vent your anger with a rolling pin until they are coarsely crushed. Reduce heat to 180 degrees C.

Cream together butter, honey and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the flours, wheatgerm and salt, then fold the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar and eggs. Fold in the nuts.

Scoop teaspoon-sized balls of dough out - I use my cookie scoop - and quickly roll between your palms to neaten them. Arrange, a dozen at a time, on a baking papered tray. Flatten a little with a fork dipped in water. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden but still soft. Cool on a rack. Have a sit down.

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