You swirl me right round, baby right round
I haven’t posted much in the way of food recently because I frankly haven’t been home before 9pm on most nights, and my wonderful mother has on most occassions put out some leftovers from the family dinner for my famished self. Why so late? Well, I’ve developed a bit of an addiction to going to the gym recently, visiting it between 3-6 times a week, one of those being a weekly pilates session. Unfortunately, the only time I have to go is after work, so by the time I’ve worked out and gotten my sorry ass back home it’s anywhere from 9-10pm.
The pilates is doing wonders, I feel my core muscles strengthening already and I’m starting to feel muscles develop under the flab, and although I can’t complain about how much more flexible I’m feeling, some of the poses we have to pull and hold in class are…unflattering to say the least.
For example, when you’re legs are spread apart, you’re lying on your back and your head is about a foot from your butt, there are 3 thoughts which run through your mind:
1. This is really really unflattering
2. I’m so glad there are only women in this class
3. I really shouldn’t have had that curry for lunch…If I fart, I am going to DIE.
So, with the exercise regime and the quitting of the cigarettes (2 weeks last Sunday!), I’ve been feeling quite righteous with my new lifestyle…except that in place of the cigarettes, my sweet tooth appears to have become more aggressive in it’s desires. I’ve found that whenever I get a craving, it’s better to indulge with something small rather than holding out and then getting the urge to binge on badness. This past weekend I had a hankering for butter cookies but I wanted to try something new, so once again I turned to Ms. Nigella Lawson for aid in my time of need.
In her book “How To Be A Domestic Goddess”, Nigella describes these treats as simply ‘Italian biscuits’, and with such a simple name you’d except an homely, plain sort of biscuity treat to be in store.
Nothing of the sort.
They are rich, slightly cakey, moist, buttery and not too sweet. Though piping them into swirls was a bit of a pain in the arse, seeing the golden morsels come out of the oven made all that grunting and groaning worthwhile 
Italian Biscuits (from ‘How To Be A Domestic Goddess’)
Ingredients
225g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar
1 large egg
zest of 1/2 a lemon
350g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
*Note: You’ll also need a piping bag with a star nozzle to pipe the cookies
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then add egg, vanilla extract and lemon zest and mix in well.
3. Then add the flour, salt and baking powder - if your mixer can’t handle this, it’s fine to do with a rubber spatula - you want to just combine this, not (as Nigella says) beat it within an inch of it’s life! The batter should be fluffy and light.
4. Attach the nozzle to the piping bag and fill with batter. Pipe rounds or rosettes (whichever you prefer) onto a lined baking tray, making sure to leave about 5cm between each piped cookie as they will rise.
5. Stick into preheated oven and bake for roughly 10-15 minutes, however long it takes for the edges to start to turn gold. The centre of the cookies should still be pale yellow, if they’re any darker then you’ve overbaked them.
6. Turn onto a wire rack to cool, and enjoy with a nice cuppa to dunk them in
Technorati Tags: cookies, biscuits, recipes, butter cookies, Italian cookies
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Comments
peabody Ha, ha. I pretty much think that too while I am at yoga.
Those cookies look great!
lisa Fabulous cookies! I love the buttery kind so much 
Congrats on the smoking thing! Way to go, girlfriend!! Oh and yeah.. I laughed out loud at my monitor (while the rest of the office was silent) while reading your 3 thoughts. har!
xoxox
kalyn I admire your workout schedule. I wish I could get myself to do pilates at home (I have a videotape) because unfortunately I don’t have a minute of time to go to the gym. I think it’s hard to do it by yourself. I do exercise fairly faithfully at work with a group of friends, but we just do cardio stuff.
Nigella Lawson Ellie–so glad that I can be there for you in “times of need.” I’m glad your liked the biscuits. Keep up the fabulous work on both the pilates and on giving the cigarette butts a permanent crush under toe. Your body will wake up feeling better and better and better. Congrats!
Kat Congratulations on 2-weeks smoke free! These cookies look fabulous. Another recipe to add to my “to try” pile
neil I’m swirling, spinning round, right round, hard to know if I’m Dead or Alive. One thing I do know is that you will live longer for sure, great job on the addiction. Oh and the biscuits, very cute.
Ellie Brilynn - Thanks hon They did well, but I had to exercise so much self control not to overindulge on them! Argh - this healthy business is a hard slog!
Rachel - Thanks hon
Peabody - Cheers 
Hehehe, I go to the occasional yoga class as well, and yeah, you wouldn’t want to be pulling some of those moves in public!
Lis - Hehehe, thanks sweetheart! Glad I could provide a giggle for ya
Kalyn - I do acknowledge that the only reason I’m able to work out like this is because I don’t really have anyone to take care of but myself! You should watch the DVD or maybe print out some manuals from the internet if you’re interested - if you’ve got time to watch TV or read a book in the evenings, there are some really easy braces and lower body exercises you can do whilst lying down
Nigella - why thank you darls (p.s. Kevin, I think I can see your hair peeking out from under that wig 
LOL!)
Emily - cheers sunshine The exercise regime is tough, and forcing myself to go to the gym after work sometimes takes a lot of effort, but by the time I leave I usually feel on top of the world - that’s what keeps me going
Kat - thank you darlin’ These are definetely worthwhile, I’ll be putting them in my holiday cookie hampers for my workmates!
Neil - cheers The addiction thing is still a struggle (after 9 years, I guess it’s to be expected) but I think I’m winning this war
Tanna Way to go Ellie!!!Hooray!!!
I find myself in that #3 position way too often in yoga but there are some non-women in my class.
The cookies look divine. You’re doing the smart thing with the little sweet and the gym!
Ellie Tanna - Thank you sunshine I actually had a few men turn up to tonight’s pilates class, I think our instructor saw my wince as thankfully we didn’t pull any too disturbing poses
ilingc hey ellie, congratulations on hitting your 2 week smoke free mark. keep it up!
saw your bikkies today and would you believe i had a sudden craving for some butter cookies! i ended up stopping by at the DJ’s food section on the way home today for some butter cookies!
re pilates, that gas business is the only thing that is stoppping me from joining those classes. never know when i’m going to leakage going on! LOL
Helen As a Pilates and Body Scuplt instrutor I applaude you for your gym commitment. I teach it 4 times a week and see the difference when I take a vacation. I am amazed how my balance is wacky and my flexibility puny. Yeah for you!!!
Now about those cookies: look so good. Love the recipe. I might use them in my goodie baskets. Thanks!
Corianne Hi! I absolutely loooove your blog! You made my rainy dark afternoon a real delight! I am def. going to try some of your recipes, and these cookies sound so wonderfull i’ll have to try them first!
janelle Mmmmmmm, cookies look good. I could really use a few to go with my coffee right now. Great job on the pilates; I have always meant to give it a try!
gattina ok, don’t think about your legs…focus, focus… you do have steady head! Your cookies look so beautiful, I’m sure they taste wonderful too.
Ellie Suze - thankyou
I-Ling - LOL, hope those DJ’s cookies fulfilled your cravings As for pilates, it’s kinda fun so long as you haven’t had any food that inspires flatulence
Helen - Yay, thanks hon The cookies are pretty decent, hope you like them!
Corianne - Howdy! I’m glad you like the blog, let me know what you think of the cookies if you give them a try
Janelle - Oh god, coffee…you can crave my cookies, I’ll crave your mug of coffee *whimpers*
Gattina - LOL, at that point I usually fall over or collapse Glad you think they look purty!
Ivonne - I’ll try, LOL, but indulging now just makes me think of the treadmill…ahhh well, all things in moderation
Congrats on 2 weeks smoke free! Those cookies look like an excellent substitute!