Pondering.

Why is it that just as one decides to embark on something new and different on the computer, something else crops up to throw a spanner in the works? Yesterday I went looking through my files for pictures I'd taken of various knitting projects as well as my file of recipes only to find that, because of the last meltdown I have lost a lot of the stuff I thought was safely backed up and archived, so I guess it's back to the old drawing board.

Since learning how to take pictures on my digital camera and getting pretty good results thanks to my wonderful D-I-L, Mary-Frances, who hunted down a great little gadget that enables me to see what I'm shooting when I'm outdoors, I've had the fun of Cork snapping and emailing things. As they say, one picture is worth a thousand words so, no doubt, something will appear in time.

In the meantime, if anyone is reading this nonsense, I must share a great biscuit (cookie) recipe. I made up half the recipe and froze the other half. From the way it went off I should have made up the whole batch. At the moment I have a batch of Walnut, Cherry slice (like biscotti) cooling. But in the meantime, a really fab. recipe.

CRISP CHERRY BISCUITS

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind (or orange rind if preferred)
1/2 lb butter
1 egg
7-8 oz mixed cherries (red, green and yellow glace cherries)

Line base and sides of a 3 x 10" bar cake pan (or slightly larger) with baking paper.

Blend or process flours, sugar, rind and butter until just crumbly. Add egg and process until combined. Transfer to a large bowl or tip out onto a lightly floured bench top and add cherries, pressing them into the dough. Knead gently until smooth. Press into pan and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

When chilled, remove from pan and cut in half lengthways. If mixture is cut on the diagonal one gets nice triangular shape biscuits. At this stage half the mixture can be frozen if desired.

Cut each half into 1/4" slices and place on oven trays lined with baking paper. Bake in a moderately slow oven (325 F) for 12 minutes. Cool on trays then loosen with a spatula. Return biscuits to the oven and bake again for 10 minutes or until lightly brown and crist. Cool on trays.

These biscuits have good keeping quality. The hard part is keeping fingers, and I don't mean little fingers, out of the biscuit barrel.