Red Velvet Roll-Out Sugar Cookies

 Recently, I decided to make red velvet roll out sugar cookies to decorate for Valentine’s Day - you know, red for hearts.

A quick online search led me to this recipe for the cookie dough.

The cookies baked up with a nice flat surface and held their shape well with no spreading.

I then decorated the cookies with ready to roll fondant, using a number of different techniques to add the finishing touches:  

These used a cookie stamp highlighted with cachous:

I cut out different colours of fondant and added details with a knife and sprinkles for the icecream cones.

I think they turned out great! And it’s so much easier than decorating with royal icing.

TWD - Trufflish Nuggets

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Trufflish Nuggets. 

These are gluten free cookies made with a host of store cupboard ingredients, including coconut, cocoa, almonds and chocolate, bound together with egg whites before baking.

They are perfectly fine cookies; not exciting, but a good way to use up odds and sods.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

TWD - World Peace Cookies 2.0

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie (Baking with Dorie)  recipe is World Peace Cookies 2.0. I have made Dorie’s original World Peace Cookies before - see here and here and here. This version takes that original chocolate sable slice and bake cookie recipe and adds freeze dried raspberries and cayenne pepper. I didn’t add cocoa nibs as I didn’t have any.

I loved the cayenne pepper add-in - initially you don’t taste it, but it gives the cookies a little kick at the end - absolutely superb.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website. 

ANZAC Biscuits

 On the weekend, I had a yen to make a perennial favourite, ANZAC biscuits. I made this batch from my favourite recipe, sent to me by my mother out of the Australian Woman’s Day from a few years back. They are so good.

You can try the recipe yourself if you like- here it is: 

TWD - Pears, Nuts and Rye, Oh My

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie (Dorie’s Anytime Cakes) recipe is Pear, Nuts and Rye, Oh My. This cake, as the name suggests, contains pears, hazelnuts (both as meal and chopped) and rye flour.

This comforting cake also contains brown sugar and spelt flour, giving it an earthy flavour. The top of the cake is also drizzled with honey before baking.

After the cake cools, you can sprinkle it with icing sugar to make it look pretty.

As suggested by Dorie, I served this cake with Greek yoghurt and honey - delicious.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

TWD - Whole Wheat and Flax Daily Bread

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie (Baking with Dorie) recipe is Whole Wheat and Flax Daily Bread.

As the name suggests, this bread includes whole wheat flour and flax seeds in the ingredients. Powdered milk is an unusual inclusion in the ingredients, but which seems to make Dorie’s bread recipes so good.

This bread is best eaten fresh on the day it’s made - I enjoyed the crust piece slathered with Bonn Maman chocolate orange spread. After that, I recommend toasting this bread.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Peach cream cheese almond loaf

I recently baked this Peach Cream Cheese Almond Loaf cake. It is a nutty sponge with a cream cheese filling and a peach topping.

The recipe comes from the January 2026 edition of the Australian Womens Weekly.

Here is the recipe: