Gourmet Goddess goes festive!

I cook a lot, but baking has never really been my thing - possibly something to do with that fact that I would rather have cheese and olives than a piece of cake or a biscuit any day. Another factor could be my aversion to sticking to a recipe and measuring ingredients properly, something you need the discipline to do if you are a baker or pastrychef. I'm not very good at taking instructions :) But tonight I thought - what the hell! I felt like hitting the kitchen and doing something a bit festive (unusual for me, as I tend to give the whole Christmas thing a miss most of the time) I cranked up Duran Duran's Greatest Hits - I always cook better with Simon Le Bon -  donned the apron, headed to the kitchen and whipped up these very Christmassy biscuits, full of white chocolate, beautiful green pistachio nuts and garnet red cranberries.

These would be ideal as Christmas gifts - bake a batch, tizz them up with cellophane or some pretty boxes, tags and ribbons and voila! Instant gift. These biscuits will last for about a week in an airtight container (if you don't scoff them all before then) My recipe will make about 40 small biscuits.

The little pink baking cups in the picture are by Paper Eskimo, who specialise is quirky kids party products. You can actually bake cupcakes or muffins right in them and they keep their colour. I loved these when I saw them and bought them in green too, they cost around $5.00 for a pack of twenty.  I found them at Octopus gift store on King Street in Newtown, NSW. To find your nearest stockists and to check out other Paper Eskimo products go to their website :  http://papereskimo.com/theretailers.php

You will need: 250g butter (at room temperature), 1 tsp vanilla essence, 2 cups plain flour, 1/2 cup dried cranberries (sometimes called craisins), 200g white chocolate chopped quite finely, 2 tablespoons shelled, chopped and unsalted pistachios, 3/4 cup icing mixture.

Method: Preheat the oven to about 160C. Line baking trays with non stick paper.

Cream together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until it turns pale and is very creamy. Stir in the flour, half of the chocolate, pistachios and cranberries. Mix until the dough comes together. If the dough is very sticky, or the weather is hot, put the mixture in the fridge to firm up a little for 20-30 mins.

Roll the dough into small balls the size of a walnut and place about 3cm apart on the baking tray. Flatten slighty with a fork.