I used to do quite a bit of baking when I was a kid – I never called it “baking”, only “making”, as in “I’m making a cake” and “I’m making biscuits” etc. It wasn’t until I got to Canada that everyone talked about baking all the time. I see the difference, baking vs. cooking, but I still think of baking as primarily making bread. But what can you call it otherwise, “patissering”? Snort. So, baking it is. I do cook, but making – sorry, baking 
biscuits and cakes and slices is so much more interesting for me, and more fun to share.
There are some biscuits and slices I used to make a lot years ago, as a kid and a teenager, that I haven’t made since. On Saturday, I decided to make one of them: Monte Carlos. I didn’t have the recipe I used back then, but I did have one in one of my trusty baking cookbooks, and it looked pretty much the same, as far as I could remember. Certainly tasted the same! Anyone in Australia will recognise these delectable, dessert-like biscuits, but outside of our country, maybe not. (I will have to share a lamington recipe with you one day…)
MONTE CARLO BISCUITS
from The Essential Baking Cookbook, Murdoch Books Australia
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (125g) caster sugar*
3 Tb milk
1 1/2 cups (185g) self-raising flour**
1/4 cup custard powder
1/3 cup desiccated coconut***
Filling
75g unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup icing sugar
2 tsp milk
Jam of your choice (I always use raspberry – nothing beats good quality raspberry jam!)
Preheat the oven to moderate (180ºC/350ºF) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the milk and beat until combined.
Sift the flour and custard powder and add to the bowl with the coconut. Mix to form a soft dough.
Roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls and arrange on the tray. With the back of a fork, flatten into fat disks. Allow room for spreading.
Bake for 15-20 mins or until just golden. (I put mine in for 10 mins and they were perfectly done, if a little dark on the bottoms.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.
For the filling, beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the milk to make a thick, white filling. You might find you need to add more sugar to get the right consistency.
Spread filling generously on half the biscuits, and spread jam on the other half. Sandwich together lightly but do not press, or everything will ooze out.
* Caster sugar is a superfine white sugar. In Canada I use “special fine granulated sugar”, which I think is more-or-less the same thing.
** If you don’t have self-raising flour handy, simply use plain flour and add baking powder, 1 teaspoon for every cup of flour. It doesn’t have to be exact.
*** Desiccated coconut is often called “fine sweetened coconut” in Canada, if you’re having trouble finding it.
NOTE: As usual, I use the abbreviations “Tb” for tablespoon and “tsp” for teaspoon.
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Utter crap
It was okay
Liked it but ...
Really liked it
LOVED it!
Oh, they look fantastic! Yum!
You have reminded me that I need to make some Yoyo biscuits soon too!
Marg recently posted..Weekend Cooking: Making Lemon and Ginger Muffins with Jeanne
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 3:53 pm
@Marg, Yoyo biscuits!! Aren’t they Melting Moments? Oh different names, same thing, right? Another one I used to make as a kid, love ‘em! Oh but guess what, in the 7+ years I’ve been living here, I’ve never once seen a passionfruit. And trust me, I’ve looked!
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Oh these look heavenly. I think I’ll make them for July 4 here in the States. Half with raspberry and half with blueberry jam for a red, white, and blue look.
Beth F recently posted..The Kitchen Journal: Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 3:53 pm
@Beth F, What a great idea!
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Those look fun to put together — and very tasty!
Joy Weese Moll recently posted..Saturday Snapshot — Orchid Show
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 3:55 pm
@Joy Weese Moll, Sandwiched biscuits are always more fiddly, but these aren’t too bad, and so worth it!
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I love a good sandwich cookie — and I’m with you on raspberry jam — the best!
jama recently posted..another cup of downton tea with chocolate madeleines
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 3:56 pm
@jama, Me too! I just need the extra bit of energy to do the fiddly part.
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I’ve never heard of Monte Carlo biscuits, but these look beautiful. They would be perfect for a bridal or baby shower.
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 3:56 pm
@Diane (bookchickdi), You’re right, they’re ideal for that kind of event, delicate and sweet enough and a bit fancy looking.
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These are entirely new to me. Had not heard of them. They look so tempting. Caster sugar kept coming up in recipes from the UK and Australia, and I was puzzled, until a chef suggested running sugar through the blender or food processor to get the right texture.
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 3:58 pm
@Fay, Oh wow, I wouldn’t go to any fuss to do that! Just use whatever white sugar you have available, it’ll do the job fine. The sugar here is a bit coarser but so far I haven’t noticed a difference in how things turn out. Not like trying to substitute corn syrup for golden syrup – that didn’t work!!
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I love cookies with filling, but I’ve never gotten around to making them myself. This looks like a simple (and delicious) recipe – I’ll have to bookmark it for later. Thanks for sharing!
Cecelia recently posted..dark chocolate puppy chow
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 3:59 pm
@Cecelia, Aren’t they extra yummy? And easy to do, which I like. They don’t last very long though! (I mean, everyone eats them pretty quick!)
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I am definitely going to be trying these. A few years back i made Lamingtons and they turned out perfectly. Hubby loved them with the coconut.
Heather recently posted..Weekend Cooking: Egg Bhurji
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 4:00 pm
@Heather, Oh yes lamingtons are the best! My husband loves them too. Funnily enough, I was never a big lamington fan as a kid, but I find I love them as an adult. I think I liked much sweeter things as a child.
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Love the combination of coconut and raspberry jam!
Laurie C recently posted..Weekend Cooking: Vegan Eats for Super Bowl Sunday from The Experiment Blog
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Shannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 7:28 pm
The coconut gives it a sort of nutty texture; overall there’s something very summery about these!
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These biscuits sound delicious. I wasn’t expecting the sweet part of the recipe but I guess it is like slathering jam on a biscuit.
I love your blog header. Giraffes are just exquisite.
Michelle recently posted..Weekend Cooking; Chef Love.
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Shannon Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 9:56 am
You don’t often put icing on biscuits? “Biscuit” meaning “cookie”, not scone, which I think is how Americans use the word? Might be something lost in translation there!
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Lovely post. I always think of baking as needing precision measurement and cooking as more creative. Have a good week.
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Shannon Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 9:59 am
Y’know, I hear that all the time – with baking, measure everything exactly! And yet, I never do. I’m very, um, sloppy, when I measure ingredients, rather like Nigella. With a new recipe, I measure things as closely as I can, but I’m not too anal about it and it always works out! Or if it didn’t quite, I know what I did wrong.
But you’re right, cooking is much more creative in that sense. I’m not brave enough to ad lib when making cakes and biscuits and slices – I can replace one nut for another but I can’t tamper with quantities of flour, sugar, butter… Haven’t yet figured out how that part works!
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