These are sablés diamant vanille - french shortbread - from The Cook's Book. It's really an excellent cookbook, done by The Weekly-Times, but it's also a bit funny. Each chapter is written by a different chef, some of which are a bit different, and they aren't really in a particular order - neither alphabetical nor chronological-by-order (as in, the order you might eat them over the day). Some parts are very thorough, like the meat sections with their careful instructions about bones and preparation methods. And then there is a chapter on Foams, and one on Sauces & Dressings, which is different to the Flavourings chapter. Latin America, Mexico, the Middle East, India all get their own chapters, as well as Japan, China, Thailand AND Asia (Asian Noodles & Dumplings, which is different to Pasta & Dumplings). The chefs also pull no punches on ingredients or style. If it needs leaven, chilling twice, acacia honey, a no.9 plain nozzle, Cox's apples, kirsch or mirepoix, they'll say so. Which is kinda cool. I also love the cooking tables of all the different timings for baking, steaming, syrups, etc.
This book was a gift from my sister. I hope it wasn't found in a newsagent, where I would expect to see a Weekly Times cookbook sold, as I imagine it wouldn't get the respect this one deserves. It's really very good. I've used the ol' burnt orange and cinnamon sugar for the edges. I swear the instructions make bikkies much bigger than the little buttons in their pic (5cm diameter they say. Hmmm.) My father-in-law is unable to have chocolate (tortuous existence) so I try to make sure there's at least one non-chocolate thing should I have done any baking.
I also got a bit of sewing done but I'm not able to share pics just now - hopefully more tomorrow :)
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