not quite another cookie box

for those who prefer savoury over sweet

Hello! It’s two weeks until Christmas. This year, I’m feeling quite disorganised, but rather than being stressed, I’m quite ambivalent about my level of disorganisation. I think this is a good thing! I’m just enjoying the festivities and have given up worrying if the last of the gifts will arrive in the post in time or what we will be eating on the day. As long as I don’t have to be anywhere near the shops on Christmas Eve, it will, I’m sure, all come together.

Because of the number of recipes, this newsletter is quite a long one, and you might find it truncated in your email. Just click the ‘read entire message’ to continue.

I hope the week finds you feeling a little Christmassy!

Julia x

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I love that these look homemade - slightly wonky, the occasional crack, less than precise icing. They look like someone had fun baking them.

I have, in my jam-packed folder of recipe clippings, the Food section from The Washington Post dated 12 December 2012. That year, we spent five weeks, mostly in New York, on holiday. Our long summer holidays coincide with winter for most of the rest of the world, so any holidays that didn’t mess with the school year meant going places in what was most likely the off-season. While the weather might not be the best, there are benefits to visiting when most other people don’t, the lack of crowds being the most obvious, and the ability to enjoy the novelty of a cold Christmas the other. We made our way from LA (in 2012, it was the only place in the US you could fly to from Australia) to New York via Washington DC, and it was here that I realised that Christmas cookies were taken very seriously.

Unlike in some European countries where a plate of festive biscuits awaits visitors, or in the States where an assorted cookie box is a gift-giving tradition, in Australia, we don’t have such a biscuit-centred Christmas. It is changing. As food trends become more global, more Australians are discovering the joy of a container filled with homemade biscuits, with both home bakers and artisan bakeries embracing seasonal biscuit baking. My Christmas biscuit box has been a best seller on my market stall for a few years now. I choose a combination of some of the traditional biscuits from my childhood - speculaas, pfeffernüsse and shortbread and add a selection of others that catch my eye. Making a decision is a fraught task - there are so many options!¹

For those of us with a sweet tooth, it always comes as a surprise that there are people who would choose savoury over sweet! So, for the past few years, I have also made a ‘Just Add Cheese’ box, which is almost as popular as its sweet counterpart. A selection of crackers suitable for cheese, a savoury biscuit, a cheese board accompaniment such as quince paste, a few dried fruits, and you have a traditional cookie box alternative that might even sway the sweet lovers.

Substack seems to have reached peak cookie box, with posts offering a multitude of suggestions. I’m hesitant to join the fray, but thought that this deviation from the norm might offer an alternative. This week, I’m sharing my recipes for a ‘Just Add Cheese’ Box. Like any good cookie box, the inclusions offer a variety of shapes and textures. This year’s cheese accompaniment is a fig and walnut slice and some dried apple and pear slices. I make these by drying thin fruit slices in the oven at a low temperature. You could, of course, use a dehydrator if you have access to one. Alternatively, a small cluster of dried Muscatel grapes would look lovely and be a welcome addition to a cheese board.

The dough for the oatcakes and cheese and fennel biscuits can be stored unbaked in the freezer. I freeze the cut oatcakes, putting them flat on a baking tray. The cheese and fennel biscuits, I freeze in a log. For the fruit seed and nut crackers, I bake once, freeze the entire slab and then slice and bake again when I‘m ready to assemble the boxes. The lavosh doesn’t freeze but keeps well in an airtight container.

The yield for each of these biscuits depends on the size you choose to make.

Oatcakes

These oatcakes are one of my favourite crackers for cheese, particularly blue cheese, where their slight sweetness offsets the sharpness of the cheese.

Makes 25 - 30 biscuits

• 50 g rolled oats

• 175 g wholemeal flour

• 30 g caster sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon mustard powder

• ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 100 g cold salted butter, diced

• 45 ml milk

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Put the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, mustard powder, pepper and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Whizz until the oats are coarsely chopped. Add the butter and pulse until it is incorporated into the flour mixture. Add the milk and pulse again until the dough clumps together.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work bench and knead gently until smooth. Cover with a clean tea towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Lightly flour the workbench again and roll out the dough until it is about 3 mm thick. Use a biscuit cutter to stamp out 6 cm rounds. Reroll any of the offcuts. Prick the biscuits with a fork and arrange on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for about 12 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Sesame and Oregano Lavosh

If you only have one colour of sesame seeds, you can, of course, just use those. You can also swap them for another small seed, such as poppy seeds or linseeds. If you choose an alternative, omit the sesame oil. Similarly, the oregano can be changed for another herb you prefer - thyme and rosemary are good choices.

Makes about 40

• 150 g plain flour

• 50 g wholemeal flour

• 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

• 2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, finely chopped

• 60 ml olive oil

• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

• 125 ml warm water

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Put the flours, sesame seeds and oregano into a bowl. Use a balloon whisk to mix everything together and to remove any lumps. In a jug, mix the olive oil, sesame oil and water and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir to form a soft dough. You might find it easier to use your hands for this.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into four pieces. Roll out each piece until it is very thin, almost see-through. Cut into 10 strips and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the lavosh and crispy and a light gold colour. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire tray to cool completely.

Fruit, Nut & Seed Crackers

These are a versatile cracker, and over the years I’ve made versions with a variety of fruit, nut and seed combinations. This year, I chose apricot and almond. Cranberries, sour cherries, raisins and figs make lovely alternatives and walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts work well. I like to add a tablespoon of molasses to the batter if I’m using darker fruit and nuts. Take care if you use sunflower seeds, they can react with the bicarbonate of soda and turn a strange greeny blue colour, and while the flavour isn’t affected, the colour might look a bit disconcerting!

Makes about 30

• 150 g plain flour

• 150 g wholemeal flour

• 2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

• 45 g brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 50 g runny honey

• 500 ml buttermilk

• 130 g dried apricots, roughly chopped

• 90 g sunflower seeds, toasted

• 40 g sesame seeds, toasted

• 80 g almonds, toasted

• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line a small loaf tin with baking paper (I have a tin that is about 25 x 8 x 3.5 cm, which is ideal for these crackers but of little use for anything else and certainly not worth buying for this sole purpose!). Depending on the bulk of your fruit and nuts, you may prefer to divide the batter between two tins.

Combine the flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well. In a jug, mix the honey and buttermilk and pour over the dry ingredients. Stir together. Gently fold in the fruit, seeds and nuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin/s and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the loaf is golden. It should be firm to the touch. Remove from the oven, and after 15 minutes, lift from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

Leave for at least several hours or overnight. You can freeze the loaf at this stage. Alternatively, prior to slicing, pop the loaf into the freezer for about an hour. This will make it much easier to slice.

Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Use a sharp chef’s knife to slice the loaf into thin slices, about 2-3 mm. Don’t be tempted to use a serrated knife, as this will drag through the fruit and nuts.

Arrange the slices on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 15 minutes before turning over the slices and baking for a further 15 minutes. The slices should be dry and crispy.

Cheese and Fennel Biscuits

These are a favourite biscuit of mine, making the most of the wild fennel that grows abundantly on the roadside during summer. If I have access to fresh fennel fronds and flowers, I use those in the biscuit dough and as decoration, but a few crushed seeds work just as well.

Makes about 20-25 biscuits

• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds175 g plain flour

• ½ teaspoon mustard powder

• a pinch of cayenne pepper

• 2 teaspoons fennel fronds, finely chopped (optional)

• 150 g cold salted butter, cubed

• 75 g tasty cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

• 75 g parmesan cheese, finely grated

• 1 egg

• fennel flowers or extra seeds for decorating

Add the fennel seeds to a dry frying pan and lightly toast for a few minutes until fragrant, taking care not to burn them. Tip into a mortar and roughly grind with a pestle.

Place half the fennel seeds into the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, mustard powder, cayenne pepper and fennel fronds, if using. Pulse a couple of times to combine. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Next, add the cheeses and process for about 30 seconds until a dough forms.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured benchtop and knead a couple of times to bring the dough together. Split the dough in half and roll each half into a log about 4-5 cm in diameter. Cut two pieces of baking paper large enough to wrap around each log. Scatter the remaining fennel seeds over the two sheets of baking paper, then roll each biscuit log over the paper so that the seeds stick to the outside. Twist the ends of the baking paper to seal and chill the logs in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Alternatively, wrap each log in plastic wrap and freeze.

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Crack the egg into a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of water and beat with a fork to make an egg wash.

Slice the biscuit logs into 5 mm rounds and spread them out on the baking trays, leaving a couple of centimetres between them. Brush the top of each biscuit with egg wash and sprinkle with fennel flowers or extra crushed fennel seeds. Bake for 14-18 minutes or until the biscuits are golden.

Remove from the oven and cool on the trays for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Fig and Walnut Slice

Before fresh figs are in season and I can enjoy a slice or two with blue cheese, this slice makes a good substitute. When buying dried figs, look for ones that are soft rather than those that are dried until they are quite leathery. If this is all you can find, cover them with hot water and soak overnight before draining and proceeding with the recipe. The slice will need a few days in the fridge to dry out slightly, so keep this in mind. This makes one large log, which you can cut into smaller portions to include in your box. Depending on the size of the portions you need, you might want to double the recipe.

• 50 g almonds, toasted

• 250 g dried figs, remove the little stalk and roughly chop

• 50 g dried apricots, roughly chopped

• 50 g walnuts, toasted

• 10 ml brandy

• 10 g runny honey

• pinch of allspice

Put the almonds into the bowl of a food processor and whizz until they are finely chopped. Tip these into a bowl. Add the figs to the food processor and process until they are a sticky paste. Add these to the almonds along with the remaining ingredients. Mix well. You might find your hands are best for this job. Shape into a log. Put the log on a piece of baking paper on a tray and cover with a clean tea towel. Place in the fridge or a cool, dry place for 4-5 days so that it can dry.

1. Some years feel more festive than others. I attribute feeling particularly Christmassy this year, in part to the wonderful festive posts on Substack. They have been a joy to read. Amongst a huge variety of writings, there have been some interesting cookie box selections, including this one from

Afia

, who has combined her West African heritage to create her ideal cookie box.

My version of Afia’s orange and grains of paradise shortbread.

My ideal Christmas cookie box