Glamour (South Africa)

Glam Living Cookie jar

- SERVES 12

Classic shortbread

What you’ll need The how-to Toast the almonds on a baking tray in the oven at 160ºc for 10 minutes, being careful not to burn them. Set aside.

Beat the butter and castor sugar in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until just creamed, and then knead in the sifted flour and salt.

Place the dough on a baking tray and shape it into a disc the size of a small cake tin and 1.5cm thick. Prick all over, right through, with a fork and crimp the edges using your fingers.

Press the toasted whole almonds into the dough at regular intervals. Refrigerat­e for 20 minutes until the butter sets firm.

Preheat the oven to 160ºc. Bake the shortbread for 20-30 minutes on the baking tray with a cake tin set over the top for the first 15 minutes.

Cut into triangular slices and dust with castor sugar while the shortbread is still hot.

Browned butter skillet cookie

What you’ll need The how-to Preheat the oven to 180°C. In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it foams and begins to brown. Turn off the heat and add the sugar. Whisk until smooth, pour into a bowl to cool for a few minutes and then whisk in the eggs.

Sift together the flour, bicarbonat­e of soda, baking powder and salt, then mix in the oats and chopped chocolate. Fold this into the butter mixture.

Press the dough into a 30cm cast iron skillet – cast iron will produce more of a crust whereas an enamel skillet will give the standard, drier cookie base – and bake for 25 minutes or until the centre has set. Do not overbake as the cookie will continue to cook as it cools in the skillet.

Slice and serve warm with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Rocky road bars

What you’ll need The how-to Line a 24cm square baking tin with greased tinfoil. On the stove, gently melt the butter, chopped chocolate and syrup in a pan over a low heat.

Break the Marie Biscuits into rough chunks in a food processor or by placing them in a Ziploc bag and smashing them with a rolling pin.

Fold the biscuit pieces and chopped honeycomb, or Cadbury Crunchie chocolate bars, into the melted chocolate in the saucepan, and then add the mini marshmallo­ws.

Pour the mixture into the foillined tin and roughly level it with a spatula. Refrigerat­e for two hours or overnight. Once set, cut the rocky road slab into small square pieces.

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