Christmas cookie swap

We have taken part in a social media Christmas cookie swap, organised by Tuscan food writer, Giulia Scarpaleggia.  Whilst this is not quite the same as meeting up social media friends in real life (which has been a terrific experience every time it's happened), this is a plan we can get behind.  We put forward our address and we received 2 additional names and addresses.  We sent cookies to our new Cookie Companions and they sent cookies to us.  And we have never knowingly said "No" to a cookie!
You can see Giulia on Instagram and you can also read here recipes and listen to her podcast here or even sign up for her cookery classes!
As this is a Christmas swap, we went all out and devised a new recipe involving two seasonal ingredients; mincemeat and marzipan.

100g marzipan
75g butter
100g sugar
2 tsp dried, crushed orange peel* or the grated zest of an orange
300g self raising flour
2 egg whites
200g mincemeat
Icing sugar 

* Tis the time of year for mandarins, clementines, satsumas.  Next time you have one, don't throw away the peel.  Dry it in a low oven, then crush with a pestle and mortar or in a spice grinder (be careful you don't end up with orange dust) and store in an air tight jar.  Add to cakes, sauces (it is especially good in a tomato and fennel sauce), hot chocolate and anything else that could do with a little citrussy kick #wastenot.

Pre heat oven to 180ºC 

Cream the butter, sugar and marzipan together and add the egg whites.  Beat well to mix thoroughly.
Stir in the flour and orange zest, dried or fresh.
Carefully fold the mincemeat through the mix.

Place walnut sized lumps of dough onto a heavy duty baking sheet or griddle plate (if you are using one of our pieces of iron bakeware there is no need to grease it, but you may need to grease other baking trays), leaving enough room for them to expand.
Pop into the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until golden brown.  Transfer to a cooling rack - they are fragile when hot, but will firm up as they cool.

Makes 2 dozen

They can be dusted with icing sugar, if you wish.

Please allow us to introduce you to our Cookie Companions:
Sam, who writes about Life in Abruzzo where you will also find her social media links.  Christmas cookies recipes
And, what a treat,  these Italian style biscuits were what she sent us:

Sarah, already known to readers of this blog for her "tempting recipe"  and you can read a lot more of her recipes here

These blueberry, lemon and oatmeal biscuits were delicious.

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