Cream Cheese Spiral Biscuits

I am not a daring baker. In fact, I am less than an amateur baker :) Sometimes, I get by with using pre-mixes. Though I rarely bake, this does not mean that I am shelving my dream of baking something edible... soon. I drool at the wonderful baked creations of the baking bloggers. I often wish I can bake as good as they can.

So, I figured, I have got to start somewhere. This somewhere has to be something easy, you know, the usual requirements: less ingredients, less effort, less baking time, but something my family would eat! Does this sound too good to be true?

Well, I found one here, in this book:




According to the 500 Fabulous Cakes and Bakes, these biscuits look so impressive and melt in the mouth, yet they are surprisingly easy to make.

I read and reread the ingredients and instructions. It does sound like it is easy to make. Cream cheese is something my kids love. Plus, I have all the ingredients on hand!

1 C butter, at room temperature
1 C cream cheese, at room temperature
2 T caster sugar
2 C plain flour
1 egg white beaten with 1 T water for glazing
caster sugar for sprinkling

for the filling:
1 C finely chopped walnuts (I substituted with cashew nuts)
1/2 C light brown sugar
1 t ground cinnamon


1. Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until soft. Sift over the flour and mix until combined. Gather into a ball and divide in half. Flatten each half, wrap in greaseproof paper and chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, mix all the filling ingredients together and set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease 2 baking sheets. Working with one half of the dough at a time, roll out thinly into a 28cm or 11 inch circle. Using a dinner plate as a guide, trim the edges with a knife.

3. Brush the surface with egg wash. Then sprinkle evenly with half the filling.

4. Cut the circle into 16 segments, starting from the base of the triangles, roll up to form spirals.

5. Place on baking sheets and brush with the remaining glaze. Sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack.


Perhaps it is the quality of the butter I used, or perhaps it is the heat in this tropical country, the dough just would not combine together! Immediately after chilling, they would hold enough for rolling out, but I have not yet finished rolling when they would crumble apart. So, I have to chill the dough again. The third time, I did this, I flattened out the dough before chilling, so that, after chilling, I would just have enough time for cutting the dough into triangles and roll them into spirals.

Result? Not as pretty as the picture in the book. But I promise, the taste is just yummy! Melt in the mouth, buttery, creamy, cheesy biscuits. Not too sweet, just the way we like it. The kids finished them soon after.


Sharing these biscuits with the Bookmarked Recipes community, headed and hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. I apologize that this is a bit just near the cut-off time. I already have the recipe, but had been sick the previous days so I was not able to get up to post this earlier. Anyway, to see last week's delicious recipes, please click here.

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Of course, mothers always believe that oatmeal is good for everybody's health. So, I bought a bag of quick-cooking oats, even if I know that my kids and hubby do not really like to eat them. I figured I will be able to force them to eat since that is the only thing available in the pantry. No such luck with my picky-eaters. So I had to figure out a way to 'disguise' the oatmeals.

At first, I tried baking peanut butter oatmeal cookies. They did not pass the taste-test. Probably because my picky eaters can still detect the presence of the 'healthy white stuff' inside the cookies. I searched the internet and found this interesting recipe. Everybody in my family loves chocolate. The reviews said these cookies are soft and chewy. And best of all, I would be able to hide the 'healthy white stuff' inside the dark brown chocolate color of the cookies!

What a success! The kids love the cookies and kept asking for more. Although they suspect it contains the 'healthy white stuff' they are not complaining because they taste really great! They turned out to be soft and chewy and very tasty. Even my sisters, who are dessert fanatics, gave good reviews.

3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghirardeli - given by my 3rd sis from u.s.a)
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 c sugar (you can increase up to 1/2 c if you want sweeter cookies)
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 T oats ( I added up to 4 T)
1/4 c chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter large rimmed baking sheet.

2. Sift first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla, beat until well blended. Add flour mixture and beat until moist clumps form. Dough will be very firm. Add chocolate chips. Knead gently to blend.

3. Using moistened palm, shape 1 generous tablespoon into ball. Place on prepared sheet; flatten to 2 inch round. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing rounds 2 inches apart.

4. Bake cookies until center is slightly firm and top is cracked, about 14 min. Cool on sheet.


Note: I followed the recipe above faithfully until after adding the flour, I felt that the mixture was too firm and hard to handle. I added 1 egg to the mixture at this point. The cookies turned out soft and chewy and moist, though a bit crumbly. They tasted great nevertheless! One of these days, I might try the original recipe to see what it will turn out.