Easter Currant Biscuits

I don’t have a very good track record of themed baking. Christmas I can cope with, as it’s basically stretched over a whole month and padded out by lots of days off. Other than that, I’m never good at remembering to bake for specific occasions – Halloween, St Patricks Day, Shrove Tuesday and Valentines Day (aside from the odd brownie) all come and go every year before I’ve had a chance to get the scales out. I wanted this Easter to be different so this post is the first of two fab Easter bakes!I didn’t know why currant biscuits are so tied in with Easter and the research I did gave several different suggestions – that they were given after Church on Easter Sunday in packages of 3 to represent the Holy Trinity, that the rich ingredients marked the end of Lent and fasting, that the tradition originated in the West Country – who knows! Recipes also differ with variations from county to county, so I stuck with Mary Berry. They turned out softer than I was imagining and slightly different to the crunchy Fruit Shortcakes you buy in shops but moreish and perfect with a cup of tea nonetheless. The only changes I made were to do half currants, half sultanas instead of all currants and I realised just after putting them in the oven that the zest of an orange would be a nice addition. You can find the recipe here (I only made the fruited half) – enjoy!`

Party Rings

Hello and welcome to 2014 on Teen Baker! I feel it’s appropriate to start the year with something healthy, like a colourful salad, as so many people go on a New Years diet. Or something that uses up the Christmas and New Years party leftover bits and bobs that are currently cluttering up people’s cupboards everywhere. But… well… all in good time. Party rings are just so much more fun!Party rings have been on my baking agenda since I started doing the homemade classics challenge but for one reason or another they kept falling to the bottom of the list. I don’t know if party rings are available outside the UK but (as the name suggests) they are a kids birthday party staple here with their pastel colours and pretty swirly pattern. Essentially they are just a vanilla ring biscuit with glace icing topping, but there is something addictive about them!I thought party rings would be a bit of a kerfuffle to make and certainly previous recipes I’d seen for them had been more fiddly, involving piping, icing borders, intricate patterns and other things I’m not very good at. However when I saw this recipe from the Oh Comely magazine blog I knew it wouldn’t be long until party rings graced my kitchen counter! Turns out party rings are super easy – dipping each biscuit in bowls of icing creates the base layer, and a quick drizzle of icing off the end of a teaspoon creates the signature swirly pattern. My tips would be to make your icing a bolder colour than you think – the beauty of party rings is their pretty pastels but you need them to show up and not look watery on the biscuit. Also after doing all the base layers, thicken your icing slightly for the drizzle – I thought thinner would be easier to drizzle but thicker icing holds the pattern better. See you next week for that healthy new years dish…or maybe some more baking. We’ll see!

Jaffa Cakes

Funny story to go with these Jaffa cakes. I took them to my friend’s house when she was holding a get together of all our friends at the end of Easter break. I always forget to bring in the stuff I make for my friends and I knew that my family of 3 didn’t really need 18 of these lying around! One of my friends brought their cousin with them, who had never met any of us before. He didn’t realise that it was me who had made the Jaffa cakes, and therefore remarked when the tin was passed round ‘Who on earth has time to make Jaffa cakes? Don’t they know you can buy them?’ Cue much, much embarrassment! Luckily he was very sweet and spent the rest of the evening trying to recover from the gaffe. I’d also like to point out that he ate 4!It did make me think though about the funny things having a food blog can make you bake. Some people were similarly bemused when my friend Emily and I made marshmallows, considering you can buy a big bag for 90p! However as you know I really enjoy making homemade versions of shop-bought favourites – you can see my previous challenges here. I’m not sure how well known Jaffa Cakes are out of the UK, but basically they are little flat cakes with a disc of orange jelly on top, covered in dark chocolate. I was inspired to make these after seeing the recipe here by the guys at Sorted Food –my new favourite way to procrastinate is exploring their site!These were really satisfying and fun to make and I was so pleased when they worked perfectly and looked like the original! After a few baking fails I love it when a plan comes together. I followed the recipe to a T and my only comments would be that I think the amounts for the jelly and chocolate were too generous – 200g of each is stated in the recipe and I only used 100g of jelly and 120g of chocolate. I didn’t really mind about the excess jelly as it comes in packets of 200g so you can see why the recipe just says to make all of it (and it was very soothing when I came down with a really sore throat!) but I think it is good to have a heads up. Happily, I also got 18 instead of 12 final cakes and mine were a decent size! The ratios of the layers in the final jaffa were perfect – the classic thin Jaffa cake layers all combining perfectly. I also really liked the method of using a packet of orange jelly cubes (the finished cakes are still a lot more homemade than normal!) and jazzing up the flavour with the juice of an extra orange, which made it really strong and stand up to the chocolate. Enjoy! :)

Orange Highlanders

Recently I’ve got into a baking routine of doing all my baking at the weekend – one bigger, main recipe such as a showy cake or elegant tart, and then one recipe for happy snacking during the week. Muffins, flapjacks, tablet – something to fill the 4pm sugar dip. More often than not, this recipe is some sort of biscuit.A simple recipe I can make when I’m not completely awake on a Saturday morning and that will be out the oven by the time my sister wakes up. Bright citrus flavours are perfect for February and for a trusty cookie recipe I turn to my Granny’s old WI Book of Biscuits, which led me to these Orange Highlanders. I was confused about the name but essentially these biscuits are an orange version of these so the link must be due to shortbreads origins in the Scottish Highlands. I loved the crunchy demerara coating and the crumbly, buttery shortbread centre – they definitely didn’t last the whole week!Orange Highlanders, adapted from WI Book of Biscuits
Makes about 20 small shortbreads
100g butter
50g icing sugar
75g plain flour
75g self raising flour
zest of 2 oranges
25g demerara sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 180’C/350’F. Cream the butter, orange zest and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Sift the flours together and fold in to make a dough.
2. Shape the mixture into a sausage. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over a piece of cling-film and roll the dough in the sugar, pressing it to make sure it sticks. Wrap in the cling-film and chill for 1hour.
3. Cut the dough into slices (5mm-1cm thick), place on baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and leave to cool. Enjoy!

Mini Bakewell Tarts

I made these tarts a few weekends ago when I had the day spare and kitchen free. When I initially read the recipe properly, I was worried about the pastry because it contains no sugar. When I ate my first finished tart, that completely made sense. Sweet strawberry jam, fluffy almond sponge, smooth lemon icing and a sticky glace cherry – if the pastry had been sweet as well these could easily go into overload and become sickly. As it is, I was more than happy with them. I saw these on Jo’s lovely What do you make of my cake? blog, and was severely tempted straight away. I can’t believe I managed to wait so long before making them myself! They look so dainty and cute and very much reminded me of a bake suitable for Red Nose Day or Comic Relief with their bright red cherry. I love bakewell tarts, having made a whole one before, and also tried the Mr Kipling ones but I knew these would be so much better. As I’ve shown previously, shop bought baked goods often contain all sorts of crazy ingredients and the Mr Kipling Mini Bakewell Tarts (which look pretty much identical to mine) are no different, with over 30 ingredients…
 
Really, these Mini Bakewell Tarts are not that hard to make and you can be safe in the knowledge that all ingredients are pronounceable. Also, seeing as you’ve gone to the trouble of making them yourself you definitely deserve more than one :) You can find Jo’s original post with the recipe here – definitely give them a try. Even though they aren’t tiny and are quite sweet, I still found these quite addictive – enjoy!

Nutmeg Custard Creams

When I began my Biscuit Challenge here on the blog, a long time ago, I constantly refrained from attempting the infamous custard cream. Bourbons, digestives, snickerdoodles and most recently ricciarelli, amongst others, have all been made as part of the Biscuit Challenge and have all been tasty. They haven’t been exact replicas of the shop bought original, but when baked with regular ingredients and care – plus with delicious results – does this really matter? When I finally attempted custard creams, I decided to step a little bit further away from the original.Marcus Wareing, a Gordon Ramsay trained and Michelin-starred top chef, is renowned for his nutmeg custard tart, which has been served to the Queen. Taking this success and running with it, he’s adapted his recipe to create what he calls Nutmeg Custard Cream Yo-yo’s. The biscuits were easy to make, and the final product was ultra rewarding. The nutmeg makes the final cookies spicier and warmer than your standard custard cream and when I make these next (which I definitely shall do) I think I’ll add even more. The biscuit itself had the best texture – sandy yet crisp and very moreish.  When I made bourbons I missed the firm square of chocolate cream filling – which I think now you can only properly get with shop bought biscuits which can use preservatives and E-numbers – but with these the soft and creamy custard filling was delicious and perfectly flavoured. Mmm. Just right to fill that 4pm biscuit craving :) The only change I made to the recipe was that instead of forming a log of cookie dough and slicing it up, I found the dough much easier to roll out and cut with a cookie cutter. I also added more custard powder to the biscuit dough, as I wanted to be sure the flavour would clearly some through which, happily, it did. You can find the recipe here, and I hope you do attempt the British biscuit tin favourite – and enjoy!

Ricciarelli

In the Biscuit Challenge so far, I have tackled widely known biscuit tin favourites. This time, I wanted to try something different – just as irresistible, just as moreish, still something I have regularly bought from a supermarket, but just a little bit different. The most famous Italian biscuits would probably be amaretti, biscotti and cantuccini. Whilst all these are delicious, I think my favourite now has to be this – the ricciarelli. A soft and chewy macaroon, with a truly intense almond flavour and a tiny touch of lemon. Also slightly addictive.  You have been warned! These are not particularly complicated, but you do need to start the day before so they have plenty of time to dry out which will lead to their scrumptious chewy texture later on. Whilst I am not a hugely patient person and the no instant gratification was different, I think the wait just makes the reward even more tasty. And you end up with freshly baked ricciarelli for breakfast through no effort! Splendid.

You can find the recipe here (scroll down!) – I hope you enjoy :)

French Fancies

Something I always enjoy in baking is taking things which nowadays we seem to think are only possible if bought in a shiny packet from the supermarket. Its what inspired the Biscuit Mission, because I wanted to prove that homemade versions are just as good, sometimes better, than shop bought varieties. And of course there is always the plus side that by making homemade you know exactly what’s in everything you are eating. Big name brands which are constantly seen everywhere have sort of lulled us into thinking that certain foodstuffs do have to be made in a big factory somewhere. The brand I was focusing on recently, was Mr Kipling.

I will admit that I have eaten a fair share of Mr. Kipling products in the past – not just the French Fancies, but Cherry Bakewells, Battenberg and cake slices. And I’m not too ashamed to say I have enjoyed them – they are so popular some call them a national favourite. But my likeness of them fades slightly when I see this…

That many ingredients for a Fondant Fancy? And so the quest began to find a way to make them at home. There aren’t many recipes out there, and the ones that are just didn’t seem close enough to the Mr Kipling variety. Most are also under the name “fondant fancy” although not technically using fondant. Eventually, this little gem from BBC Good Food was found, made, eaten, and enjoyed.

First whizz up the chocolate cake base in the mixer.. Cook, cool in the tin, and then cut it into even squares.

Place half a truffle, cut side down, on every cake square.

Smother each cake in dark chocolate icing, and drizzle with extra milk chocolate icing. Find the whole recipe here.

Rather a layering job as you can see, these are a slight kerfuffle! However, according to my taste testing family, they turned out very good! Not for the fainthearted, due to the four different types of chocolate involved, but soft and crunchy and sweet all at the same time! Sadly, not quite the same as Kipling. If anyone knows how to make the icing more fondant-like without being completely hard, and the little mound soft and buttercreamy – please tell me! Until then, enjoy these.

Running With Bourbons

Recently, I have taken up the habit of going for a thirty minute run most days after school and twice at the weekend. I run not to lose weight but to simply get fitter! Also, running along a riverside on a summery day can be quite lovely :) And after a good run, one of my new bake is perfect…

Bourbon biscuits! Yes, we are back to the Biscuit Mission. I just couldn’t stay away when bourbons to me are the staple of the biscuit tin (along with custard creams). The bourbon was created in 1910 by the biscuit company Peek Freans (who also first commercially sold the Garibaldi biscuit) and is named after the House of Bourbon, a Spanish family. There is also a very funny article instructing you on how to eat a bourbon, on the correct terms for bourbon eaters (I am a bourbonette :) ) here. All interesting, but the most important fact is that bourbons are oh-so-good! Two chocolate biscuits sandwiched together with a soft chocolate cream – what’s not to like?

I knew from the beginning of my Biscuit Mission that I needed to make bourbons but it took a bit of searching to find a recipe. I could have just made up a rough chocolate cookie and buttercream filling, but I wanted to get as close to the original texture and taste as possible of the bourbons in the shops. I was fairly pleased with the results, and my family definitely loved them. However I was looking for more of a crunch and neater filling: both of which are found in the Sainsbury's ones and are sadly probably due to a bunch of added nasty stuff. Overall, pretty good, but could be improved :)
Bourbon Biscuits
Ingredients (Biscuits):
1lb plain flour
2oz cocoa powder
2 level tsp baking powder
8oz butter (softened)
8oz sugar
4tbsp golden syrup
Filling: 4oz melted plain chocolate
8oz icing sugar
a few drops vanilla extract
a little water
Method:
1. Set oven to Gas Mark 3/ 160°C/ 325°F.
2. Sift cocoa, flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl cream together butter and sugar. When fluffy add the golden syrup.
3. Add the mixture to the flour, cocoa and baking powder mixture then knead together. It may take a while to become doughy but keep at it and it will come together.
4. Grease some greaseproof paper and line a baking tray with it. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about ¼ inch. Sprinkle a very small amount of flour onto the dough to stop it sticking. When it is spread across the tray sprinkle a little sugar over the top, and roll over the dough once more to set the sugar grains into it.
5. Cut the dough into fingers, then prick with a fork a couple of times. Bake for 15 approximately 15 minutes. Remove from oven and go over the cuts. Leave in tray until almost cool, then transfer onto wire rack.

Gypsy Creams

“I drizzled dark chocolate from a height so it set into crisp lines over the craggy surface. Behold, a biscuit of great, great joy!”
Nigel Slater

Ahh, the fabulous words of Nigel Slater! Since my post where I mentioned how I seemed to be baking through the biscuit tin, it has become my mini mission! I was going away for the weekend last weekend, and I wanted something simple which I could bake there as the kitchen is much smaller there. These little biscuits were in the latest Sainsbury's Magazine (so go along and get it!) and seemed just the ticket.
Before sandwiching, these are the humble gingernut. Afterwards, they are glorious crispy gypsy creams! The ginger biscuit itself has a lovely sandy texture, but still with a good crunch on the outside. Combined with the chocolate and coffee buttercream filling these were super! Sometimes buttercream is too sickly, but I think the coffee countered it well. In his article, Nigel Slater mentions how he tried dipping the whole biscuit in melted chocolate but that “good cooking is about knowing when to stop” and “it turned out to be too much of a good thing”. I can see why that would be, but totally agree that the sharp drizzle of dark chocolate over the top adds an extra something special (and it really should be dark chocolate, milk would be too sickly). One note: I chose not to level off the ginger, knowing I would want a stronger taste. However if you were going to do them minus the filling (which you could as they would be equally delicious) I would stump it up even more. Now, what next…chocolate bourbons? Enjoy!
Chocolate gypsy creams
Makes 12-14
For the Biscuits:
125g butter
125g golden caster sugar
1tbsp golden syrup
1 large egg yolk
175g plain flour
1tsp ground ginger
50g dark chocolate
Filling:

75g butter
100g icing sugar
1tbsp cocoa powder
1tbsp strong coffee
1. Preheat the oven to 160’C/Gas Mark 3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the syrup and egg yolk.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and ginger together and stir gently into the butter and sugar. Bring together to form a dough.
3. Remove heaped teaspoons of the dough, roll them lightly into balls then put them on nonstick baking sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack.
4. To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the cocoa and coffee before using to sandwich the biscuits together.
5. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt in a small bowl over a pan of simmering water. When the chocolate has melted, push all the filled biscuits up close together on the wire rack, then, using a teaspoon, drizzle the chocolate over them in thin lines. Leave until the chocolate has set.

Petra’s Snickerdoodle’s

Just like in the last post I was saying how everyone has a favourite cookbook they return to again and again, I also think everyone has a favourite childhood food memory they always remember. I’m only thirteen, but even I have them from when I was little – and these cookies are one of them.
Petra was my amazing Nanny when I was much younger, and she often used to make these cookies. I remember her constantly having to write the recipe down for us on scraps of paper which we always lost, so she wrote it over and over again. Then in my last year at primary school the Mums decided to write a little cookery book together combining all their favourite recipes. My Mum included these cookies and now we always know where to find them.
To us then they were simply honey & cinnamon cookies, but it seems that in the blogging and food world they have become known as “snickerdoodles”. There are some different origins of the name snickerdoodle, some saying it comes from as far back as the early 1900’s, after a hero called Snickerdoodle. A snickerdoodle cookie is a simple cinnamon cookie which is rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking. Petra’s cookies are similar because of the cinnamon, but slightly different because of the sweet honey.

Although I remember Petra’s cookies being much rounder, and staying closer to their ball shape during baking – I still very much enjoyed these cookies! They are very soft and cakey inside but have a lovely crunchy outside. The cinnamon is very strong and tasty, even with only 1tsp – i was quite surprised! They were also very moreish! (Although, I say that about all the cookies I post – I think it may just be me and my cookie addiction :) )

Petra’s Cookies (Snickerdoodle’s)
100g butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
200g plain flour
2tbsps honey
1tsp cinnamon
caster sugar and cinnamon to coat
1. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg yolk and teaspoon of cinnamon. Gradually add the flour, and then the honey.
2. Make little ball shapes of the mixture and roll in a mixture of the sugar and cinnamon, to coat.
3. Bake for 12 minutes at 170’C/gas 3 or until golden brown.

Digestive Biscuits

Recently my parents went to stay in a beautiful hotel (Le Manoir de Raynaudes) in the tarn region of South-West FranceThey had a lovely time and brought back lots of presents! First up, for me and my sister, some very pretty and totally French chocolate baguettes :)

They also bought home two bags of crackly, nutty, almond tuile biscuits which my Mum adores and were greatly appreciated at my Dad’s work!

Finally, Mummy took her book that Orlando Murrin (the owner of the hotel) has written all the way to France. It is full of recipes for the food that Orlando serves at the hotel. He signed it too!

It is a beautiful book and my parents had a lovely long weekend there. Because they had such a nice time and they told me how good the food was, I decided to recreate some of the yummy food they had had over there back in rainy England...no easy task! They had told me about some delicious digestive biscuits they had been given and as the recipe was in the book, and I adore digestives I chose to give these a go.

Sure enough, they were truly scrumptious! Nutty from the oatmeal, crunchy round the edges and softer in the middle. I like these because they could be used either truly savoury for a cheeseboard, or sweeter by being dipped in chocolate for homemade chocolate digestives!

Here is the recipe – try them and see what you can do! Also, buy the book as there are lots more yummy things in it – I would like to try the mint truffles next :)

Home-made digestives, from A Table In The Tarn by Orlando Murrin

Makes 15-30, depending on size

100 medium oatmeal or rolled oats
100g wholemeal flour
45g brow sugar
75g butter
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
3-4tbsp milk
squeeze of lemon juice

1. Process the first 3 ingredients until well combined.(Oatmeal, brown sugar, wholemeal flour)

1. Add the butter, bicarb and salt, then most of the milk and lemon juice. Whizz until the mixture comes together, adding the remaining milk if necessary. The dough will be slightly tacky.
2. Roll out on a floured surface to biscuit thickness and stamp out rounds of whatever size you fancy. Making them small and elegant is harder work than making large ones. Prick once or twice decoratively with a fork.
3. Bake at 200’C (190’Fan) for 10-12 minutes, till just starting to go brown at the edges, not all over. Smaller ones might take less time.

Veryy yummy! Oh, whilst researching for a fun topic for me and Chloe to do as a form assembly, I stumbled upon a great website with a National Food Day for every single day of the year, as well as Food Weeks and months. Every time I post I shall update you on that days day (if you are still following!) although I warn you some are extremely random! Today, October 21st, is Apple Day and National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day! October is the month of many random foods, including National Cookie Month – very appropriate considering my last post! Also, this week is Chicken Soup for the Soul Week!