Vanilla Iced Biscuits

Well the weather my still be absolutely appalling but! I am keeping in the summer spirit with my baking, presentation wise anyway! At the beginning of the week I spent the day with my friend Lindsay who surprised me with a whole host of new baking equipment including these lovely cutters which of course I used at the first opportunity! In the first series of the Great British Bake off Miranda made some vanilla cookies which she decorated amazingly. Taking inspiration from her, I used the recipe she contributed to the book from the series and then decorated them!

The recipe calls for a vanilla pod which I hadn’t used before, usually going for the cheaper and easier option of vanilla extract. I splashed out a little on this recipe and decided to buy some and they do add a depth of flavour not achieved by its bottled substitute but it isn’t something I’ll be doing every time! If you ever do use them, keep the outside of the pod as you can put it in a jar of sugar to make vanilla flavoured sugar which is what I’m doing with mine.

This recipe requires patience as it takes some time to chill the mixture at various stages throughout the process. As for the decorating well, it took me around 2 hours to achieve these results. I piped round the edges of all the biscuits in the sections of colours I wanted and then diluted the icing a little more and ‘flooded’ the enclosed area with icing, like colouring them in really!

I made 24 biscuits but my cutters were quite large sizes so if you use smaller ones, you will obviously be able to make more! The recipe advises that the mixture makes around 30.

Here is the recipe I used:

200g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

1 vanilla pod

1 medium egg, beaten

400g plain flour

Put the butter and the sugar into a mixing bowl. Split the vanilla pod in half along its length and scrape out the seeds into the bowl. Beat with an electric whisk/mixer until very light and creamy. Gradually add the egg, beating well after each addition. Sift the flour into the bowl and work in using a very slow speed

Use your hands to bring the mixture together and make a soft dough. Divide the dough in half and form each portion into a thick disc. Wrap in clingfilm and chill until firm - around 30 minutes

Roll out the dough, a portion at a time, on a floured work surface to a thickness of 5mm. Cut out shapes using cutters. Gather up the trimmings and knead gently then re-roll and cut out more biscuits. Arrange the biscuits slightly apart on a lined baking tray to allow for spreading then chill for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C

Bake the biscuits for 9-12 minutes, until just starting to turn golden brown around the edges and firm to touch. Remove from the oven and leave to firm up, then transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool completely. Then decorate as you wish!

Lemon Shortbread

Another recipe from the lovely yummly site! I had originally wanted to make a chocolate orange cake but I didn’t have the necessary equipment so I’ve added that to my list of things to do! I did a quick online search looking for something fresh and simple and came across this. I’m a massive fan of shortbread and haven’t made any since my chocolate version back in February. I chose this one because it used real lemons and the use of cornflour and icing sugar suggested it would be nice and light.

And it was! It was hard work again for my mixer though so I think it needs a rest after these last two recipes I made. When making any new recipe it is always a good idea to read the entire recipe before starting. I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before and yet I still haven’t learnt. As most of my recipes are ‘chuck it in a bowl and mix’ I naively thought this would be the same so I started out using my biggest bowl. However, it turns out you are just prepping the dry ingredients in that bowl and they’ll need to be added to a different (preferably your largest bowl) later.

Once you’ve prepared the ingredient in their three separate bowls it’s just a case of added the flour and buttermilk alternately until it’s all thoroughly mixed together. This mixture does need an our to chill in the fridge so also make sure you have time to accommodate that before you start! My rolls weren’t very cylindrical and any roundness they did have was removed when slicing the rolls into the individual biscuits. While they still taste great and the recipe worked really well, I do wish the presentation (as always!) was slightly better so I might work it a little differently in the future.

This is however definitely one for the recipe binder and I will be making it again. I made around 60 little biscuits with this recipe and they’ve lasted about a week in my house now! Perfect with a cup of tea for a little sweetness.

Chocolate Shortbread

I recently made this over Christmas for a family gathering and was immediately asked for the recipe which I think proves it is delicious; even if I do say so myself! The recipe itself is by Linda Collister from The Great British Book of Baking. It was written to accompany the BBC series which I of course watched avidly and the book has become one of my favourite places to find recipes.

If, unlike me, you have the foresight to get the butter out of the fridge maybe 20-30mins before you start this recipe I would recommend it as when it is rock solid the rubbing in part can take a while! Make sure you don’t let it get too soft though as that won't work either. This can be made in a food processor or by hand. Personally I prefer to make things by hand, aside from the odd pack of ready to roll pastry, but I have included the food processor method too.

Also, when rubbing it make sure you keep mixing the mixture round so the butter is rubbed in evenly throughout the flour. Shaking the bowl will bring all the lumps of un-rubbed in butter to the top so you won't miss any.

The recipe says to cook the shortbread for 25mins at 180°C but I followed the recipe exactly the first time I made it and while it was cooked in the middle, it wasn’t firm. Also when it cooled it was more cakey than biscuity like shortbread should be. In the book it says that as it is high in cocoa it can burn easily in the oven if you aren’t careful so after its allotted 25mins I turn the oven down to 150°C and cook it for a further 15 mins to make it firm and biscuity without burning it. Now this may just be my oven so I advise you to just keep an eye on it and if it doesn’t feel firm turn the temperature down and put it in for 5mins at a time to avoid spoiling all your hard work! The cocoa is what makes it extra yummy though so it’s worth the extra attention, the smell alone is amazing.

Here is Linda Collister’s recipe:

260g plain flour

100g caster sugar

40g cocoa powder (I use Bourneville as it as a great flavour)

A pinch of salt

200g unsalted butter (chilled and diced)

Extra sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to180°C

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa and salt into a mixing bowl and stir well to thoroughly combine. Add the diced butter and rub into the dry ingredients using the tips of your fingers

To make this in a food processor pulse the dry ingredients just to mix them and then add the butter, running the machine for about 30seconds

When the mixture looks like sandy crumbs tip it into a pre-greased tin (20.5cm loose bottomed tin works best). Press the mixture into an even layer using the back of the spoon. Prick the dough well and lightly score into 12 pieces with a round bladed knife

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25minutes, until just firm (see above note)

Remove from the oven, sprinkle wit sugar and cut into sections along the marked lines with a very sharp knife. Leave to cool before removing from the tin