I’ve recently started trying to perfect my biscuit baking.
There’s so much you can do with biscuits, that you can’t with cakes. Not that I have a bad word to say about cake. Cake is amazing! I’m a fan.
Biscuits will be playing a part in the simple, homemade Christmas I have planned. Hence, I’ve been playing around in the kitchen.
Thought it might be nice to share a simple recipe for my crumbly biscuits.
Crumbly Vanilla Biscuits – Makes 12 large biscuits
You will need:
225g/8oz Plain Flour
65g/2+1/4oz Self Raising Flour
75g/2.5oz Granulated Sugar
75g/2.5oz Salted Butter (Cold/Diced)
4 Tablespoons/60ml Golden Syrup
1/2 Teaspoon/2.5ml Vanilla Essence
1 Medium Egg (Lightly Beaten)
Large baking tray and greaseproof/baking paper
Instructions:
Add the vanilla essence to the lightly beaten egg and mix
Sift the flours together into a large bowl and add the sugar
Add the diced, cold butter to the dry ingredients
Rub through your fingers until it looks like fine breadcrumbs – it’s worth taking time on this step
Make a well in the centre, add the egg/essence and syrup
Stir until the mixture forms a ball – you may need to get your hands in to combine completely
On a piece of greaseproof paper squash the dough ball down to make a circle
Place a piece of greaseproof paper over the top and begin rolling
It’s important to try and keep the thickness even throughout. This can be tricky but technique improves with practice.
Ideally the biscuit dough will be about 5mm thick (just under 1/4″).
Once the dough is rolled, place the tray in your fridge for about 10 minutes to cool slightly. At the same time preheat the oven to 180 degrees/160 Fan or Gas mark 4.
Once cooled cut out your shapes. Excess dough can be re-rolled to make extra biscuits, or alternatively refrigerate and use within 3 days.
Pop in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes. Do keep an eye on them, ovens vary and cooking times may be different. They should be a light brown colour when you remove from the oven.
Leave to rest a minute or 2 then place on a cooling rack to cool completely. Biscuits should not be placed in an airtight container until completely cooled.
When cool I decorate mine. Melted chocolate is one of the easiest ways to do this
Melt in a microwave, leave to cool slightly then top the biscuit. Add decoration as required.
I mentioned at the top of this post, that you can do a lot with biscuits.
This is what I did…
Biscuit lollies, a birthday card and some practice Christmas tree decorations…
What could you do with yours?
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I spotted a great little biscuit/cookie recipe on Pinterest the other day and actually made them at the weekend. 1 cup Nutella, 1 cup flour, 1 egg – mix it all together, make into biscuit shape/size, bake for 6-8 minutes on 180C. They make lovely soft chewy cookies.
They sound fab – is that all the ingredients?
I spotted a great little biscuit/cookie recipe on Pinterest the other day and actually made them at the weekend. 1 cup Nutella, 1 cup flour, 1 egg – mix it all together, make into biscuit shape/size, bake for 6-8 minutes on 180C. They make lovely soft chewy cookies.
They sound fab – is that all the ingredients?
Yum! Gonna try them gluten free and see how they turn out. Probably not so easy to roll, but you never know! And I never would have guessed you were a fan of cake… 🙂
Hi Clare – Good to hear from you! Over at The Frugal Girl there was a gluten free recipe a few days ago…apparently they were pretty good also. Oh and I love me a bit of cake! 😉
Yum! Gonna try them gluten free and see how they turn out. Probably not so easy to roll, but you never know! And I never would have guessed you were a fan of cake… 🙂
Hi Clare – Good to hear from you! Over at The Frugal Girl there was a gluten free recipe a few days ago…apparently they were pretty good also. Oh and I love me a bit of cake! 😉
I think we would call these sugar cookies. Did you attach the sticks by icing or baking the in?
Thanks for that – I wasn’t really sure what the US version would be. They aren’t cookies as such. We have cookies over here, and they are a different texture. Us Brits love our biscuits!
I actually stuck them on with chocolate. But next time I am going to slightly press the stick into the dough to see if they stick when baking.
I think we would call these sugar cookies. Did you attach the sticks by icing or baking the in?
Thanks for that – I wasn’t really sure what the US version would be. They aren’t cookies as such. We have cookies over here, and they are a different texture. Us Brits love our biscuits!
I actually stuck them on with chocolate. But next time I am going to slightly press the stick into the dough to see if they stick when baking.
So what do you call what we in Canada refer to as “biscuits”, I wonder? I’m talking about an unsweetened starchy item that serves the same purpose as a roll or slice of bread, made with flour, baking powder, salt, shortening and milk. I have no idea what this would be in Britain!
Your biscuits look wonderful. Mmm…butter!
I got so curious I decided to try google 🙂 Our biscuit is similar to your scone.
Now I can rest 🙂
Glad you sorted it out! 🙂
savoury biscuits, crackers? maybe? not sure…
So what do you call what we in Canada refer to as “biscuits”, I wonder? I’m talking about an unsweetened starchy item that serves the same purpose as a roll or slice of bread, made with flour, baking powder, salt, shortening and milk. I have no idea what this would be in Britain!
Your biscuits look wonderful. Mmm…butter!
I got so curious I decided to try google 🙂 Our biscuit is similar to your scone.
Now I can rest 🙂
Glad you sorted it out! 🙂
savoury biscuits, crackers? maybe? not sure…
Just a question – you call them crumbly – are they very crumbly?
Also I wondered if bake-o-glide would work for rolling out the biscuits? I do reuse greaseproof paper as much as I can but it gets a bit soggy after the second wiping down 😉
Hi Jessica – sorry for delay in replying! They aren’t very crumbly, but are not crisp (you won’t get a sharp break/snap) as such – does that make sense? I’m not sure what bake-o-glide is? But it is works in the same way as paper or parchment it should be fine! If you do try please let me know how they go? Jo
Just a question – you call them crumbly – are they very crumbly?
Also I wondered if bake-o-glide would work for rolling out the biscuits? I do reuse greaseproof paper as much as I can but it gets a bit soggy after the second wiping down 😉
Hi Jessica – sorry for delay in replying! They aren’t very crumbly, but are not crisp (you won’t get a sharp break/snap) as such – does that make sense? I’m not sure what bake-o-glide is? But it is works in the same way as paper or parchment it should be fine! If you do try please let me know how they go? Jo