Biscotti

This is such a simple recipe... do give it a go, the ingredients you'll need are -

90g Plain Flour (we used Dove's Farm gluten free)
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder (we used Dr Oetker gluten free)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
40g pistachio nuts
25g dark chocolate chips/chunks

We mixed the first three ingredients together in a bowl. 

Next, the egg was lightly beaten and the vanilla extract was added to it.  This egg mix was then poured into the dry ingredients and thoroughly combined by hand. (just use one hand to 'squish' it together, it will form a dough after a while - if it's over dry, just add a little water a couple of drops at a time)

Once it was formed into a dough, it was time to add the nuts and chocolate chips.

Finally the dough was placed on a silicone sheet on a baking tray and placed in a pre-heated (160ºC fan oven) for 10 minutes.  We checked it at this point and, as it was still soft in the thickest part, returned it to the oven for a few more minutes before checking and removing to cool.

Having allowed the biscotti dough to cool for about 15 minutes, it was moved to a chopping board and sliced (using a sharp knife) into 1cm thick slices.

The slices we returned to the baking sheet and cooked for a second time in the oven... after about 5 minutes, we turned the oven off and allowed the biscotti to dry using the oven's residual heat.  (take care not to burn your biscotti - set a timer to remind you!)

Beware - the Biscotti are very more-ish and are great with a coffee or a cuppa.  Enjoy.

Langue du Chat Biscuits

Spotting a recipe for Langue de Chat biscuits, it seemed like the sort of thing we 'tweak' to be gluten free without too much worry about it working.

The ingredients we used were -

50g softened butter
50g icing sugar
Orange zest (we used about a tablespoonful)
Vanilla pod seeds (we used about a pod's worth)
1 medium egg white
50g plain flour, sifted (we used Dove's Gluten Free)
pinch of salt

Surprisingly simple to make, we started by creaming the butter and icing sugar till light and creamy.

Next, the orange zest, vanilla seeds and salt were mixed through.

Then the egg white was fully incorporated before beating the flour in a little at a time.

The result was a fairly stiff dough which was put in a re-useable piping bag with a plain 1cm nozzle.

Piping 8cm long lines of the mix on silicone covered baking sheets, leaving quite a space between them, the mix produced 14 biscuits.

Baking the biscuits in a pre-heated oven (at 170ºC) for 10 minutes, they were checked, and then returned to bake for another 1-2 mins as required.  We were aiming for a firm bake with a golden edge.

We removed the biscuits from the oven and left them on the baking tray for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to completely cool.

They were deemed a great success by all!

In future we will make a double batch, pipe one half of the biscuits close together then freeze on the tray before bagging and freezing for baking, from frozen, when needed.  We think they'll only need an extra minute or two of baking to cook from frozen.

Lavender Shortbread Stars

 

When we heard that Sainsbury's would be stocking Lavender Sugar in their  Taste the Difference baking range, we knew immediately what recipe we'd be trying.  Sous Chef J adores the smell of lavender (it's a calming scent he uses when he is on a trip to London - more on that will be detailed on our sensory blog soon...) so when he saw some lavender shortbread on sale at the Allergy and Free From show last year, he was keen to try a piece.  He loved it.  So, that's the recipe we're going to try for ourselves.

We got a recipe off the BBC website and it turns out it's on their site as the Duchess of Cornwall tried some lavender shortbread at Grey Gables when she appeared on the Archers.






The ingredients are just 225g unsalted butter, 125g lavender sugar, 300g plain flour (we used Dove's Farm Gluten Free) and 50g ground rice (we used brown rice flour).

Having cubed the butter, we added it to a bowl which contained the sifted lavender sugar (this is done to preserve the flowers).  Once the butter was at room temperature, it was creamed with the sugar, using an electric hand mixer, until light and fluffy.

Next, the sifted flour was added to the creamed mix with the lavender flowers, and this was mixed with a wooden spoon.  Once a fine breadcrumb consistency was achieved, it was time to combine by hand until the dough started to come together and there was no mix left on the bowl's sides.

Placing the dough on some cling film, it was kneaded until smooth.  Then we rolled it into a sausage and halved it.  Half was put in a marked up plastic bag and placed in the freezer for use at a later date.  The remainder was flattened out and put in the fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes.

Whilst the dough was chilling, the oven was heated to 180ºC and the baking sheets were lined with silicone paper.

Having chilled, the dough was removed from the fridge and rolled to about a 5mm thickness between two sheets of cling film - this works well and means no additional flour is needed to stop the mix sticking.



The star shapes were cut out and the biscuits placed on the baking sheets, sprinkled with a little more lavender sugar and put back in the fridge to chill for another 15 minutes.

Once fully chilled, the biscuits were placed in the preheated oven and cooked for 12-15 minutes depending on their size/thickness... until they were beginning to go golden at the edges.

Leaving the biscuits to cool for 5 minutes on the sheet, they were then fully cooled on a wire rack.

We served our 'taste tester' shortbread rounds with some vanilla ice... and very tasty they were too!  No wonder the Duchess of Cornwall liked the shortbread she 'tried' on the Archers.

We made all these with half the dough using the amount of ingredients in the recipe... but don't think they'll last long.

Stilton Biscuits

When carrying out a fridge audit, we discovered a chunk of left-over-from-Christmas Blue Stilton and, as we don't like to food waste, started to think of ways to use it up.  Naturally, we considered making broccoli and stilton soup (but have no broccoli), then thought of stilton on toast (Sous Chef J's nose twisted into a disapproving pose at this thought) and, finally, remembered a recipe for biscuits in Sainsbury's December 2012 magazine.  We dug out the relevant page and checked the ingredients list and, joy of joys, we actually had all that was required.

I've tried to find the recipe online to link to (lazily) but can't so here are the ingredients -

125g plain flour (we used Dove's Farm gluten free)
Good pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp light brown sugar
100g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
25g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
100g crumbled Blue Stilton cheese
3 Tbsp black onion (nigella) seeds, sesame seeds

The dry ingredients were whizzed in the large food processor part of our Braun hand blender device.

Next, the butter was cubed and then added to the mix and blitzed til combined.

Having weighed the remaining Blue Stilton cheese we were amazed to find it was exactly 100g that we had to use up. However, if we hadn't had enough we'd have made up the amount with more grated Parmesan to give us 125g cheese in total.

The Blue Stilton was crumbled into small bits and then the cheeses were also added to the pot and blitzed til the mix started to come together as a dough.

Taking the cheesey mix from the machine, it was kneaded lightly to bring it together and then rolled until it was about 4cm diameter.

The dough was cut in half before one piece was rolled in black onion seeds and the other in sesame seeds.  To do this, we used a lock'n'lock lid and liberally scattered the seeds on... then simply rolled the dough in them, pressing slightly, til covered.

Next the dough was covered in greaseproof paper and put in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours. (The recipe also states you can use the freezer, leave them in for 30 minutes.)

Once fully chilled, the dough was sliced into rings (about 4mm thick).  We got 13 biscuits from each.  These were placed on a non-stick baking sheet and baked in a 160ºC fan oven for 12-15 minutes.

They biscuits were left to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before being moved to a rack to cool completely using a palette knife.

Beware! These biscuits are very moreish and may not make it to a storage box... however, they can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days or frozen. 

Serve with olives or salted nuts or just have them on their own.

Sous Chef J's verdict is "they're nice, crumbly and there's a hidden bite".  Well said!