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!

Merry Chocolat!

We were delighted to be able to review some chocolates from Hotel Chocolat.  It was a real surprise to take a look at their website and see how well they cater for those following a Gluten Free regime.  If you select Genre from the top menu bar, a drop down appears that lists Gluten & Wheat Free as an option.  Having selected this option,  Sous Chef J was amazed that he actually had a choice of things from which to select a product to review.  Having studied the website at length, he finally decided on the Christmas Table Cracker.  I chose the Alternative Mince Pies as thought they sounded a little unusual.

When the parcel was delivered, this is what we found within.  Sous Chef J commented that it was a shame his cracker was bent - and noted that if the cracker had been made about 2cm shorter at each end it would have fitted inside the box it was sent in!  However, after a little remodelling, the cracker was returned to its unbent shape...

...and tasting began.

Here's what the cracker and mince pies looked like close up.

Sous Chef J was pleased to find his cracker contained a snap, a crown (in posh gold paper), a joke (standard cracker fare) and three individually wrapped chocolates.  He loved the fact that the wrappers detail what sort of chocolate is within. Sous Chef J declared the chocolate to be "fab-u-lous" and added that it was "crunchy".

This is the milk chocolate bauble.

The mince pies were quite a bit smaller than we'd been expecting but, after tasting, the reason became apparent.  Looking at the back of the packaging it explains they are made by filling a chocolate case with pralines and caramel.


We cut one in half to see what they looked like...





...they were as delicious to eat as they look.  Perfect for an after meal treat with a coffee. Definitely my sort of mince pie!

Having been tempted by these lovely items, we called into a Hotel Chocolat shop when we were in London. We were impressed with the clear labelling throughout - not just relating to gluten but many other allergens/ingredients too.  Previously we wouldn't have considered seeing if there were gluten free goodies on sale in store.  Now we know there are treats aplenty, we will be buying for special occasions. 

Thank you to Beth @JamandCream PR and Hotel Chocolat for choosing us and sending us the chocolates to try.