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.

Scary Skeletons

Using a basic biscuit mix, we made some 'men' bix and decorated them with runny icing... trying to see which was the best representation of a skeleton.

The ingredients we used were -

• 200g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg, beaten
• 400g Dove's Farm Gluten Free plain flour  

The butter and sugar were creamed together using an electric hand mixer.  Once they were soft and fluffy looking, the egg and flour were added.  This was mixed well, first with the mixer, and then using a silicone spatula until a dough was formed.  (At this point, you can roll the dough into a sausage shape, wrap in cling film or greaseproof paper, put in a plastic bag and freeze for later use.)  We rolled out the dough, to about 4-5mm thickness, on a silicone sheet and used a gingerbread man cutter to shape them.  They were cooked on a greased, non-stick baking sheet for 8-10 minutes in a pre-heated 170ºC oven.  Once lightly browned, they were cooled for 5 minutes on the sheet before being transferred to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

Once cooled, they were decorated using ready made icing... in various 'scary' skeleton-like designs.

Some were placed in airtight containers for later consumption... but were keen to attempt an escape!