Posts tagged biscuit

Tiffin

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Tiffin

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iffin sits with a lot of childhood memories for me. I think its been overtaken by its more indulgent, American cousin rocky road in recent times but a traditional brandy punching tiffin is a winner. I do wonder if my childhood tiffin was quite as alcoholic.

Its a rich treat so be warned! You can make all sorts of substitutions to this recipe and its completely open to personalising. For example, its traditionally made using Digestive biscuits but I rather like the spice of a ginger nut and the contrast to the brandy.  I’ve made some suggestions below on how to adapt but feel free to go wild.

  • 50g dried cranberries (or try raisins)
  • 75g dates, chopped
  • 4 tbsp brandy (or try Amaretto)
  • 350g dark cooking chocolate
  • 150g unsalted butter
  • 3 tbsp golden syrup
  • 250g biscuits – traditionally digestives but I use ginger nuts. You need a plain biscuit though so no oreos or custard creams.
  • Zest of 1/2 orange
  1. Grease and line a brownie tin or round 20.5cm tin with parchment
  2. Put the cranberries, dates and brandy in a bowl and let them soak for 20-30 minutes
  3. Melt 125g of the butter, 200g of the chocolate and the syrup in a bowl over simmering water stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat.
  4. Crush the biscuits – I like to put them in a sandwich bag and bash them with a rolling pin. You get some large and small chunks and a bit of biscuit dust.
  5. Add the biscuits, orange zest, a pinch of salt and the cranberry/date mix (including the brandy) to the chocolate and stir well.
  6. Tip into the tin and level the mixture pushing it into the corners. Leave to cool before chilling for 1 hour.
  7. To make the topping, melt the remaining 25g butter and 150g chocolate in a bowl over simmering water until smooth.
  8. Pour over the chilled tiffin and smooth it out. Chill for 2-3 hours until the topping is set.
  9. Remove from the fridge and cut into generous chunks and enjoy with a cup of tea on a blue Monday – it’ll help!

 

Chestnut Bourbon Biscuits

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Chestnut Bourbon Biscuits

 

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People often ask me where I get inspiration from for the recipes I blog. This one was unusually the Costa Coffee queue. Whilst waiting for my coffee at the counter I saw a giant bourbon and custard cream for sale. It seems these are the latest fad- giant confectionery which had me pondering that surely they are just the same as 5 normal biccies…? Anyway, its Autumn…chestnuts are littering my parents Wiltshire lawn like an unkept golf course so I thought I’d tackle not only the challenge of making something with them but with the challenge of making something sweet that wouldn’t get my mum rolling her eyes…

FYI. If I’d had a willing bottle of bourbon to hand I definitely would have added a splash to the filling instead of milk!

Makes about 15

Chestnut Biscuit

  • 75g raw chestnuts (of precooked vac-packed)
  • 85g dark soft brown sugar
  • 75g softened unsalted butter
  • 110g plain flour
  • 1/8 tsp baking powder
  • Cocoa to dust

Filling

  • 100g butter, softened
  • 85g icing sugar
  • 20g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp milk
  1. Start by cooking the chestnuts. Score a large cross on the base of each with a knife. Place in a saucepan of water and bring to the boil and boil fast for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Drain and you should find the skin is easy to peel off.image
  2. Place in a food processor and blend to a paste with the sugar. Add the butter and puree. Add the flour and baking powder and blend to form a smooth ball of dough.
  3. Form into a disc shape, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  4. Preheat the oven to 150°C . Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into whatever shape you like, just short of 1cm thick. Place on a lined baking tray and sieve over a sprinkling of cocoa powder.image
  5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until cooked and golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
  6. Next, place the butter, icing sugar and cocoa in a food processor and blend. Add the milk and blend until you have a thick buttercream adding more milk for a thinner consistency.
  7. When the biscuits are cooled, spoon a teaspoon of the chocolate filling onto one biscuit half and sandwich with another.

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Orange Polenta Biscuits

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Orange Polenta Biscuits

These will pleasingly fill any anorexic looking biscuit tin. Thanks once again to Jamie Oliver’s help……

  • 85g unsalted butter, cubed
  • 85g caster sugar
  • 130g polenta
  • 50g plain flour
  • Zest of 1-2 oranges
  • 1 egg
  1. Rub the cubed butter into the flour, polenta and sugar
  2. Stir in the egg and orange zest
  3. Chill in the fridge for about 1 hour.
  4. Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a baking tray with parchment. Take walnut sized pieces of dough, roll into balls and flatten slightly on the tray.
  5. Bake for about 6-8 minutes until crisp and tinged round the edges. Leave to cool before removing from the tray!

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Lime and Coconut Pannacotta with Lime Melts

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Lime and Coconut Pannacotta with Lime Melts

Next weekend I’m helping cater a sit down Birthday lunch and this is the dessert……so……..naturally I had to greedily sample the recipe for myself before inflicting the sweet, creamy and fresh mouth watering dessert on the poor awaiting guests. The sampling was hard. I may have to do it again tomorrow too.

If you’re fed up with the rainy English weather, this will help you melt away into the tropical Caribbean…

  • 250ml double cream
  • 250ml coconut cream/milk
  • 2 ½ gelatine leaves
  • 55g caster sugar
  • 1 lime, zest and juice of ½
  1. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water
  2. On a low heat, warm the double cream, sugar and lime zest and juice in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves, and the mixture is thin and smooth and bring up to near boiling point
  3. Just before the boil, remove from the heat and stir in the coconut milk/cream. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatine and whisk into the hot cream until dissolved.
  4. I served mine in ramekins to remove the hassle of having to turn them out but if you want to do this then fill into a greased mould (makes about 4 large or 5 small ones)
  5. Once the mixture has cooled, chill in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours but preferably overnight!

Lime Melts

  • 6 oz unsalted butter
  • 110g Icing sugar
  • Grated zest of 3 limes
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 200g flour
  • 2 tbsp cornflour
  • ¼ tsp salt
(I have converted this from American cups to grams so hopefully it works out, although use your instinct to get the right consistency of the dough which should be like shortbread)
  1. In a food processor, cream the butter and 40g of the icing sugar until fluffy. Add the lime zest, juice and vanilla and cream again
  2. Sieve the flour, cornflour and salt into the bowl and process until combined
  3. Split the dough in half and roll into logs of the size biscuit you want and wrap in parchment
  4. Chill for 1 hour
  5. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two baking trays with parchment. Slice the dough into rounds and place on the baking tray
  6. Bake for about 12minutes until barely golden and then leave to cool for a couple of minutes.
  7. While still warm, sieve the remaining icing sugar into a sealable bag and place the cookies inside. Toss in the sugar-filled bag until coated.
(The logs also freeze well!)