4am Essay Biscuits

So Rachel and I both had massive essays due on Monday; cue stocking up on tea and fizzy drinks as we prepared for the inevitable all-nighter. We made one big mistake though: there was no baking in the house. So at 4am on Monday morning I made Burnt Butter Biscuits to fuel us.

Yours will be much prettier than mine because it won't be 4am. Or maybe it will be - I'm not judging.

There are a grand total of 4 ingredients, and they take 5 minutes to make. I reckon they're the only thing I could've made at 4am, which should give you an idea of the ease! In terms of taste they're pretty special too: warm, buttery and melt-in-the-mouth, and the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.
The perfect biscuit? Maybe.

Ingredients:
- 100g butter
- 100g caster sugar
- 150g self-raising flour
- 1 egg

1. First, preheat the oven to 180°C. Then grab a saucepan and throw in the butter. Melt, and keep on the heat until it turns a golden brown colour (or is generally starting to burn the bottom). Put to one side to set a bit for 5 minutes while you weigh out the other ingredients and beat your egg.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar, then tip in the egg and mix. Stir in the flour 'til there are no white streaks.
3. Grab small amounts of dough and roll them into balls (put your index finger against your thumb knuckle: about that size) and place onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. They'll spread out a fair bit, so I'd say no more than 6 per baking tray (unless it's 4am, in which case just make random-sized balls and throw them all onto one tray...).
4. Use the back of a fork to flatten them slightly, then bake for 15 minutes until golden. Sprinkle with caster sugar and allow to cool and firm up, then dunk in cups of tea to your heart's content.

I'm not entirely sure how many the mixture should make because I didn't size them properly - but I'd guess something between 12 and 18. Also, I can't claim they're super-powered-biscuits until we get the marks back, but we both got our essays in on time. So that's definitely something.

Chocolate-Orange Biscuit Bites: Guest Post by Jamie-Rose Duke

Hello all, this is Bryony and Zosia's friend Jamie-Rose Duke tip-tapping away here - hoping I can do their ace blog justice! 

If there's one thing I've learned throughout my near twenty years, it's that there's never a bad time to bake biscuits. Free fact of the day for you there. And over the Christmas holidays, not having had the comforts of my kitchen at home for three and a half months, I was keen to get my baking groove on. Now, as a bear of little brain and simple pleasures, such as myself, it didn't take me long to decide my main two ingredients: Chocolate (or cocoa, to be precise) and alcohol (or Cointreau, to be even more precise)

And you know what?

My chocolate-orange, crumbly biscuit bites turned out pretty damn well. And they're super easy to make!

You will need:

250 grams of soft butter

150 grams of caster sugar (although, light brown works just as well)

40 grams of cocoa powder

300 grams of plain flour

1/2 tsp. of bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp. of baking powder

The zest of 2 small oranges (or one large one) - be thorough with the zesting!

1 1/2 - 2 cap-fuls of Cointreau triple sec.

1. Make sure your oven is pre-heated to 170°C/ gas mark 3 (or around 150°C if you have a fan oven).

2. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until it's soft and smooth (no lumps of butter still visible!).

3. Next, add the cocoa and once that's mixed in, the flour, bicard and baking powder - remembering to sieve it all first!

4. Add the orange zest, mix in, and then the two caps of Cointreau (if you're not keen on adding the alcohol, then just adding the juice of the orange(s) is just as wonderful - I'm just quite a fan of triple sec!).

The first two photos on this guest post were taken by the beautiful Miss Bryony Bowie herself :)

5. When the mixture is complete, it's time to roll it into balls and stick them well spaced on baking trays lined with parchment. The balls should be about the size of a walnut and you should be able to make anything from 24-30, all depending on the size you think walnuts are.

6. Before popping them in the oven, gently pat down each biscuit-to-be so they're about a centimetre and a half thick. (I like to gently imprint a fork on the top, just to be fancy) And when that's done, bung the trays into the oven for about 15 minutes - again, you can judge this time for yourself depending on how ferocious your oven is. 

7. When they come out, don't be surprised if they don't look quite done, they'll continue to cook as they cool - which you should let them do on a wire rack, when they're cool enough for you to remove from the baking tray.

8. ENJOY THE BISCUITY GOODNESS. 

This recipe is inspired by one of Nigella Lawson's. Just with a few added bits and bobs :)

Merry Christmas (with biscuits)

We've had some sort of biscuits at home at Christmas for as long as I can remember, and a few years ago I started adapting a recipe for traditional Speculaas biscuits. As well as being super yummy, they also make great presents - either for Christmas presents or post-Christmas thank yous. Also you're allowed to make them after Christmas so long as you're still within the twelve days of it, I've decided. So GET BAKING PEOPLE.

Ingredients:

- 200g/8oz plain flour

- 2tsp cinnamon

- 1tsp ground ginger

- 1tsp nutmeg

- 1tsp baking powder

- ½tsp salt

- 100g/4oz soft brown muscovado sugar

- 2tbsp milk

- 150g/5oz butter

- 2tbsp glacé ginger

- 1tbsp candied peel

- zest of 1 orange

- zest of ½ lemon

This is meant to make 24, but I used a variety of cutters and ended up getting 40. But honestly? You can't really have too many biscuits.

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper

2. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and spices in a bowl, then rub in the butter. Add in the sugar, mixed peel, glacé ginger and zest and mix well to combine.

3. Add the milk, a little at a time, and use your hands to bring the mixture together into a soft dough.

4. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface, and roll out to about 0.5cm thick. Cut out your shapes and use a spatula to help transfer them to the baking sheet.

Tip: there'll probably be bits of flour on the biscuits from rolling out - if you dip a soft brush or even just your finger in a bit of water you can use it to brush the flour off and ensure an even colour after baking

5. Bake for 15-18 minutes - they should be puffed up and turning golden brown. Let the biscuits cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

You can decorate them however you like - I mixed some icing sugar with the juice of half the orange I'd zested, put it in a plastic bag, cut off the tip and iced around the edges of my shapes. I also stuck on some dried cranberries, and added edible glitter to a few for that extra festive sparkle.

So, enjoy! A very merry Christmas to you all from myself and Zosia, and all the best for your 2013s!