Showing posts with label biscuits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biscuits. Show all posts

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christmas Biscuit Treats



 
TREATS,SNACKS,PARTY, BISCUITS
Prep & cooking time 22 mins 
Plus chilling time


Everyone is doing it.....so I thought why not. Biscuits or cut-out cookies are now in fashion in Barcelona.
I have been to a couple of workshops for handy tips and to see how the professionals do it...and it´s really not too difficult.  Bearing in mind I have no fancy equipment, no mixer (maybe Santa will bring me one!!) and no special rolling pin to ensure the thickness is the same and look they have turned out quite well.  I have made these for gorgeous edible tree decorations, for friends & family gifts and for my daughters teachers too, a lovely treat!



You can freeze the dough sheets to make the biscuits later.




I brought some lovely Christmas cookie cutters and some ready to roll icing, some special edible glue and a small brush.








Don´t over cook your biscuits - keep an eye on them. They are perfect with a slightly golden edge.











**Tips**
This recipe mixes up quickly and it keeps well.  The dough freezes perfectly, it makes a very large quantity of biscuits so either roll out a few sheets of dough and freeze flat in the freezer between wax paper for quick cut-out biscuits later. Or simply half the ingredients.
Make sure you chill the dough before cutting for at least an hour  (I chill mine for a couple of hours)
If you roll the dough at least 1/4 inch (or  2 pound coins) thick children should have no problem cutting and picking up the biscuit shapes. I roll mine out on parchment paper so they are easy to remove. You can re-use the parchment paper.  The biscuits can be kept up to a couple of weeks in an air tight tupper without icing. If you want to use for Tree decorations make a small hole in the biscuit before cooking with a skewer.

INGREDIENTS

250gr unsalted butter at room temperature
250gr icing sugar (sucre glas)
500gr flour (farina de rebosteria)
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
*ready to roll icings / or icing sugar for decorating, edible glue*

 

METHOD

Cream together the butter and icing sugar (sieve first) in a bowl, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the egg whites. Add the flour gradually until it forms a dough, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
Pre - heat the oven 180·C. Roll out the dough on top of parchment paper (about 1/4 inch, cut out your Christmas shapes and place on a baking sheet on top of parchment paper. Bake for about 10 - 12 mins, I prefer mine not to have much colour. The cooking time will depend on your cooker, and the size of your biscuits.
Let the biscuits completely cool before decorating. Decorate as you wish, you could keep it simple if you have no ready to roll icing, simply add a few drops of water to icing sugar ( a drop of food colouring ) and spread over biscuits.


LET ME KNOW HOW YOURS TURN OUT AND MERRY CHRISTMAS !




Sunday, October 21, 2012

Number Biscuits


VERY EASY
SNACK, LUNCHBOX, PARTY

can be frozen
Prep & cook time 25 min approx

I'm not a big fan of giving biscuits to children,I have never carried biscuits in my bag for snacks and I never buy biscuits. But these are a little different , it´s a nice activity to do together and beats play dough...least you can eat it.

My daughter is only four and we often make these biscuits together so she can practice numbers.  You can make any biscuit shapes, we use our number cutters, this dough makes lots of biscuits so I freeze some too. They are great for birthday parties or to make with your child's friends.  My daughter likes to play shops with them as well as eat them.