Biscuits

(All Recipes have Gluten-Free Options)

Shortbread Biscuits with Elderflower Buttercream

(The Best Shortbread ‘Ever’ – and it’s gluten-free!)

I first tasted this shortbread when I stayed at Nathan Outlaw’s guest house in Port Isaac (review here!). Outlaw’s is very much a family affair and Nathan’s daughter, Jessie, bakes the most wonderful afternoon tea treats for the guests. During our stay she baked these, they’re the lightest shortbread biscuits I’ve ever tasted – and they’re gluten-free! When I returned home armed with the recipe, I knew I would have to pass it on to you!.. You can of course enjoy them without the elderflower buttercream but you really should try them with it at some point as they are even more delicious! Apparently Jessie found the recipe for the shortbread in ‘Baked to Perfection’ by Katarina Cermelj whilst the buttercream was her own (inspired) addition!

Shortbread:

150g unsalted butter, softened

75g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

255g gluten-free plain flour (I use Dove’s)

60g cornflour

¾ teaspoon xanthan gum

½ teaspoon salt

Elderflower Buttercream:

150g unsalted butter, softened

170g icing sugar

40g elderflower cordial

  1. In a bowl, use a wooden spoon to mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla paste until smooth.
  2. Sift in the gluten-free plain flour, cornflour, xanthan gum and salt. Mix with the spoon and then knead by hand until the dough forms a ball (don’t worry if it seems very crumbly at first as it will suddenly come together!)
  3. Compress the dough into a disc between two sheets of clingfilm and then roll out until about 1cm thick.
  4. Use a 5cm round biscuit cutter to cut out the shortbread , prick each biscuit with a fork and sprinkle with caster sugar then place on a baking tray. Any leftover dough can be re-rolled and cut, until used up.
  5. Bake in a preheated oven, 160’c fan, for 20-22 minutes until very light golden around the edges. Allow to cool on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
  6. To make the elderflower buttercream simply cream together the butter, icing sugar and elderflower cordial until pale and fluffy.
  7. To serve, sandwich two shortbread biscuits together with a generous spread of buttercream – delicious!

Manhattan Coconut Cookies

This is a rather grand name for what is essentially coconut macaroons with dark chocolate chips. I found this recipe in the cookbook, ‘Cooking’, by Michelin-starred chef, Tom Aikens. Most of his recipes are rather fancy and convoluted, however, these are ridiculously simple to make so naturally they caught my eye! It’s important to use dark chocolate chips as they cut the sweetness of the coconut. I like to make them small, just big enough to pop easily into the mouth with a strong espresso on the side. The perfect pick-me-up for February!..

125g icing sugar

125g desiccated coconut

2 egg whites

60g unsalted butter, melted

60g dark chocolate chips

  1. Place the desiccated coconut in a dry frying pan over a medium heat and gently toast.
  2. Place the sugar and toasted coconut in a bowl then add the egg whites and mix together. Add the melted butter, then when the mixture is cool, add the chocolate chips. Place in a container and chill for 20 minutes
  3. When the mixture is set hard, roll it into balls about 2cm in diameter. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven, 180’c for about 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Pistachio Bites

Let me introduce to the quickest biscuit recipe – it only needs three ingredients! These Pistachio Bites are chewy, sweet, delicious… and very addictive. What more could you ask for? Thank you to Sabrina Ghayour’s cookbook ‘Persiana Everyday’!

1 egg white

100g icing sugar, sifted (plus extra for dusting)

100g pistachio nuts, very finely blitzed in a food processor

  1. Using an electric hand whisk, whisk the egg white until stiff peaks form. Add the icing sugar and gently fold into the egg whites. Now add the ground pistachios and mix until evenly combined.
  2. Using a teaspoon, dollop 12 equal portions of the mixture on to a tray lined with greaseproof paper, spaced apart to allow them to spread a little. Bake in an preheated oven, 170’c fan, for 12 minutes.
  3. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Sweet and Salty Crunch Nut Bars

This is the type of sweet treat that every fridge deserves! Having a slice of its chocolatey deliciousness at hand is dangerously indulgent but fantastically fortifying. It’s childlike in its simplicity to make yet with a mix of dark chocolate and salt, it’s a very grown-up treat. We have Nigella Lawson to thank for creating such a wicked recipe – as she herself says it’s all about moderation…(?!)…

200g dark chocolate

100g milk chocolate

125g unsalted butter

3 tablespoons golden syrup

250g salted peanuts

4 x 40g Crunchie bars

*You will need a 25cm springform round tin lined with foil (or you could use a foil tray)

  1. Break up your chocolate into pieces and put in a heavy-based saucepan with the butter and syrup. Put on a low heat and melt gently together.
  2. Crush the Crunchie bars with your hands into a bowl and add the peanuts. Add the melted chocolate mixture and gently mix until fully incorporated.
  3. Tip into the foil lined cake tin. Smooth the top of the mixture as much as you can, gently pressing down with a silicone spatula.
  4. Put into the fridge for about 4 hours and, once set, cut into slices. Keep refrigerated until serving.

White Chocolate, Pecan Nut & Oat Cookies

These are very good and very moreish, they are the type of cookie that can be easily eaten at just about any time of the day – you have been warned! The recipe is from the cookbook, ‘A Love of Eating: Recipes form Tart London’, written by Lucy Carr-Ellison and Jemima Jones. In their recipe they use macademia nuts which I’m not so keen on, so I have substituted them for pecan nuts which are delicious with the sweet, white chocolate, a little like that other match made in heaven – pecan and maple syrup. This recipe works well with gluten-free flour, I use Dove’s. (Makes about 20 cookies)

150g unsalted butter, softened

130g light muscovado sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

50g plain flour (gluten-free if required – see note above)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

130g porridge oats

100g pecan nuts

100g white chocolate, chopped

*A couple of baking sheets, lined with baking paper.

  1. First, place the pecan nuts on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven, 180’c fan, for 5-10 minutes until golden and toasted. Remove from the oven, allow to cool then chop.
  2. Cream the butter and the sugar together until soft and pale. Add the egg, vanilla, flour and bicarbonate of soda and beat until smooth.
  3. Add the oats, chopped white chocolate and pecan nuts, fold until combined.
  4. Take walnut size amounts of the sticky dough and place on the lined baking sheets, spacing them well apart. Bake in a preheated oven, 180’c fan, for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool….before eating…enjoy!!

Almond ‘English’ Macaroons (Makes about 20)

These biscuits always remind me of my late mother-in-law, Deitha, she was a wonderful traditional cook and at Christmas time would always cook me a batch of these delicious biscuits! They aren’t quite as fancy as their ‘French cousin’ the Macaron, which come in chic colours, but they are just as moreish and in my opinion, slightly more satisfying with their crisp exterior and wonderfully chewy middle. Even better, unlike the French macaron, they are incredibly easy to make, you just need to bake them on confectioners edible rice paper as it adds to the chewy texture – it is readily available online if you can’t find it in your local supermarket.

200g ground almonds

250g caster sugar

1 rounded tablespoon ground rice

1 tablespoon orange flower water

Few drops of real almond extract

3 large egg whites

Sheets of edible confectioners rice paper (approx. 4 x A4 size)

About 20 whole blanched almonds

You will need 2 large baking sheets

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together, apart from the whole almonds, in a large bowl. Then add the orange flower water, almond extract and egg whites. Beat vigorously to form a soft paste.
  2. Line the baking sheets with the rice paper (shiny side up). Take a large walnut-sized piece of the paste, form into a round patty and place on the rice paper. Repeat with the rest of the paste, leaving plenty of room between each patty. Put a whole almond on the top of each one.
  3. Put the baking sheets in a preheated oven, 170’c fan, for about 20-25 minutes until they are a light golden colour.
  4. Leave to cool on the rice paper, then gently tear the macaroons from the rice paper sheets, leaving a disc of paper in place on the bottom of each one.

Ricciarelli

I love these little Italian biscuits – sweet and almondy, they are the perfect complement to an espresso coffee but are equally good with just about anything! This recipe will make around 34 little biscuits, they only need to be small as they are quite sweet, but the problem is I can never seem to stop at eating just the one!…They are incredibly easy to make, however you do need to make them the day before baking as by allowing the uncooked biscuits to rest and dry out overnight they become deliciously chewy – they are totally worth the wait!…

2 large egg whites

Pinch of salt

225g caster sugar

Zest of one lemon

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond essence

300g ready-ground almonds

Icing sugar for dusting

2x baking sheets lined with greaseproof paper

  1. Whisk the egg whites with the salt until they are stiff, then gradually whisk in the sugar until you reach a marshmallowy consistency. Now add the lemon zest, vanilla extract and almond essence along with the ground almonds, mix to form a quite hard paste.
  2. Shape into either small diamonds or little rounds (see photo), dusting your hands with icing sugar to stop the mixture becoming too sticky. Lay them on the prepared baking sheets and leave to dry out overnight.
  3. The following day, cook the riccarelli in a preheated oven, 140’c fan, for about 30 minutes, by which time they should be pale and slightly cracked. Leave to cool.
  4. Finally dust with icing sugar and serve. They will keep well in an airtight container.