Thursday, October 29, 2009
This weekend brought to you by The New Scotland Scottish Country Dance Society...
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ares I-X, a success!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
BAKE-OFF!
Northumbrian Ginger and Cinnamon Biscuits
"These are similar (except for the cinnamon) to the Cornish Fairings on page 277 - crisp biscuits are favourites everywhere. This recipe comes from the other end of England."
[Apparently, I'm going to have to try these Cornish Fairings...]
170 g (6 oz) butter [rough translation for the American - 12 Tbs. Yes, you read that right. 12.]
170 g (6 oz) sugar
1 Tbs golden syrup
350 g (12 oz) plain flour sifted with:
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
(Makes about 30 biscuits)
(If you're wondering, this is what golden syrup looks like. It's a stunning amber color and not something to let your children play with - you'll be cleaning the kitchen for hours. It's worse than molasses)
Okay, paraphrased, preheat the oven to 325 Fahrenheit and grease a baking sheet. Melt the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan, add sugar [the original calls for melting the butter, sugar and golden syrup in the saucepan, but as you've probably guessed by now, taken literally, that probably wouldn't be such a good idea. Melted sugar = candy and third-degree burns, not biscuits]. Add the flour, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon and mix well [I didn't mix well enough and ended up with pretty swirls of cinnamon in the finished product].
The dough will seem dry and crumbly, a bit like if you had cut butter into flour, but coherent. There's no additional liquid, so make sure the butter is really well distributed (I have a picture, but I couldn't get it to rotate...).
At this point, the recipe calls for "rolling small amounts of the mixture in your hands to form balls, approximately the size of a large walnut. Place these well apart n the baking sheet and flatten the top slightly of each one. Bake approximately 10-15 minutes until golden.".
With all due respect to Sarah Edington, I don't think this is how the cookies were meant to be baked (of course, I found this out retrospectively). You see, the recipe is very similar to the third one I tried today, and that one called for rolling the dough to 5mm (very thin) and cutting the biscuits. When I bake them again, that's how I'll be doing these, or else they look messy, like the ones below:
Uncooked Flattened by hand In a ball
They turn out delightfully crunchy and spicy, but without rolling, no matter how much you try to flatten them by hand, they're going to be too thick (which makes them too much of a mouthful), and lumpy (they don't change shape as they bake). Lesson learned (deliciously!).
Now turn over to p. 255:
Grantham Gingerbreads
"Grantham Gingerbreads were first created in 1740 when a local baker in Grantham, Lincolnshire, while making a flat, hard biscuit for travellers called Grantham Whetstones, added a raising agent the mixture by mistake. Since then, Grantham has taken its gingerbreads to its heart. It is know as 'the gingerbread town' and its local football team are known as 'The Gingerbreads'."
100 g (4 oz) butter
[You've got to appreciate these biscuits for how few ingredients are involved. Talk about a college student's best friend!]
"Preheat the oven to 280 Fahrenheit. Grease a large baking tray. Beat the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon to soften it, then work in the sugar followed by the beaten egg. Sift the ground ginger into the flour and add to the mixture, which will be quite dry and crumbly - a bit like shortbread."
Ginger Biscuit Mixture for Parkin Pigs
"Another recipe from Littondale. Around 5 November, this type of mixture was used for making ginger pigs which were always known as parkin pigs."
Really, I should be making these biscuits in two weeks on the 5th of November, also known as Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night, when all of the UK is lit up by bonfires and fireworks (already appearing on Tesco shelves, get your Starmageddon Sparklers now!) in memory of Guy Fawkes, the hero?/traitor? who in 1605 nearly succeeded in carrying out the Gunpowder Plot and blowing up the British Parliament. But to start getting us in the mood -
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I see no reason why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
(Makes around 25 parkin pigs or 50 conventional biscuits - I'm going with the latter because a) I don't have a pig biscuit cutter, and b) the conventional shape feeds more)
120 g / 4 oz granulated sugar
60 g / 2 o butter
120 g / 4 oz golden syrup
250 g / 9 oz plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1-2 Tbs milk
currants (optional depending on if you're making pigs or not)
"Put the sugar, butter and syrup in a pan and set them over a low heat. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and ginger in a bowl. When the butter and syrup mixture is melted, add to the dry ingredients and stir well."
Add a little milk, just enough to make a coherent dough. Dust a work surface with [a lot of] flour and roll out to a thickness of 1/4 in [the dough will at first seem slightly tacky to work with because of the large quantity of golden syrup, but as it cools, it will feel drier and "more normal". Make sure to use a lot of flour on the work surface, the top of the dough, and grease the rolling pin, though, or it'll stick and tear like nobody's business]. [If desired], cut out pig shapes and give each a currant eye."
Do you like my trusty "rolling pin" peanut butter jar up there just above the dough?
"Bake on greased trays at 350 Farenheit for about 8 minutes (keep an eye on them, they scorch easily). Allow to cool a little bofre removing them with a spatula to a wire rack".
Is your mouth watering yet?
So, I went through this whole production trying the different recipes just to determine which I prefer. Here's my analysis:
Northumbrian ginger and cinnamon biscuits : Big points for flavor, and a nice crunch (but not crispy), almost shortbread-like texture. Not so good on the presentation, but that can be cleared up by rolling and cutting the dough.
Grantham Gingerbreads : Beautiful, picture-perfect cookies! Satifying crisp and crystalline texture! A little too sweet and not enough spice.
Parkin "Pigs" : Almost too much crisp with a decent amount of cruch. More prominent spice than Grantham Gingerbreads, but not as much as the Northumbrian biscuits. Brown evenly - would be nice decorated. Look like they should be softer, like rolled sugar cookies.
I think I'll leave it there and let you determine which is the best for youself - they are all superb biscuits (some more typical gingerbread than others...).
On an interesting sidenote: According to Kate Colquhon in Taste: The Store of Britain Through Cooking, gingerbread originated in Medieval England as a subtlety, or dish served in between main courses. It was comprised of honey, ginger, breadcrumbs and saffron and baked in a large round biscuit. Originally, it was called marchpane. Yes, that should look familiar - during the reign of the Tudors, the gingerbread dish of the Medieval period evolved into a paste of crushed almonds, sugar and rosewater, used to craft decorations for dishes.
Friday, October 16, 2009
London!
Like I said, the picture taking, not so much. So I'll tell you, instead. We went to Wicked that afternoon, which is every bit as wonderful as every raving review you've ever read about it says it is. Then, for dinner, duck breast and a special version of trifle involving custard, white chocolate, whipped cream, mixed berry pudding and sponge cake (only 50% traditional but 100% wonderful).