Honey Spice Biscuits

I had an idea to come up with a new recipe for biscuits using honey and cardamom. I left it late to start cooking and started scrabbling around my kitchen shelves for cardamom pods. After I'd emptied the whole cupboard of every bottle of spice and herbs I realised I didn't have any. I still wanted to do some baking so had a quick re-think and decided to try sticking to the spice theme but with a different mix of flavours. The experiment turned out very nicely. These biscuits actually turned out to be very morish - you have been warned! :)

Thanks to my friend Sarah I also had a new set of animal cookie cutters to try out! I'm just a bit worried that the makers of these cutters (branded by the Natural History Museum, London no less) seem to think that lions are bigger than elephants... :)

Honey Spice Biscuits

Ingredients:

Dough goes in...

5 oz Self raising flour.

1 tsp Ground ginger

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

Pinch Ground cloves

Pinch Salt

1 oz Butter

1 tbsp Golden syrup

1 tbsp Honey

2 oz Golden caster sugar

Milk

Method:

1. Grease a couple of baking trays and preheat the oven to 180 C.

2. Place the sugar, syrup, honey, butter and spices into a small pan. Warm these ingredients together gently over a low heat, stirring occasionally until the ingredients are melted together. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.

...biscuits come out.

3. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl.

4. Pour the cooled syrup mixture into the flour and mix together.

5. Add sufficient milk to get a pliable but not sticky dough.

6, Roll the dough out until it's quite thin on a floured work surface. 

7. Cut out any shapes you like from the sheet of dough and move the biscuits onto the prepared baking trays.

8. Bake for around 15 minutes until golden brown. Move the cooked biscuits to a cooling rack and allow to cool and become crisp.

Flapjack Fest

I did some baking last week when I was short of time so I settled on some easy flapjacks. I decided to add a bit of apple and spice to this batch. The result is a soft texture and a fruity taste. If you don't fancy the apple variation, I've included my usual recipe which gives a much crisper result and which is plain but delicious!

Apple, Sultana and Cinnamon Flapjack

4 oz Butter

1 oz Demerara sugar

1 oz Soft, dark brown sugar

2 tbsp Golden syrup

5 oz Porridge oats

1 oz Plain flour

1 Small apple, peeled, cored and diced.

2 oz Sultanas

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon 

Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Grease and line a square 7-8" tin. Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2. Melt together the butter, sugars and golden syrup in a small pan over a low heat.

3. In a bowl, mix together all of the remaining ingredients.

4. Pour the melted butter mixture into the bowl and stir well.

5. Press the mixture firmly into the tin using the back of a metal spoon.

6. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes until nicely browned.

7. While the flapjacks are still soft when they come out of the oven, take a sharp knife and cut the flapjack into slices. Once completely cooled, turn out of the tin.

Best Flapjacks

4 oz Butter

2 oz Demerara sugar

2 tbsp Golden syrup

5 oz Porridge oats

1 oz Plain flour 

Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Grease and line a square 7-8" tin. Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2. Melt together the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small pan over a low heat.

3. In a bowl, mix together all of the remaining ingredients.

4. Pour the melted butter mixture into the bowl and stir well.

5. Press the mixture firmly into the tin using the back of a metal spoon.

6. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes until nicely browned.

7. While the flapjacks are still soft when they come out of the oven, take a sharp knife and cut the flapjack into slices. Once completely cooled, turn out of the tin.

Banana Pecan Bread

I bought far to many bananas. The stage at which bananas reach a squishy sweetness makes them less good for eating but perfect for this banana pecan bread. The recipe has been changed over the years, originally it included walnuts and was made with all caster sugar. The pecans and soft brown sugar I think give an improved flavour. The vanilla is another addition not in the original recipe. This is a cake which can stand a lot of variation, different nuts, chocolate chips (although chocolate and banana is not usually one of my favourite flavour combinations) and spices such as cinnamon instead of the vanilla.

Banana Pecan Bread


Ingredients:
2 large, very ripe bananas
2 oz chopped Pecans
2 oz golden caster sugar
4 oz soft, light brown sugar
3 oz butter, softened
8 oz Self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
1-2 tbsp milk

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 1 1/2 lb loaf tin.
2. Cream together the butter and sugars in a large bowl until light and pale.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs together with the vanilla essence.
4. Gradually beat the eggs into the creamed mixture. Don't worry if it curdles a bit.
5. Sift in the flour and baking powder and beat gently into the mixture.
6. Using a fork, mash up the bananas to a paste in a separate bowl.
7. Beat the banana paste and the pecans into the main mixture. Add enough milk to get the mixture to a dropping consistency.
8. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
9. Bake the cake for 50 - 60 minutes until the top of the cake springs bake to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
10. Leave to cool in the tin and then turn out. Serve in thick slices spread with butter.

One of your 5-a-day (almost!) fresh out of the oven! :)