Thursday 1 December 2011

The biscuit classics


I have started a new venture; to home bake all the classic biscuits you wouldn't normally bake yourself.  I'm thinking of the old skool biscuits that you had at school.  Rolling off my kitchen work bench and into the hungry waiting mouths of Darling boy and Little brother (and Handsome husband if he can get there quick enough) will be custard creams, rich teas, digestives and the classic chocolate bourbon.

I have made custard creams a few times, a la Nigella. They were infinitely more delicious than any shop bought version, a million times so.  Not being a fan of the commercial biscuit, finding it powdery and bland, I was delighted with the results.  I never fail also to be enraptured with the romantic background of the key ingredient, Bird's custard powder.  Mr Alfred Bird's wife loved custard deeply, but was allergic to eggs.  He strove to engineer an alternative that would enable his sweetheart to have her custard and eat it. Romance and puddings, who could ask for more.

By they way, Mr Bird also invented baking powder (again for his wife, so he could make yeast free bread).  What a hero.

So, watch this space for some classic biscuit action.  First up, the bourbon.

No comments:

Post a Comment