The chocolate bourbon

Here is chapter one in the cannon of classic biscuits...the chocolate bourbon.  Much more chocolately and  satisfying than the shop version.  Pretty easy to make and with a chocolate buttercream icing in the centre, it makes the biscuit something more of a treat too.  It's more squeezey to eat, but worth making again.  Little brother chose the home-made one over the shop one when offered both- clever boy.

I'm sure you can play around with the flavours too, and go all spicy and cinnamony, should you be so inclined.

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.

Nutty cinnamon whirl biscuits- who can resist them??

In this world of cold swirling winter winds what we all need is one, if not more of these nutty cinnamon whirl biscuits.  These chaps are perfect with a hot, strong coffee.  I took a batch to marvellous mum and dads recently.

On the way, I had to stop at the garage to get some boring car stuff fixed (something about the wheels, blah blah blah) and the box of biscuits were fresh from the oven, and cooling on the front seat.  The car was in the garage for an hour or so, so me and Little Brother explored the amazing local 'sell everything you never knew you wanted' shop.  I swear when we got back to the car, the box just might have possibly perhaps have been one or two short!  Those cheeky mechanics couldn't resist the spicy smell of warm biscuits.  I'm not cross, who could blame them?

Little brother turns 1 year old!

 We can hardly believe it, but Little brother is 1 year old already. To celebrate we had a lovely party, full of family, friends, kids, sugar, sunshine, musical bumps and more sugar.  It was perfect.  I have made a promise to myself that every kids party I host will always have cake and fizz. I think its a good promise.

The cupcakes were chocolate and lemon.  The lemon ones had a secret centre of homemade lemon curd which went down very well.  I even managed to bag one myself before they all went, and I can vouch for its tastiness too. Just the right balance of sweet and zesty. Yum.

The cake is a two tiered vanilla sponge.  It is about 10 inches across, and shaped like ducks as this is one of Little Brothers most favourite things and I think the 3rd word he said (after dadda and mamma)  We talk about 'ducks' a lot, me and Little Brother (and 'doors' too, as he can also say 'door')   So when it came to deciding what to do for Little Brother's cake, what else could it be?  I must confess this sort of cake it not normally my thing, but for my bambinos, anything goes.  And iced in buttercream and covered in glitter, its just a hop, skip and jump away from my more usual style.

The embroidered tablecloth you can see under the cake was handed down to me by my mother in law.  I think it was either made by her mother in law, or great mother in law.  Anyway, it is beautiful and so perfect it is incredible.  I know childrens parties aren't normally an occasion for getting out your 'best' but I have decided this lovely handmade craft work should see the light of day.  And what better occasion, that celebrating Little brothers first birthday.

Mammas gonna make a little shortening bread

Whilst staying at my marvellous mum and dads last week I had the extreme loveliness of having an old friend over for lunch.  My friend is someone who I went to school with.  We were the very essence of teenagers.  Mascara, black nail varnish, long long chats, and lots of laughs when we should have been concentrating in double science.

Years and years passed and the brilliant of facebook brought us back together.  My friend is still the brilliant girl she always was, only now she is a grown up lady with 2 lovely kids.   

So, cake was called for.  Cake or something biscuity.  I knew I didn't fancy making a cake (just imagine) but I also wanted to do some baking with Darling boy that was quick and didn't involve rolling and stamping out shapes.  So, shortbread it was.  It couldn't be easier to make. Because they are so plain and unadorned, you can easily pretend its not like having pudding, but some sort of puritan necessity.  However, their buttery goodness betrays them every time.

My dear Maderia

The baking experiment went surprisingly well. Faced with the decision to either buy a sponge from the shops to use in the Birthday Trifle, or be brave and hit the aga, my disbelief in buying shop bought cakes overruled my nervousness of the beast.

The sponge came out better than expected, though it was, shall we say slightly darker than normal and also rather lopsided. It did however taste pretty good and would be just the job sliced up and drenched in sherry for the Birthday Trifle (I know, Darling boy is just one year old and therefore not really a suitable candidate for sherry, but he can have the top layers)

Motivated by my sponge success, and with the Darling boy in nursery for the day, I decided to make the most of the opportunity and bake some cookies and biscuits to have in store for the big weekend. First up was honey and ginger biscuits that I have baked a few times. There were thinner and more spread out that usual, which I put down to the hot-hot-heat of the roasting oven. The first batch were sadly, mostly only fit for the worms, as they were cinders. The next batch however were morely closer watched and came out squidgy, gingery and deliciously honey flavoured. We plan to get some bees next spring and I can’t wait to make these with our own honey.

Next up was a batch of cinnamon cookies, which came out very well, fragrant, sweet and suitably doughy. They came out of the aga just in time for the in-laws arrival and Darling boys return from nursery with Handsome husband. We enjoyed a selection of both with a cuppa and a gossip in the run up to bath time.

From baking the sponge and biscuits, I found that any cakes in the aga need to have the tray placed above them to help reduce the heat and stave off burning. I also learnt that the top left side of the roasting oven is much hotter than the bottom right side- all very handy lessons for the big party!