Recipe: Butter Cookie Spoons (All Butter Biscuits)

I had this novel idea the other day. Butter cookie teaspoons - the perfect recipe to go with your afternoon tea (or coffee!), these all butter biscuit spoons are deliciously uncomplicated and ideal for dunking and stirring in your beverage of choice. They went down a treat with my colleagues at work, too!

You will need...

• 225g of self raising flour
• A pinch of salt
• 170g of unsalted butter
• 110g of sugar
• 1 medium egg
• A few handuls of plain flour for covering a work surface and rolling pin

Along with an electric mixer, some clean bowls, a baking tray, rolling pin, all the other obvious utensils, etc, you will also need a stainless steel spoon-shaped cookie cutter (roughly tea spoon sized is best). If you don't have one, give it a quick Google - you can order them for fairly cheap online!

That being said, this recipe works great with any cookie cutter of your choice. 

Method

• Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the pinch of salt. Rub the butter into the flour until it takes on a breadcrumb like consistency.

• Crack and beat your egg (with a whisk or fork) in a separate bowl.

• Add roughly half of the egg to your mixture - and fold, followed by half of the sugar - and fold again. Repeat until all ingredients are mixed thoroughly in the bowl, forming a stiff dough.

• Turn out your dough onto a freshly floured surface and kneed gently into a ball, until smooth. Wrap your dough ball in cling film and leave to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

•  Take your dough out of the fridge and roll out onto a floured surface. Make sure your rolling pin is coated in flour as well to avoid sticking. 6mm thickness should be about right. For a less doughy, more crisp texture when baked, however, thinner dough is advised. It all comes down to personal preference!

• Pre-heat your oven to 170°C and butter your baking tray.

• Carefully cut out your spoons from the dough with the cookie cutter and place them on the tray, making sure that their is ample space between each spoon.

• Place the tray in the oven for roughly 12 to 15 minutes, and allow the cookies to bake until golden.

• Remove your cookies from the oven and allow to cool before serving. (If they're spongy to the touch, then they haven't cooled yet!)

That's it! I hope this recipe was helpful to some of you and that you'll give it a go. And a friendly "hello" to any new followers. You may be few in number, but frankly, I'm still pleasantly surprised that anyone at all would take an interest in my ramblings!

Recipe: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I'll confess - I've never tried making Red Velvet cake before. One batch of cupcakes later, though, and I'm pretty sure it's my new favourite thing to bake (and eat!)

Fairly simple to whip up, and still a lot more decadent than your average batch!

Now, I've tweaked this recipe a fair bit.  It's for approximately 24 cupcakes (that's 2 cupcake trays worth), but if you only have the one tray to hand, you can half all the measurements and still get the same delicious results in 12 cupcakes instead.

Ingredients

 

(For the cupcakes)

• 250 grams of self-raising flower
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (sifted)
• 100 grams of butter (unsalted)
• 200 grams of caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon of red food colouring
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 175 ml of buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar  

  

(For the frosting)

• 500 grams of icing sugar
• 125 grams of cream cheese (I use Philadelphia)
• 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar

 

Method

 

• Pre-heat your oven to 170°C/325°F and line your cupcake tray(s) with paper cases.

• Combine the self-raising flour and cocoa powder in a bowl.

•  In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and caster sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth. Then, add the vanilla extract and all of the food colouring, still beating.

• Continue beating and add 1 spoonful of the dry ingredients (from the first bowl), then 1 egg, followed by another spoonful of the dry ingredients, then the remaining egg, and finally, the last of the dry ingredients. If you can, it's best to do this with an electronic mixer, unless you have a fast and strong hand!

As a quick side note, if at this stage, your mixture now looks like something from an Alfred Hitchcock film, don't panic, that just means that you're doing it right).

• Now beat in the buttermilk and white wine vinegar, and finally divide the batter evenly between each paper case.

• Pop your tray(s) in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Once done, take them out the oven and leave to cool before attempting to decorate them. Never try to decorate a warm cake!

• Moving on to the frosting, simply mix the icing sugar and cream cheese until smooth, and add a final teaspoon of white whine vinegar.

• Place your frosting into an icing bag with a star shaped tip and decorate your cupcakes in a spiral motion.

Ready for tasting!

Voila! Vibrant, sophisticated and yummy cupcakes ripe for the picking and ideal for an afternoon tea party. I could hardly wait for an occasion to use my new cupcake stand by Charlotte Clark, isn't it gorgeous?

Especially moist, and a juicy colour - what's not to love about Red Velvet? Happy baking, everyone!