This recipe is ideal for making cut-out biscuits to ice for Christmas or parties but are just as nice eaten plain.

Ingredients

85g soft butter, unsalted is best but not essential

100g caster sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

200g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

How to make them

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence.

3. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt until well combined.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix together gently.

5. If you’ve got time, wrap the dough in clingfilm and flatten a bit, and put in fridge for about an hour to   make it easier to handle. If you can’t wait and want to make the biscuits straight away, you may need to use some flour as you roll them out to prevent sticking.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan oven / Gas Mark 4

7. Sprinkle flour on the work top and roll out the dough to about 5mm thick. Then cut the dough into shapes, keeping the blade of the cutter dusted with flour to prevent sticking.

8. Place on lined baking sheet and bake in the oven for 8 – 10 mins until they are slightly golden around the edges. Cool on rack. Then ice if required using glace icing.

This recipe makes about 20 large biscuits. It is easy to double the quantity and make lots of small biscuits!

Tags: baking powder, butter, caster sugar, eggs, plain flour, salt, vanilla essence
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Ingredients

4 oz SR flour

Pinch of salt

2 oz margarine

2 oz lard

Approx 1 tablespoon cold water

jam or lemon curd

How to make them

1.Grease the bun tins well. You will need 12.

2. Put the flour into a bowl with the salt.

3. Cut the fat into small pieces, add to the flour. Rub it in until it resembles breadcrumbs.

4. Add enough cold water to bind the flour and fat together until it forms a lump. Try not to let it get too   sticky, it’s best to just add a little water at a time. If you find it’s sticky, add a dusting of flour until it is easy to handle.

5. At this stage you have made the pastry. You can wrap it in a polythene bag or cling film and keep in the fridge for a few days if you wish.

6. Set the oven to 200C or 190C fan oven

7. Roll out the pastry as thin as possible and cut out 12 circles to line the bun tins.

8. Into each pastry case put one small teaspoonful of jam or lemon curd. Don’t be tempted to add more – the jam will become liquid in the oven and spread out to fill the case – too much will overflow and you will have a sticky mess! (Soak in the sink to clean up!)

9. Bake in the middle or top of the oven for about 15 minutes until the pastry is light brown.

10. Remove from oven and allow to set in tin before removing to cooling rack.

Tags: jam, lard, lemon curd, margarine, salt, self raising flour
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These are delicious, very crisp, and they keep very well in an airtight container (if you can leave them long enough!). Worth making a double quantity – then you won’t have half an egg left over! You could freeze half the dough for another batch later. (Make as far as step 3 and freeze the dough in a ball. Or you could go as far as rolling the biscuits in oats and then freeze them spread out on a tray. When they are frozen, put them in a bag and keep in the freezer. When you want to use them, just spread them out on a greased baking tray, allow to thaw for about 15 mins and bake. They will probably bake from frozen, but I haven’t tried it!

Ingredients

3 oz (75g) soft margarine

3 oz (75g) caster sugar

half a beaten egg

few drops of vanilla essence

1 oz (25g) porridge oats

4oz (100g) self raising flour

1/2  teaspoon baking powder

about 5 glace cherries, quartered

about 1/2 cup of porridge oats to roll the biscuits in  on a plate or flat dish

How to Make Them

Set the oven to 325F, 160C, gas mark 3, fan oven 150C.

1. Put margarine and sugar in a bowl and beat together until soft and creamy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla essence and beat together to combine.

3. Add the oats, flour and baking powder. Mix until it sticks together like dough.

4  Pull off small lumps of dough about the size of a table tennis ball (about 1″ diameter). Roll into a ball between palms of hands, then roll in oats to coat.

5. Place on a greased baking tray and flatten gently with a fork.

6. Place a quarter cherry on top of each biscuit and press in slightly to secure.

7. Bake for about 15 – 20 miutes until pale golden brown.

8. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight tin.

Tags: caster sugar, egg, glace cherries, margarine, porridge oats, self raising flour, vanilla essence
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Use fruit such as apples or rhubarb. It can be pre-stewed or put in raw.

Ingredients

2 or 3 cooking apples, peeled and sliced or chunks of rhubarb

sugar to sweeten fruit to taste

6 oz plain flour

3 oz margarine

3 oz granulated sugar

How to make it

Lightly grease a pyrex dish.

Put in the fruit and sprinkle sugar over the top and stir in. If using raw fruit, add a little water for it to cook in – just enough to cover the base of the dish’

Put the flour in a bowl.

Rub in the margarine with fingertips until like breadcrumbs

Stir in the sugar and mix well.

Pour the flour mixture over the fruit and cover entirely, pressing down gentl to firm the top.

Bake at 200c, 400F for 20 minutes or a little longer. It should be golden brown.

Serve with cream or custard.

N.B. Soak the dirty dish overnight and it will be very easy to clean.

Tags: cooking apples, granulated sugar, margarine, plain flour, rhubarb, sugar
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Makes about 36 cookies

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 cup soft brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

3 cups porridge oats

1 1/2 cups raisins or sultanas

How to make them

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, caster sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla essence. Start with a slow speed and gradually increase. Beat until mixture is light and fluffy and mixture lightens in colour.

Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until no flour is visible. Don’t overmix – just stop when the flour is mixwd in.

Now add oats and raisins and stir until mixed in.

Divide the mixture into 3 and form 2 parts into, wrap in clingfilm and freeze.

Using a cookie scoop (holds about 2 tablespoons dough), put scoopfuls on lightly greased baking sheet about 2″ apart. Or roll into balls.

Bake for 10 – 13 minutes at 350F until golden brown.

Cool on wire rack.

Store in airtight tin.

Tags: baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar, egg, plain flour, porridge oats, raisins, salt, soft brown sugar, vanilla essence
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