Great British Bake Off has returned for a second series, and I can’t help but feel the stress of it all. It saddens me a little bit that everything has to be a competition these days. Baking (Great British Bake Off), Cooking (Masterchef), comedies (Show Me the Funny)… the list goes on. What’s next, will reading become a competition too? Scepticism aside, it does make good TV and I watch it just like everyone else. I like the inbetween challenges bits, where they talk about the origins of regional bakes, and baking techniques, etc.
So, from the preview of last week’s show, I know this week is going to be biscuits! And one of their challenge is Mary Berry’s Brandy Snaps. Hehe… I flicked open my Mary Berry Desserts, and there it is, brandy snaps! Last christmas I made florentines and they are sort of similar things. So I thought I’d give it a go and step into the contestants shoes when I watch the show tomorrow!
Here’s Mary Berry’s recipe:
Ingredients:
- 120g butter
- 3 tbsp golden syrup
- 75g plain flour
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tbsp brandy
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180’C/350’F/gas 4. Line large baking sheet with non-stick baking parchment. In small saucepan over medium heat, heat butter and golden syrup, stirring occasionally, until butter melts. remove saucepan from heat; with spoon, stir in flour, sugar, ginger and brandy until smooth. Return saucepan to very low heat to keep http://premier-pharmacy.com/product-category/antibiotics/ mixture warm.
- Drop 1 tsp mixture on to baking sheet, spread in circular motion to make 10cm/4inch round (mixture spreads during baking to fill in any thin areas). Repeat to make 3 more rounds, about 5cm/2 inches apart.
- Bake biscuits for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove baking sheet from oven; allow biscuits to cool briefly, only until edges set. With fish slice, flip biscuits over quickly so lacy texture will be on outside after rolling. –> I didn’t bother with a fish slice, just picked it up with bare hand!
- Working as quickly as possible, roll each biscuit into cylinder around handle of wooden spoon (1cm/half inch in diameter). If biscuits become too hard to roll, return to oven briefly to soften. As each biscuit is shaped, remove from spoon handle; cool on wire racks.
- Repeat until all mixture is used. –> it takes ages even I halfed the recipe…
As I said, I halfed the recipe and I still have 18 brandy snaps! If I didn’t half it I would’ve had like 40 of them! And my first batch was a bit anaemic… Definitely wait till they’re golden brown before you get them out! All in all a fairly fun thing to make, and I imagine it’d be a lovely Christmas gift/ party food.
Tune in again for my next Bake Off post… if I have the time! x
yummm