empire state of yumminess

Well, here we are - almost 4 weeks after the inaugural meeting of Hot Sweet and Yummy and I still haven't managed to Blog about all the delicious things that everyone made! I still have to tell you about harry's Empire biscuits, David's peanut cookies and Heather's all bran loaf and I'm very happy to tell you that I have managed to extricate Jan's blueberry apple crumble cake recipe from him...it wasn't that difficult but I wonder if he has disclosed it all or whether he has kept a secret ingredient to himself! Oh well...you'll have to make it to see!

So, anyone who has ever been at Harry's famous Eurovision parties will have sampled his delicious Empire biscuits! They are the most gorgeous, crumbly, melt in the mouth biscuits you could ever imagine and this batch were not going to disappoint! Harry had iced half with chocolate vermicelli and the other half with sugar flowers and little silver balls...apparently they have gelatine in them so Paul wasn't able to enjoy them! Harry was a star pupil and emailed me over all the bits and bobs he wanted you all to know so here goes!
Harry's Empire biscuits


8oz plain flour
6oz icing sugar
2oz cornflour
8oz butter at room temp
strawberry jam
one egg white
decorations


 Firstly, sieve the plain flour, 2oz of icing sugar and the cornflour into a large bowl.  It is the addition of cornflour which gives the biscuits such a light texture.  Next, work in the butter into the dry ingredients with your hand.  This can also be done effectively in a food processor – which also has the benefit of keeping the ingredients cool.  This recipe is effectively one for a sweet pastry, and the heat from your hands can make pastry difficult to work with. I usually use the food processor but couldn’t on the day of preparation for the baking group as Paul was using it to make the chocolate cheesecake!

Next, roll the pastry out thinly on a floured surface, and cut out biscuits using a 2 inch round pastry cutter.  Always cut with a sharp downwards tap, and never twist, or your biscuits will come out of the oven oddly shaped.  Place the biscuits on a lightly greased baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180° (gas mark 4) for 15 minutes.  Once cooked, turn the biscuits onto a wire rack and leave to cool.  On the occasion of the baking group, the recipe yielded precisely 46 biscuits – i.e. when paired, enough for 23 empire biscuits.

Once cooled, sandwich pairs of biscuits together with strawberry jam.  You’re now ready to decorate.  Mix about 4oz of icing sugar into a thick syrupy consistency.  I used an egg white to mix the icing sugar which gives a harder, crisp finish.  But you can use water if you want to avoid raw eggs.  Spread a little icing on each biscuit, and finish off with decorations of your choice.  I used silver balls, sugar flowers and chocolate strands.  Halved glace cherries or sugar strands look good too.  Oddly enough, the Dr Oetker brand silver balls from contain gelatine and thus are non-vegetarian – but I later noticed that Asda’s own make ones do not, so stick to Asda if you want to be veggie-friendly. 


Everyone agreed that they were amazing and we all scoffed one each -after the night was over we all got to take home a doggy bag and I'm happy to report that Harry's biscuits got a huge thumbs up from my greedy boys!

Next up were David's peanut cookies...and I love cookies so this was going to be make or break for me! They have to be crispy round the edge with a nice crumbly bite but soft and gooey and sticky in the middle! Well they were all of that and totally gorgeous too!!! David bakes a lot and is one of those guys who doesn't work from a recipe...he seems to know exactly what will make a good treat and just throws it all into a bowl. David is one of those naturally busy people and he manages to squeeze a million things into his day...I cannot quite remember all that he had done that day but were all in awe of this man machine! Anyway, I'm just delighted that he managed to make these yummy cookies for us and now you all can too!!!!




David's Peanut and Banana Cookies
INGREDIENTS
6oz plain flour
6oz caster sugar
4oz butter
1 ripe banana - mashed
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon porridge oats
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 tablespoon dessicated coconut
1/2 teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda

METHOD
Cream butter and sugar til creamy.
Add banana, peanut butter, oats, syrup and coconut
Mix well
Add flour and bicarb and mix well to form a sticky dough.
Dough should be fairly stiff..if not, add little more flour.
Spoon teaspoon sized dollops onto a greased baking tray leaving about 2-3 inches between dollops to allow cookies to spread while cooking.
Bake in moderately hot oven 180oC /350oF/ Gas Mark 4 for around 15 minutes.
Cooking time will vary depending on fan assisted, electric or gas oven so you need to keep your eye out after ten minutes!
Bake until golden brown. Leave on tray to cool slightly then remove to cooling tray.
Cookies will be very soft when removed from oven, but will firm up when cooled.
This recipe should make around 20-25 cookies depending on how generous your teaspoons are!
Well there you go - two more totally delish recipes from our group! I hope by now you have tried at least one of the recipes...we really are trying to get all our friends baking again! Just think how lovely it is to create something all by yourself and smell it cooking...I know my house always feels so much more homely with the smell of something yummy baking through! 
I'm going to Blog the final two recipes after this one and you will be able to find Jan's crumble cake recipe back in the first post!!!
Remember if you have any fab recipes you want is to road test or just share with us then you can email us here hotsweetandyummy@hotmail.com or visit our Facebook group! 
Lots of love hot, sweet and yummy xxx