I wrote about hot cross buns last week but I realise it’s not too common to whip up a batch of buns at home, every week coming up to Easter. Who has the time? the patience? a standing mixer? yeast in the cupboard? But the truth is indisputable: shop bought sweets and treats have all kinds of nasty stuff in them and are up there on the ultra-processed shelf together with fizzy drinks and crisps.
Which obviously is not to say that we should deprive ourselves of treats altogether. Life with no biscuits in it is a bit miserable. But rather than buying them, we should bake an occasional batch, and there is no easier thing to bake than biccies, even for a completely unexperienced baker. And any homemade goodies, no matter how sweet and rich, are always, ALWAYS better for us than McVities or Fox's.
Let me just qualify the vernacular, especially for my American readers. What we call biscuits, is not usually ‘twice cooked’ even though the origin of the word suggests precisely that. American blanket term of ‘cookies’ encompasses both drier, dunkable range of British ‘biscuits’ as well as chewy, squidgy and softer ‘cookies’. On the other hand what they call ‘biscuits’ in the US goes by ‘scones’ over here and is a subject for another discussion. I’ll stick to the British terms here, if our friends over the ocean excuse me.
The easiest biscuit form is shop-bought puff pastry (and that’s not as bad as shop-bought biscuits), cut into sugared straws or bites. Then there are the English classic ginger snaps, traditional shortbreads and simple crunchy biscuits. No rolling out or pastry cutters needed for those!
French style sables with cocoa nibs or gluten free made with cornmeal are prettier when rolled and cut out, but only if you can be bothered. Otherwise any biscuit dough can be shaped into a log, chilled and then sliced with a knife into rounds.
Croquants and dacquoise biscuits use only egg whites, likewise madeleines, the cult biscuits. Hamantaschen, Jewish biscuits with poppy seed filling, are more elaborate but worth the effort. And then the soft and tender Italian ricotta ones, or lemon and cream cheese for another biscuits experience.
Cookies are much more indulgent, but every once in a while, in an otherwise balanced diet, there’s certainly not much harm. Mokonuts chocolate rye cookies from a Parisian bakery are divine, and there are more traditional triple chocolate chip ones. Plus my favourite: condensed milk and cranberry cookies.
Finally the highest form of biscuit: squares, bars and flapjack. That’s more what I call ‘cakey objects’, dangerous because so delicious, one is definitely not enough to satisfy you. Happy baking!