richard Another Simon Hopkinson recipe, although this time one he borrowed from a cookbook written by Roald Dahl, who in his turn took it from a nice man in Arnhem who made these tasties at his patisserie. Judging by the photo in the (subsequently purchased and truly delightful) Roald Dahl book, these biscuits aren’t quite the right shape but they are so very tasty I think this is but a detail.
A yumblog 6Music tribute to Ronnie James Dio who sadly died over the weekend.
Preparation time: 12 minutes + overnight chilling
Cooking time: 35-40 minutes
Skill level: easy
Makes: 35-40 (in our case, a lot more than we could actually eat, despite taking half of them to work)
Ingredients
- plain flour – 190g
- milk – 100g
- lemon juice – 4 drops
- fresh yeast – 5g (dried yeast – 3g)
- unsalted butter – 105g (divided equally into 5 pieces)
- a pinch of salt
- granulated sugar – the biscuit dough is rolled on this instead of flour
Put the flour, milk, lemon juice and yeast in a bowl along with a pinch of salt and mix together.
Place one piece of butter in with the mixture and whisk at high speed for 2 minutes. Repeat this 4 times with the rest of the butter.
Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate overnight.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Next day.
Preheat the oven to a cool 130°C (gas mark 1) and line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper.
Cover your work surface with sugar and roll out your dough until very thin, sprinkling with more sugar to ensure both sides have a sugar coating.
Use a biscuit cutter to cut into a shape of your choice, place onto your lined baking sheet and sprinkle with yet more sugar.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a biscuity golden colour. It is vital to note that the biscuits will still be soft when removed from the oven but they will crisp up nicely once left to cool. If they’re crisp when removed from the oven you’ve overdone them.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Have a sit down with a nice mug of tea and an Arnhem biscuit.
Verdict: Simple rich buttery biscuits with a crunchy sugar coating. For that extra sugar rush and potential diabetic coma why not do as we did and eat them accompanied by a Simon Hopkinson cream-laden rhubarb fool.
Drink: These biscuits make splendid dunkers, so why not have a nice mug of tea?
Entertainment: ‘Gran Torino’ on DVD. Clint Eastwood plays an aged, racist war vet with a Bronze Star and a heart of gold. A not particularly subtle but never-the-less greatly enjoyable popcorn movie…or in our case a not particularly subtle but never-the-less greatly enjoyable Arnhem biscuit and rhubarb fool movie.
