I'm a big fan of The Great British Bake Off, I love watching it, love seeing the new recipes, the techniques that others use in their baking, I even love the cringe worthy moments when everything goes wrong, that would probably have had me crying on the floor if it had happened to me. Anyway, Gavin has decided to issue me with a challenge - Bake off the Bake off!
Every week, I'm going to make something along the same theme as covered on the latest episode. This challenge is brimming with potential - whether that's fun or stress, it will probably differ between weeks! I've skipped week 1 - Cake, simply because I've made lots of cakes in the past and I'm keen to try new things. This is where the challenge starts:
Week 2 - Biscuits!
The Challenge:
4 Identical Biscuits that I have never made before
I chose Brandy Snaps
Ingredients:
2oz Butter
2oz Demerara Sugar
2oz Golden Syrup
1 1/3 oz Plain Flour
1/2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
300ml Double Cream
After preheating the oven to 180C, the next step is to oil wooden spoon handles (I know, weird, but go with it). Melt together the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan, until the sugar granules have dissolved.
Sieve the flour and the ginger together and add to the sugarysyrupybuttery mixture, along with the lemon juice.
Using teaspoons, measure out small amounts of the mixture and place onto the baking tray, you need to allow plenty of room in between each blob of mixture because they will spread out.
Bake in the oven for roughly 10 minutes (it may be a little longer if you are not using a fan oven), until they are a golden brown and well spread out.
At this point, you are meant to leave them for a minute to firm up slightly and slide a fish slice or a pallet knife underneath them to peel them off of the parchment. I had an issue with the first batch, and the second batch, and the third batch. They all decided that they would fuse to the parchment, which was an absolute nightmare. I'm not sure what caused it, I even tried oiling the parchment lightly on the last batch. I ended up using foil on the third batch and managed to get my 4 that I needed.
Once you have managed to get them off of the parchment or foil, you need to quickly wrap them around the oiled spoon handles to create the identical roll. Leave to firm up. Once firm, whip the double cream and pipe into the middle of the brandy snaps to fill.
Mine are fairly messy, I did not press together the edges after I rolled them and the pipping was a mess too. Overall, I found the process of making brandy snaps fairly stressful. They tasted good, but I am not convinced that I could not have done them better.
Points Awarded: 3/5
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