Biscuit Baking the Tim Fisher Way!

Tim Fisher is an award-winning and widely respected pastry chef, having won more than 50 competition awards including over 30 medals at the British Open Cookery Championships. He also won the Dessert of The Year title in 2004.

And I, budget baker that I am on occasion, have had the immense privilege not only of meeting Tim on many occasions but also enjoying samples of his work - melt-in-the-mouth chocolate chip cookies, mini pastries, petite gateaux and delectable savouries when he catered for my friends' events.

This is why I am so happy to endorse his Biscuits and Cookies book, which can be snapped up at Amazon for a sweet £14.

I've enjoyed trying out his recipe for peanut butter cookies (you may recall I am obsessed with PB, and have a couple of years ago posted my own budget PB cookie bake). I won't say whose is better but I'll give you a clue - it's Tim's. Don't tell him! I'm also going to try out his custard cream and jammy dodger recipes - the sort of biscuits one never thinks to make at home but Tim makes it look easy...

What I really like is that Tim has made this book exceptionally accessible to the normal person who likes to bake every now and then. Too often recipes call for random and expensive items, like Belgian woodland truffle flakes, or Fijian salamander scales dipped in 100% Cambodian carob. This is not baking on a budget, but cooking on credit.

But Tim's book is designed to help even casual bakers like myself produce great-tasting treats for friends and family without having to shell out on unusual ingredients. Of course, if you want that little bit extra, there are some fancy biscuits in there too for those extra special occasions!

For those of you who happen to live in Surrey, England you might be interested in joining his Facebook: Tim's Pastry Club, or following him on Twitter: @timspastryclub Instagram: Tim's Pastry Club www.timspastryclub.com

March of the Penguins

I LOVE Lakeland.

I often ask for presents from here because there are often good sales on items I'd like, and I can use them again and again to create wonderful food.

One such thing I treated myself to was a set of stacking star-shape cookie cutters, so that I could create a stack of stars that looked something like this. This photo is from Lakeland's own website as I have not yet decorated and stacked my own stars.

Credit: Lakeland. Star cookie cutters. Beautiful!

Another thing I like about Lakeland is that with certain items they also provide basic and easy-to-follow recipes. So the recipe that came with the star cookie cutters can be found here  or I have reproduced it below.

You will need:
300g unsalted butter, softened
300g caster sugar
2 small eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract - I found that this was not enough so used 2 teaspoons in my Penguin batch
a pinch of salt - I did not use salt; I used slightly salted Flora Light
600g plain flour, sifted - Sifting does not really matter much (sifting is a bit of a Women's Institute-style myth. It's the mixing that does it, not the sifting. However don't use self-raising flour, it makes the cookies too puffy and dry.

How To:
Reheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), gas 4.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the beaten eggs, vanilla and salt and mix well. Gradually add the flour and mix until incorporated. Bring together into a dough, divide into 2 balls, wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of 3-4mm. Dip cookie cutters in flour before each use. You need 2 cookies of each size. Arrange them on prepared baking trays.
Bake the cookies on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 12 minutes, or until firm and golden, swapping the trays over if necessary. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

NOW for the PENGUINS. I do like penguins! I made some last year to adorn the 2014 Christmas Cake  - as can be seen below:

Which way to the South Pole? Penguin alert. Credit: SimoneySunday

Having purchased a cute little penguin cookie cutter from Biscuiteers in Notting Hill a year or so ago, I was keen to try to make iced penguin biscuits this year - but needed a good recipe. I toyed with the idea of gingerbread but I'd already made a gingerbread house and, I liked the basic nature of Lakeland's easy recipe.

So with a few tweaks - as I mentioned - I found it a little too low in flavour for my palate, I added extra vanilla flavouring and a teaspoon of cinnamon to make it a little more punchy. I also reduced the sugar element slightly as the icing itself will be sweet enough.

I used Fondant icing for the black and royal icing for the white, but I think next year I will try to learn liquid icing techniques as this took AGES to shape and cut the icing. I also used a small piping bag of red icing to fill in the beak, and some gold balls for the eyes.

And here are the end results - the march of the penguins.

Hallo mate! @SimoneySunday

Marching onward - the Penguin brigade @SimoneySunday

A Lidl Christmas magic

Never underestimate the value of German confectionery at Christmas time!

Having scored this wonderful gingerbread house for FREE, simply because TSB Bank kindly took me to the Biscuiteers last Monday so I could ice and build my own gingerbread house, I needed to adorn the rest of the 'Christmas Snack Table' with some Christmassy goodies.

Biscuiteers Gingerbread House, iced by me @SimoneySunday

Lidl does a wonderful range of coated nuts, soft gingerbread cookies, chocolates, truffles and mini-stollens. The Ferrero Rocher and Pringles also came from Lidl - so it is not just selling brands you do not know, but brands you do know.

I bought a vast array of such goodies for approximately £10.00 on Saturday - including a whole frozen lobster ready for the Christmas Eve lobster bisque (a tradition in our household).

I cannot express how brilliant Lidl is for Christmas goodies - and they make lovely, cheap stocking fillers, too.

Utter Peanut Butter Nutter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies. Picture Credit: Simoney Sunday

Ever had that urge to eat some amazing, home-made cookies just before you settle down to watch a film at night, but realise with only 20 minutes to go that you don't have any? I get that feeling a lot!

Do not panic, and do not rush out to the local gas station to buy an overpriced pack of preservative-laden biscuits.

Check your food cupboard and fridge first. If you have one medium egg, one cup of white (granulated) sugar and one tub of peanut butter, you're in luck.

This is also gluten-free so is perfect for people who have an intolerance to gluten. However it might not be so good for people who are allergic to peanuts. Well, you cannot have it all. And they do look delicious, oui?

Ingredients
1 Egg (medium or large)
1 Jar of peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
1 cup of white (granulated sugar)

How to
Mix the egg, peanut butter and sugar in a bowl until you form a paste. I particularly like crunchy peanut butter, but smooth will do.

Get a dessert spoon and use one scoop per cookie on a sheet of greaseproof paper (or a very lightly greased baking sheet). Using a fork, pat the cookies flat first one way, then the other to create a chequered effect (see picture).

All the above takes a maximum of five minutes.

Whack them into the oven at 190 degrees Celcius (or 180 for fan-assisted ovens. This will be gas mark four to five for conventional gas ovens.

Leave for six to eight mins - no more - and take them out. Leave them somewhere out of the reach of smaller people/animals and cool. It takes approximately 10 mins for them to cool enough for you to have a plate of delicious, crunchy on outside, chewy on the inside, cookies.

You could...
For an additional twist, add a spoonful or two of chocolate spread, or chocolate chips for an extra kick.