GBBO 2016 Week 2 - Biscuits - Viennese Whirls

I couldn't help myself - I had to make three bakes this week because I love biscuits so much. As well as the pineapple, coconut and lime palm trees (see here) and honey bees (see here), I also had a go at the technical challenge, where the contestants had to bake Viennese whirls. 

Viennese whirls are basically melt-in-the-mouth pastry whirls, sandwiched together with homemade jam and buttercream. I strayed slightly from Mary Berry’s recipe - I had a glut of blackberries so decided to make blackberry jam. Very sweet but also very delectable.

One question I still have though…I could not work out how to pipe a whirl, so only managed roses L I’ll be baking another batch this week (once my new cooker arrives!), so I’ll have to see if I figure that puzzle out.

I also had no baking parchment so had to guess the size of the whirls, so please forgive the slight…informal nature of the biscuits.

Makes 12 biscuits 

Ingredients:

For the jam:

• 250g (2 cups) blackberries
• 250g (1 cup) water
• 1 tsp lemon juice

For the biscuits:

• 250g (1 cup) softened butter
• 50g (1/2 cup) icing sugar
• 225g (1&1/2 cups) plain flour
• 25g (2 1/2 tbsp) corn flour

For the buttercream:

• 150g (3/5 cup) softened butter
• 300g (3 cups) icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Make the jam. Combine the blackberries, water and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook for around 7 minutes, until a temperature thermometer reads 105c/220f. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer, leave the mixture simmering for 7 minutes, then take off the heat. Leave to cool for a few minutes.

2. Blend the jam, and then sieve it (to remove the seeds). Set aside to set.

3. Preheat the oven to 190c/370f/gas mark 5. Use a 5cm cutter (or bigger if you want bigger biscuits) to draw circles on the baking parchment – these will be your piping templates. Flip the baking parchment over so that the dough will not touch the outline.

4. Cream the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy.

5. Sift in the plain flour and corn flour, and beat until the flour has been incorporated. It will be very stiff but will not become a firm dough.

6. Put an M1 nozzle into a piping bag and fill with the dough. If it is very firm, hold the bag in your hands for a few minutes, until it is soft enough to pipe.

7. Pipe 24 swirls of dough, using the circle outlines as a guide.

8. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes.

9. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly brown. Leave to cool in the tray – they are very delicate.

10. Make the buttercream. Cream the butter, icing sugar, and vanilla together using a wooden spoon – be careful as the icing sugar can get everywhere! Beat until smooth – add a little milk if it is too stiff.

Pour into a piping bag fitted with an M1 nozzle.

11. Assemble the biscuits. Flip half of the biscuits over so that the whirl is facing down. Add a teaspoon of blackberry jam to the biscuit, and gently spread to the outside of the biscuit.

12. Pipe a whirl of buttercream onto each biscuit – try not to press down onto the biscuit in case it cracks.

13. Top with another biscuit (with the whirl pointing outwards).

14. Enjoy!

GBBO 2016 Week 2 - Biscuits - Honey Bee Biscuits

These iced biscuits were inspired by a creation from one of the bakers – honey biscuits, cut into hexagon shapes (to give a honeycomb impression). I chose this because I adore honey, and knew it’d be a much simpler shape to work with than my other iced biscuit (see here). Luckily for me, both worked!

I again drew my own template, this time drawing a hexagon about 6cm in height/width. These biscuits don’t spread out so much, so I found this the perfect size.

Makes 24

Ingredients:

For the biscuits:

• 85g (6 tbsp) softened butter
• 65g (5 tbsp) set honey
• 25g (2 tbsp) caster sugar
• 110g (1 cup) plain flour
• 60g (1/2 cup) corn flour
• Hexagon template

For the icing:

• 200g (2 cups) royal icing sugar
• 35ml (2 & 1/2 tbsp) water (or lemon/lime juice if you’d prefer)
• Gel food colouring – yellow and ivory

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Line the base of a baking tray with baking parchment.

2. Cream the butter, sugar and honey together until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3. Sift in the plain flour and corn flour, and gently bring the mixture together into a firm ball of dough.

4. Wrap in cling film and chill for 20 minutes.

5. Roll the dough out between two sheets of cling film, until it is about 1/2 cm thickness.

6. Cut out hexagons using the template. Chill for 10-20 minutes until firm.

7. Prick the top of the biscuits with a fork, then bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes, until the corners are lightly brown.

8. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

9. Make the icing. Pour the royal icing sugar into a bowl and add 20ml water/juice. Beat until it is smooth – it needs to be pipeable but not too stiff. If it is too stiff, add a little more liquid.

10. Take a few tablespoons of the icing and place into another bowl. Colour it a dark yellow using the yellow and ivory food colourings.

11. Fill a piping bag with the icing, and snip 3mm from the end of the bag. Pipe outlines of icing around the edge of each biscuit.

12. Take a tablespoon of the icing, and colour it yellow. Take one more tablespoon of the icing, and colour it grey/black. Set aside (this will be for the bee later).

13. Add another 5-10ml of liquid to the remainder of the icing, and beat. It needs to be able to run off the back of the spoon (but not be too runny)

14. Colour the icing a light yellow. Using a teaspoon, spread the icing onto the biscuits, until it touches the border. Leave to set for a few minutes.

15. Place the yellow icing into a piping bag and pipe small ovals onto the centre of each biscuit.

16. Place the grey/black icing into another piping bag, and pipe on stripes and the wings of each bee (you can probably do this neater than I managed!).

17. Leave to set.

18. Enjoy!

GBBO 2016 Week 2 - Biscuits - Pineapple, Coconut and Lime Palm Trees

Week two in the tent saw biscuits J The first challenge were for iced biscuits, which I’d never tried before in fear of making unrecognizable/laughable creations…this episode gave me courage though and I decided to make two different iced biscuits. The first of these are pineapple and coconut biscuits with a lime icing, in the shape of a palm tree. I loved the tropical flavour of these biscuits, though I’ll admit they are delicate pre-icing. 

I drew the template for the palm tree myself – basing it on the picture below: I made the tree about 7cm tall, but they do spread slightly in the oven, so if you’d like a smaller biscuit, just draw a smaller palm tree J

Makes 12-24 biscuits (depending on size of template used)

Ingredients:

For the biscuits:

• 50g (1/4 cup) dessicated coconut
• 225g (1 cup) softened butter
• 110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• Zest of 2 limes
• 200g (2 cups) plain flour
• 100g (1 cup) corn flour
• 75g (1/2 cup) chopped dried pineapple
• Pinch of salt
• Palm Tree template (see above)

For the icing:

• 400g (4 cups) royal icing sugar
• 75ml lime juice (1/3 cup, about 4 limes)
• Gel food colouring – green and yellow/ivory colours 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Line a baking tray with baking paper and pour over the coconut.

2. Toast the coconut for 5 minutes. Check the coconut and gently mix (to stop the edges from burning). Continue to toast until the coconut is brown – check every minute or so - it burns very easily! Set aside whilst you make the biscuit mixture.

3. Cream the butter, sugar and lime zest together until the mixture is pale and fluffy.

4. Sift the plain flour and cornflour into the bowl, as well as the coconut and dried pineapple, and bring the mixture together into a dough (you can use a spoon or your hands – whichever is easiest).

5. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 20 minutes.

6. Roll out one third of the dough between two sheets of clingfilm until it is about 5mm thick.

7. Cut out palm trees using your template. Gently remove excess dough and refrigerate the trees for 20-30 minutes, until firm to the touch.

8. Repeat the rolling, cutting and chilling for the rest of the palm trees.

9. Transfer the palm trees to a lined baking tray, making there is at least a 2-3cm gap between the biscuits.

10. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly brown. Leave to cool before moving to a plate to ice.

11. Make the icing. Pour the royal icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and add 65ml lime juice.

Beat the icing – it needs to be pipeable but not runny. If the icing becomes too runny add more royal icing sugar – if too thick, add small amounts of lime juice (or milk) into the mixture.

12. Transfer a small amount of the icing (1-2 tablespoons) to a separate bowl and add small amounts of green food colouring until a deep green colour is achieved. Place into a piping bag and cut off the tip (about 3mm from the end).

13. Pipe outlines of the leaves with the green icing.

14. Take another small amount of the white icing, and colour it ivory/yellow (depending on the exact shade of tree you’d like). Pipe the borders of the tree trunk and set aside (this icing is needed again).

15. Add 10ml lime juice (or milk if you’ve run out of juice) into the rest of the icing, and beat. It should just be able to run off a spoon – this is icing that will be used to flood the biscuits.

16. Split the icing into two. To the first colour it light green, to the second colour it ivory/yellow.

17. Take small teaspoons of the green icing, and fill in the leaf section of the biscuits, using the back of a teaspoon to spread the icing to the piped borders.

18. Repeat with the ivory icing for the trunk.

19. Use the reserved ivory icing (in the piping bag), to pipe lines over the trunk.

20. Leave to set.

21. Enjoy!