Twice Cooked

Ok, so I know the last time I made biscuits it didn't quite go as planned, but as I'm not the sort of person who gives up on things easily, I thought I'd give them another go. Plus, I bought my Mum this cute little biscuit recipe book and stamp to go with it for her birthday and secretly I really wanted to give them a go for myself! And with the recipe being in French, it reminded me of being in France!

Seeing as I'm home, it's the perfect time to do some baking with my Mum and it also meant I could have a go at using our wonderful oven (sorry if the oven saga is getting a bit tiresome now...I will shut up about it soon, promise!). And it did cook the biscuits to perfection, even if I do say so myself! I chose some lemon ones which were crunchy and crisp, just like a biscuit should be. They weren't too lemony either, but the lemon curd in the middle just gave them that extra kick they needed. And I think the stamp makes them look quite professional. This time I can safely say that the biscuits were a success and I will definitely be trying them again, but perhaps with an alternative flavour. So I CAN make biscuits. And I CAN blame my stupid French oven for their lack of success last time. Give them a go. They're really easy to make and perfect for satisfying that sweet craving we all get from time to time. And of course, I don't really need to say it, but they go perfectly with a nice cup of (English) tea!

Biscuits au citron    makes about 12 biscuits

Ingredients:

1 Lemon

80g Butter

120g Sugar

1 Egg

180g Plain Flour

I Jar Lemon Curd

Icing Sugar (for decoration)

Method:

1. Grate the zest of a lemon.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mxing bowl.
3. When the sugar is incorporated add the egg and lemon zest and mix again.
4. Gradually add the flour, a little at a time, whilst mixing.
5. It should all come together to form a dough.
6. Leave the dough to rest in the fridge for half an hour.
7. Preheat the (fan!) oven to 180 degrees.
8. Cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
9. On a floured surface roll out the dough so it is about 4-5mm in thickness.
10. Cut out circles from the dough using a glass about 5cm in diameter - you should get about 24.
11. If you have a stamp, now is the time to stamp half of the circles!
12. Place all the circles on the baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
13. Leave to cool on a cooling tray.
14. Spread half of the biscuits with lemon curd and sandwich together with their other half.
15. Enjoy as quickly as possible before they're all eaten!

Extremely accurate scales that I have the pleasure of using when I'm at home! I must invest in some for next year.

The oven in action!!

By the way, if you're wondering what the title is all about, it's another language reference! I'm sure many of you may know this already, but the word biscuit actually comes from the French language and litterally translates as 'twice cooked' because originally there were two parts to the cooking process of biscuits - apparently first they were baked and then dried out in a slow oven. So there's a little interesting useless fact for you all! Of course, the main thing is we all like a good biscuit and it doesn't matter how they're cooked as long as they taste good!