Addison Embroidery
at the
Vicarage

Second Embellished patchwork star (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Lovely weather, jolly cold and no chiffchaff call yet to confirm spring is here. I haven’t heard a cuckoo for 4-5 years now, so the chiffchaff’s song has become the indicator that migrating birds are returning. Small and grey, this little warbler is easy to miss in the garden, although if you happen to be close enough its eye make up is distinctive ( a dark line extending either side of the pupil as if going right through it and a continuous line of creamy white eye shadow above).

Embellished patchwork star : detail (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Tow weeks ago hares were visible in the field behind the vicarage. Not too lively but they had a bit of a box and then were gone over a gentle rise. But another small first for me as I’ve only seen them in the snow before.

A lovely light biscuit with delicate flavours which would be just as good served with a dessert like syllabub. (Anthropologie tea towel as background.)

Cardamom and orange bird biscuits iced in white chocolate

250 g plain flour

5-10 cardamom pods (seeds removed and crushed)

100 g icing sugar

150 g butter, diced

Freshly grated zest of  an orange

2 teasp of freshly squeezed orange juice

 large egg yolk

white chocolate to decorate

Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C for a fan oven/Gas Mark 4 and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.

Rub the butter into sifted flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Then stir in icing sugar and crushed cardamom. Add the egg yolk and orange juice and mix until a dough forms. Gather this into a couple of balls, flatten these, cover in cling film and chill for about 20 minutes.

Remove from fridge, place each flattened disc of dough between 2 pieces of baking parchment and roll until the required thickness, using a light dusting of flour if needed. Cut out with bird cutter and place on baking sheet about 2cm apart.

Bake for 7-8 minutes until the biscuits are just beginning to go golden. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the baking tray before transferring to a wire rack to complete the process.

When sufficiently cool, ice creatively, either using a commercially bought tube of icing or, if none to be had, melt 100g of white chocolate in a pan over hot water and pour into an icing bag with small nozzle (kneading with you hands to keep the chocolate warm enough to flow as the icing progresses). The white chocolate sets quite quickly and is firm enough to pack into a tin to take to church the next morning.

Cardamom and orange bird biscuits iced in white chocolate