Another recipe from Miranda Gore Browne’s Biscuit (Ebury Press 2012). I was a bit disappointed at the finished appearance of these biscuits. The book doesn’t picture them and in fact not all the recipes have a photograph, which is unhelpful, especially as some of the recipes have fairly flamboyant names (Coat-pocket biscuits, Sledging biscuits and Imagination Biscuits, anyone? – to name just 3 for which there is no picture). But having too few pictures is the worse criticism I can throw at a book which has yielded many lovely recipes.
Hazelnut and chocolate chip crumbles (from Miranda Gore Browne’s Biscuit: Ebury Press 2012)
170 g unsalted butter softened
50 g golden caster sugar
50 g muscovado sugar
100 g hazelnuts toasted and chopped
100 g wholemeal flour
100g plain flour
100 g dark chocolate chips
Makes about 24
Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C for a fan oven/Gas Mark 3 and line 2 baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the hazelnuts and also the flour. Mix well until a dough forms. Add the chocolate chips, using a spoon if necessary.
Pinch off pieces of dough and place on the baking sheet. Flatten slightly.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden – the surface of the biscuit should look dry and cracked. Firm up on baking tray for 5 minutes before removing to a rack to cool.
Miranda grinds some of the hazelnuts to be finer than those from my Waitrose packet of chopped hazelnuts and perhaps this is why my dough remained crumbly and slightly alarming as I tried to shape it into vaguely round shapes for the baking tray. I wondered about adding an egg next time. NEVERTHELESS, the biscuits were delicious and I will be trying them again, possibly half dipped in dark chocolate, rather than with chocolate chips within.
Hazelnut and chocolate chip crumbles (from Miranda Gore Browne’s Biscuit: Ebury Press 2012)
Small triumph – South Oxfordshire Village Quiz League has its first round devoted entirely to KNITTING.
The quiz teams are predominantly male although our team is unusual in regularly fielding 2 or 3 women in the team. Sport is a favourite source of questions but very esoteric rounds on things like dates and venues of football World Cup finals have left even some of the men groaning. (And I say this as one brought up on the cricket fields and rugby pitches of England, whose son regularly opened the batting for London Schools, partnering Alistair Cooke who – not many people know this – was at the time the side’s wicket keeper.)
From time to time, after a particularly dire round I have been known to mutter that the occasional foray into knitting, sewing or haute couture would be nice but I never really expected to see it happen. I am relieved to report that I did not let the side down on this gift of a round and was able to gain welcome extra points by correctly identifying, a small patch of stocking stitch, ditto garter stitch (both beautifully knitted), both Guernsey and Fair Isle jumpers, a needle sizer, a row counter and the use of just one needle for Norwegian jumpers – which all of you reading this could too!
