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The Duchess of Devonshire’s biscuits

To celebrate #nationalbiscuitday (Saturday 29th June, 2021, I tried to make an easy recipe from one of the recipe books in the archive of the Wright family of Eyam Hall in Derbyshire, kindly sent to me by my mother. It produces a lovely crisp biscuit to enjoy with a cup of tea – the lady who wrote down this recipe noted they were ‘exceedingly good’. The original recipe uses large quantities (this is a recipe designed for a household on the Chatsworth House scale, after all), so it’s been quartered, which will make around 38 biscuits depending on what size you cut out.

Recipe:

8oz (225g) plain flour (you can use wholemeal or a mix of both)
4 oz (110g) butter
4 oz (110g) sugar
1 egg
1/2 tbsp white wine or water
4 oz (110g) currants or 1/2 oz (12g) caraway seeds

Use cold butter straight from the fridge, cut it into small cubes and rub it into the flour until it resembles fine crumbs – or pulse the mixture in a food processor, which will be much quicker than doing this by hand.

Stir in the sugar and either currants or caraway seeds. Beat the egg and mix it in, then add the wine or water and use your hands to pull the mixture together to form a ball of pastry-like dough. You need very little liquid as the warmth of your hands will soften the butter and you’ll find that it comes together nicely.

There’s no need to knead – as soon as you’ve got it into a smooth ball, it’s ready. Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface, getting it as thin as you dare. Use a biscuit cutter to cut rounds (or any fancy shape you like!), and then transfer the biscuits to a baking sheet.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 and line a 20cm x 35cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the shortbread, sugar and 2 teaspoons of the ground ginger into a food processor and whiz to fine crumbs. Remove 100g of the mix and keep this to one side.
3. Add the remaining teaspoon of ginger to the processor, then roughly chop and add the mixed peel and ginger, followed by the flour and baking powder. Pulse until well mixed.
4. Melt the syrup, treacle and butter together in a large pan. Once melted, stir in the mixture from the food processor until thoroughly combined.
5. Tip onto the baking tray and spread out evenly. Press the mixture down into the tray, using your fingers or the back of a spoon. When the mix is a flat, dense and even layer, pop the tray in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Take the tray out of the oven and sprinkle the hot gingerbread with the reserved crumbs, pressing them down well with a potato masher or spatula.
7. Carefully cut into good-sized pieces with a sharp knife and leave to cool in the tray before eating.

Ginger Shortbread

I love ginger shortbread.  This recipe is taken from Jamie Oliver’s take on the legendary Grasmere Gingerbread.  Not quite the same but just as moreish!

Ingredients

• 400 g quality shortbread (or make your own)
• 170 g demerara sugar
• 3 level teaspoons ground ginger
• 40 g mixed peel
• 40 g crystallized ginger
• 70 g plain flour
• 1 pinch of baking powder
• 40 g golden syrup
• 40 g treacle
• 70 g unsalted butter

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 and line a 20cm x 35cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the shortbread, sugar and 2 teaspoons of the ground ginger into a food processor and whiz to fine crumbs. Remove 100g of the mix and keep this to one side.
3. Add the remaining teaspoon of ginger to the processor, then roughly chop and add the mixed peel and ginger, followed by the flour and baking powder. Pulse until well mixed.
4. Melt the syrup, treacle and butter together in a large pan. Once melted, stir in the mixture from the food processor until thoroughly combined.
5. Tip onto the baking tray and spread out evenly. Press the mixture down into the tray, using your fingers or the back of a spoon. When the mix is a flat, dense and even layer, pop the tray in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Take the tray out of the oven and sprinkle the hot gingerbread with the reserved crumbs, pressing them down well with a potato masher or spatula.
7. Carefully cut into good-sized pieces with a sharp knife and leave to cool in the tray before eating.

Chocolate Brownie

This recipe is very moreish and has been known to be eaten from frozen!  Add a scoop of ice cream and it makes a lovely dessert.  (This is a BBC Good Food recipe)

Ingredients

• 185g unsalted butter
• 185g best dark chocolate
• 85g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 50g white chocolate
• 50g milk chocolate
• 3 large eggs
• 275g golden caster sugar

Method

STEP 1

Cut 185g unsalted butter into small cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break 185g dark chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl.

STEP 2

Fill a small saucepan about a quarter full with hot water, then sit the bowl on top so it rests on the rim of the pan, not touching the water. Put over a low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them.

STEP 3

Remove the bowl from the pan. Alternatively, cover the bowl loosely with cling film and put in the microwave for 2 minutes on High. Leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.

STEP 4

While you wait for the chocolate to cool, position a shelf in the middle of your oven and turn the oven on to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

STEP 5

Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out a square of non-stick baking parchment to line the base. Tip 85g plain flour and 40g cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl. Tap and shake the sieve so they run through together and you get rid of any lumps.

STEP 6

Chop 50g white chocolate and 50g milk chocolate into chunks on a board..

STEP 7

Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar. They will look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes, depending on how powerful your mixer is. You’ll know it’s ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume. Another check is to turn off the mixer, lift out the beaters and wiggle them from side to side. If the mixture that runs off the beaters leaves a trail on the surface of the mixture in the bowl for a second or two, you’re there.

STEP 8

Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Plunge the spatula in at one side, take it underneath and bring it up the opposite side and in again at the middle. Continue going under and over in a figure of eight, moving the bowl round after each folding so you can get at it from all sides, until the two mixtures are one and the colour is a mottled dark brown. The idea is to marry them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like.

STEP 9

Hold the sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and resift the cocoa and flour mixture, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly.

Bakewell Blondie

This is quite a sweet dessert; you may only need da small piece! Recipe from Jane’s Patisserie.

Ingredients

• 250 g Unsalted Butter (melted)
• 125 g White Granulated Sugar
• 125 g Light Brown Sugar
• 3 Medium Eggs
• 1 tsp Almond Extract (optional)
• 100 g Ground Almonds
• 200 g Plain Flour
• 1 tbsp Cornflour
• 200 g White Chocolate Chips/or chopped chocolate
• 250 g Raspberry Jam (or any other flavour!)
• 50 g Flaked Almonds

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and line a 9×9″ square tin with
   parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, add your melted butter and sugars and beat till smooth.
3. Add in the eggs and almond extract and beat again till smooth.
4. Add in the flour, ground almonds and cornflour and beat till a thick blondie
5. mixture is made – it really doesn’t take long to create this mixture!
6. Add in your white chocolate chips (chopped chocolate) and fold through..
7. Pour the mixture into the tin and spread. Dollop on the jam, and lightly swirly
   through the blondie mixture.
8. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds!
9. Bake the Blondies in the oven for 30 minutes (check after 25), or until there
   is an ever so slight wobble in the middle
10. Leave the Blondies to cool in the tin till cool.
11. One top tip – to help firm them up before cutting, put them in the fridge for an
    hour or so once they have cooled – it creates a lovely fudgy texture!

Gluten Free Lemon Drizzle Cake

This one is gluten free but tastes delicious.
I got the recipe from theloopywhisk.com who has some lovely recipes.

For lemon loaf cake:

• 1 2/3 cups (200 g) plain gluten free flour blend I used Doves.
• 3/4 cup (65 g) almond flour (I used ground almonds, accidentally at first!)
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 sticks (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
• zest of 3 lemons
• 4 medium eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (120 mL) milk, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla paste, you can also use 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

For lemon drizzle: optional

• 1 cup (120 g) icing sugar, sifted
• 6 – 7 tsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

Instructions

For lemon loaf cake:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 355 ºF (180 ºC) and line a loaf baking tin with greaseproof/baking paper.
2. In a large bowl sift together the gluten free flour blend, ground almond, xanthan gum and baking powder. Add the sugar and salt and mix until combined.
3. Add the softened butter and, using either a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer with double beater attachment, work the butter into the dry ingredients until you get a texture resembling coarse breadcrumbs in size.
4. Add the lemon zest. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, vanilla and lemon juice. Add the wet ingredients to the dry butter mixture, and whisk/mix well until no flour clumps remain and everything is evenly distributed.
5. Transfer the cake batter into the prepared loaf tin, smooth out the top, and bake in the pre-heated oven at 355 ºF (180 ºC) for about 1 hour or until risen, golden brown on top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

If the cake starts browning too quickly or too much, cover it with aluminium foil and continue baking until done.

• Allow to cool in the loaf tin for about 10 minutes, then remove from the tin, and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

For lemon drizzle (optional):

1. Stir the icing sugar and 6 tsp of lemon juice together until you get a thick even mixture. Add 1 – 2 tsp of lemon juice, mixing well, until you get the correct icing consistency (see text for photos).

You can add more lemon juice to make it runnier, or more powdered sugar to make it thicker, as required.

• Drizzle the lemon icing over the cooled cake, spreading it evenly across the top with the back of a spoon, and letting it drip down the sides.
• Enjoy!

Storage:

1. The lemon drizzle cake keeps well in a closed container in a cool dry place for 3 – 4 days.  I slice and wrap in individual pieces and freeze.

Aunty Rene Cake

This is a recipe given to our family by my Great Aunt Rene. It is a lovely moist fruit cake and I have also made it Gluten Free for a guest once by using Doves Gluten free flour and I used almond milk as she was lactose intolerant too.
It turned out just as nice.

Cooking time 1 hour at 150 degrees/Gas mark 2

1 cup Milk

¾ cup of soft brown sugar

½ lb Mixed Fruit

¼ lb Margarine

½ lb Self Raising Flour

2 eggs

Bring milk, sugar, mixed fruit and margarine to the boil, then leave to go cold.

Stir in flour & eggs, and mix well.

Put in 2lb loaf tin and cook for 1 hour. 

Allow to cool completely before slicing.