HFF 6.25: Looking Back

 

The Challenge: Looking Back. Revisit a dish you've made before, whether to correct a mistake, try an alternative variation, or just enjoy it again.

The Recipe: Dessert Biscuits from Beeton's Book of Household Management

I selected this receipt because, despite it being one of my first and most often repeated recipes, I've never written it up fully. Unfortunately, I can't find the photos this time around.

DESSERT BISCUITS, which may be flavoured with Ground Ginger, Cinnamon, &c &c INGREDIENTS--1 lb of flour, 1/2 lb of butter, 1/2 lb of sifted sugar, the yolks of 6 eggs, flavouring to taste. Mode--Put the butter into a basin, warm it but do not allow it to oil, then with the hand beat it to a cream. Add the flour by degrees, then the sugar and flavouring, and moisten the whole with the yolks of the eggs, which should previously be well-beaten. When all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, drop the mixture from a spoon on to a buttered paper, leaving a distance between each cake as they spread as soon as they begin to get warm. Bake in rather a slow oven from 12 to 18 minutes and do not let the biscuits acquire too much colour. In making the above quantity half may be flavoured with ground ginger and the other half with essence of lemon or currants to make a variety. With whatever the preparation is flavoured so are the biscuits called, and an endless variety may be made in this manner. Time--12 to 18 minutes or rather longer in a very slow oven. Average cost 1s 6d. Sufficient to make from 3 to 4 dozen cakes. Seasonable at any time.

The Date/Year and Region: 1861, London

 

How Did You Make It: As given (I needed a lot for an event, and so I did a whole batch). I beat 6 eggs in a separate bowl, creamed 8 oz of butter and 8 oz granulated sugar, then added the pound of flour and the eggs. I divided the dough in half, flavoring half with cinnamon and the rest with a handful of currants. I then baked them about 12 minutes per pan at 350F; I ended up with three pans of the biscuits, making a round six dozen.

 

Time to Complete: In the modern kitchen, about an hour (pre-heating the oven while mixing the fough).

 

Total Cost: Pantry stables, so I don't have the numbers ready to hand.

 

How Successful Was It?: Tasty. As usual, these biscuits are a bit denser than most modern cookies but they go very well with tea. The biscuits keep very well, though they can get a little rubbery after a few days in a damp climate. The receipt is easy to remember and lends itself well to improvising flavors. This receipt also once got me a mock marriage proposal from an Abe Lincoln impersonator. 

How Accurate Is It? Revisiting the receipt again, I can see that I'm making my biscuits a little smaller than they are meant to be (almost half the size), but that's also just the size I like them. While I've made them before on a fire, all mixed by hand, this time I used my stand mixer and electric oven. It's easier, but not materially different in outcome--more important was probably the fact that I was working in a climate-controlled room; having made these biscuits in an unheated replica building during the winter, I will say that it is a lot harder to mix the dough when the butter won't warm up.