9 Aug 2014

almond crisp biscuits


I have started and scratched out and started again and faltered and wondered what exactly I should focus on when telling you about these biscuits. So many possibilities! So I’m going to tell you everything.
  • They are easy to make. One bowl, four main ingredients, and only ten minutes in the oven: simplicity itself. I’m usually dubious about those minimalist-ingredient recipes, but if you also hold those prejudices, cast them aside and get out your mixing bowl.
  • They look like perfect, mass-produced store-bought biscuits, with their flawlessly round shape and little crinkles and cracks. And I am ashamed to admit this thrills me! Even mum said in a delighted tone, ‘they look like ones out of a packet!’.
  • They are short and crisp (as the name promises), as light as air and leaving that weirdly enjoyable puckery feeling in your mouth (which begs for a cup of tea). They are also nicely plain in their flavour — neither sweet nor almondy, just plain — which means it’s all about that terrifically short texture (and perfectly round shape).
I would also like to declare that these are a fitting showcase for my new-found loyalty to good quality foil-wrapped butter. Until recently, home-brand paper-wrapped butter was fine by me (I know; I can see you shuddering and shaking your head. Please do not judge me). But reading my new ‘Bake Eat Love’ book, I decided to switch to foil-wrapped butter, because Annekka advised the opaque foil kept butter better, safe from fridge odours (Anneka also advises against using the microwave to soften butter, but I disagree. She obviously doesn’t cook in my kitchen during the winter time, where some days I think it’s colder outside the fridge than in!)

Anyway, I digress. I don’t think my butter is plagued by the problem of fridge smells (I don’t think my fridge is either), but I thought I’d give her advice a go.

Standing at the supermarket chiller section, this meant choosing a non-home-brand butter (therefore a twice-the-price butter). Which one to buy was made easier once I spotted a Tasmanian brand; I’m trying to buy local where I can, though local in this case means the north of the state and almost 300 kilometres away.

But I digress, again. I was astounded by the superior creamy quality of this butter. Whether that’s because it was foil-wrapped or Tassie-made I can’t say, but I now realise that not all butter is created equal, and I have been using this for all my baking ever since. Including these old-school almond crisps.

No matter what I have said so far about these biscuits (and butter), maybe it should just be: try them yourself!

Almond crisp biscuits
Adapted from the Australia Women’s Weekly 'Food We Love'. Makes about 15.
  • Preheat oven to 200 and prep a couple of baking trays.
  • Cream 125 gms soft (foil-wrapped, Tassie-made) butter with ¼ cup vanilla sugar for a good few minutes until it’s light in colour and very creamy.
  • Fold thru 1 cup SR flour and ¼ cup almond meal.
  • Roll small tablespoons into balls, flatten slightly and place on baking trays. Sprinkle each with a few almond slivers or flakes and press in gently.
  • Bake for ten minutes, remove from oven and stand on trays for a few minutes before transferring to racks to cool.

12 comments:

  1. These look wonderful. I have to admit, I am all about 'simple' when it comes to baking - one bowl, a small selection of ingredients, not long to throw together - I am there (I think it is because there is a toddler in the kitchen as well..). I might just give these a go this weekend!

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    1. jacqui, these would be perfect for you then. even simpler if you have a stand beater - you can walk away while the butter and sugar is creaming. i hope you like these if you make them.

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  2. Yum, so good e! Nothing wrong with a little happiness when things look professional and packet like, I say!

    I love browsing the butter section at the supermarket...strange I know. So much goodness and baking possibilities underneath those lovely foil wrappers. I stick to the unsalted Western Star brand usually, but if I am feeling indulgent I go for the Tasmanian stuff. Happy baking :)

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    1. "professional" - that's a much better word than "mass produced", jane, i like it!
      i shall think of you now every time i open one of my tasmanian butters :-)

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  3. I also confess to being a no-name butter buyer. I have seen the error of my ways. For baking at least. On toast I don't really care, especially when it all melts in.
    These look lovely. If I hadn't just made a batch of gingernuts I'd be baking them immediately.

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    1. gingernuts! oooh, hard and jaw-breaking and spicy? now i want some of those!
      yes, i am truly converted, and i'm tryign not to think of all the years i baked without tassie foil-wraped butter! oh, the regret.

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  4. Tasmanian butter is going to be a tricky one to find here... but then, I've never looked for it so maybe it won't be so hard.

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    1. ah, i'm sure you have some good creamy in your part of the world, GD! i kinda hope tassie butter is not flying all the way over to the UK. that's massive food miles for a block of butter.

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  5. hi there
    these biscuits sound great and only 4 ingredients. any aust womens weekly recipe is good stuff.!

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    1. hello sherry and welcome to dig in.
      a fellow AWW admirer! "you can't go wrong with a women's weekly recip" is a truism often repeated by my mum and i!

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  6. Good quality butter is a joy to use. The biscuits look great!

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  7. i am fully converted to that creamy goodness, leaf! thank you.

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