Tala Christmas Baking

 

It's no secret that I love baking but I have to say I do find myself baking the same things over and over. Mostly because they are so popular and eaten so fast, but nonetheless I'd like to branch out a bit more! When I'm in the kitchen, I'm mostly likely baking banana loaf cake, whoopie pies or triple chocolate cookies. With christmas coming up, I find it the perfect excuse to try some of the recipes in your binder that haven't been tried before and try something new :)

The biscuits I made certainly weren't something difficult or even something that I've never baked before. But I hadn't baked simple vanilla biscuits for a long long time and I thought they'd work out great with my new snowflake cutters. I used a recipe from a Sainsburys cookbook (this one here) and here's the recipe:

100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 medium egg
225g plain flour
White icing to decorate

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, egg and 1 tbspn flour to combine. Add remaining flour and beat again. Bring the mixture together into a ball using your hands, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 1hr in the fridge.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out and cut into shapes. Place on a baking tray and bake in an oven at 180c or 160 fan, for 10-12 minutes, until pale golden. Cool then decorate.

I found that I needed to chill the dough far longer than it said as mine was still really soft/wet and I ended up putting it in the freezer for ten minutes ontop of the waiting time because I was getting impatient! Anyone else not like recipes that need to chill/rise/rest for ages?

Anyway, with that aside, it is a yummy, simple recipe and I found it perfect for cutting out shapes. It didn't spread in the oven (which I had problems with when I made my star cookies last christmas) which I was really pleased with because the snowflakes I cut them into are lovely and intricate!

I've always admired perfectly iced biscuits and although these are far from it, I am so pleased with the results! I piped simple white icing on top with a thin icing nozzle and attempted to add to the christmas charm of these yummy little snowflakes. I was sent a lovely new rolling pin along with the cutters and a sugar shaker from Tala and I'm so pleased with the results! I think they'd be perfect in a gift hamper or even as a little gift for your neighbours or colleagues! xo