crunchy biscuits
Sat, 17 December, 2016
Dunk it in your tea or not, everyone likes a biscuit with a crunch, when it melts into sweet and buttery tenderness in your mouth, plain, simple and sublime.
In the last BBC edition of the Great British Bake Off, a few years back, Mary Berry announced that a biscuit must be crunchy.
Must biscuits always be crunchy?
Excuse me: what about cookies? macarons?? lady fingers???
Biscuits are not crunchy by definition, at least not in the wide meaning, and apart from cantuccini they are not normally baked twice.
Jaffa cakes? Digestives? Gingerbreads?
And that’s even before we go over to America and inspect what they call ‘a biscuit’ there. Crunchy it isn’t.
I’m all for a good biscuit (although I don’t dunk), crunchy or not, but let’s not make sweeping generalisations. It’s as if someone said that all steaks must be made with fillet beef.
Crunchy is good
There's nothing wrong with crunchy biscuits though.
Crunchy is good when it melts in your mouth and tastes of butter and sugar - which is basically what the crunchy biscuit is made of.
When I was a kid I used to love eating uncooked crumble (uncooked dough is one of the finest things in life) and a good crunchy biscuit reminds me fondly of that raw flour/sugar/butter combo.
Crunchy biscuits copied from Fox’s crunch creams
I set out to make a replica of Fox’s crunch creams - one of the best shop-bought biscuits, without question - only sans creams as that’s where shop-bought would beat my buttercream on eat-by date (with E-numbers).
But if you wanted to do the full works, the sandwich biscuits filling is pretty simple; basically just thick icing with added melted butter. Dive here (not just on Valentine's Day) for the filling recipe.
Plain and crunchy is good
By trial and error they came about. I made the first batch with a bit of egg as the dough wouldn’t come together but it was wrong - not enough crunch, not enough melt.
The second time round I only added a bit of lemon juice to help the dough gel - and the result was spot on.
Crunch.
Melt.
Mary Berry happy.
And it's the perfect side to a creamy dessert like chocolate mousse or lemon posset.
crunchy biscuits
Servings: 3 dozen biscuitsTime: 30 minutes plus chilling pastryRating: (3 reviews)
INGREDIENTS
- 100g butter, slightly softened
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 200g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp. light corn syrup (use golden syrup or honey as an alternative; each will alter the taste slightly)
- 2 tsp lemon juice
METHOD
1. Cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy, add the vanilla extract. Stir the flour with the baking powder into the mix, add the corn syrup and mix everything into soft dough, adding the lemon juice to help the dough come together.
2. Roll it up into a sausage about 4-4cm in diameter, wrap it in cling film and chill for at least an hour until firm.
3. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5. Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment.
4. When the dough has chilled, slice it with a sharp knife into 3mm thick discs, place them on the baking sheets well-spaced out and bake for 8 minutes until light golden around the edges. Cool on the wire rack.
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Hi Andy - that's a very good question. In my experience the best way to achieve a lighter crumb while keeping it crunchy is not to overbake them. I take my biscuits out when barely coloured around the edges. The longer you bake, the harder they become.
Hi and thanks very much for sharing your recipe. I'm hoping it's a very close match indeed to Fox's butter crinkles. They are one of my all-time favourites but it would appear they are no longer available to buy, hence my search for a decent recipe. My first impression when I saw your recipe was that it very closely resembles my ginger snap recipe, minus a couple of spoonfuls of ground ginger. However, when I've made them before, I have found them to be a lot harder than any pre bought ones. I guess what I'm trying to ask is what is the best way to produce a lighter crumb whilst keeping it crunchy, I'm of the Mary school of thought regarding crunchy biscuits but very much value my teeth.
Hi Anna - I'm really happy to hear that!
At last a recipe that works. I have tried sooo.. many biscuit recipes and only a few have worked. I bake all the time, but biscuits are my nemesis! I made some that were perfect, made them twice more and they were different each time? Thank you for this recipe.
Hi! Anna, thank you for reply. I will try out first using cookie cutter, if its spreads I'll try to reduce some syrup/honey . I'll update u soon.
Hi Kelly - yes it is but it spreads quite a little while baking so the shapes may lose their shape a bit!
Hi! Do u think this cookie dough suitable for cut out the shapes with cookie cutter?
This is a very good article. Thank you for sharing. I look forward to publishing more such works. There are not many such articles in this field.
Hi Mick - if it's just briefly, the syrup probably doesn't get hot enough to affect the texture. But don't forget it doesn't melt with the butter and sugar immediately, in fact the dough should be chilled before baking. Generally solid ingredients and chilling make for crisp or crunchy texture while liquid or melted - for softer. Hope this helps!
When making basic crunch I stand the syrup tin in hot water briefly to make it more viscous and manageable to gauge 3 tsp. My wife tells me this is wrong. My argument is that the syrup is immediately mixed with sugar and butter and melted. Any comments please?
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