Friday 17 April 2009

A new baking toy...


As you can see in the above picture I have invested in a piping bag (and nozzle!).  I am feeling the need to be a little more creative and experimental with my baking so thought this would be a good start.  

I began my foray into the piping bag world by making Viennese Biscuits from Rachel Allen's Bake.  I was a bit worried that the dough would be too thick to pipe out but it was fine and I think they turned out pretty well.


I decided to sandwich them together with butter icing, flavoured with cocoa powder, and while they looked very pretty I thought the end result was a bit too sweet, even for me.  Next time I think I'll use jam instead, or maybe try dipping them in melted chocolate.


Viennese Biscuits
(adapted from Bake by Rachel Allen)

110g (4oz) butter, softened
50g (2oz) icing sugar, sifted
1 egg yolk
1/2- 1 tsp vanilla extract
150g (5oz) plain flour
25g (1oz) cornflour
Pinch of salt

Piping bag & 1-1.5cm star nozzle

1) Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

2) Cream the butter until soft and then beat in the icing sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla extract until combined.

3) Sift in the flours and salt and mix well to form a dough.

4)  Spoon the dough into the piping bag and pipe out 5cm 'S' shapes, circles or rosettes, spaced 5cm apart to allow them to spread.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until pale golden brown.

5) Leave on the baking tray for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Makes about 15 biscuits or 30-35 mini bite-sized ones.

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