A Baking Week

I've just had a week at home (some annual leave to use up, and my available funds committed to a trip home to EnZed in April), so I have spent it getting the allotment ready for Spring, cleaning up a topper dinghy and our old escort van which are both for sale, digging up my front lawn which was pure moss and not a great enhancement to the house, and BAKING.

The allotment hasn't needed any digging, the layer of seaweed suppressed the weeds, and a thick mulch on top of some two year composted stable waste has it looking very loved.  This year's potato bed is deep under straw and the seed spuds are chitting on the kitchen windowsill, where I have been able to watch over them while doing my daily baking.  I dug 7 biscuit recipes off the BBC Good Food website and resolved to make one batch a day.

So here they all are (clockwise from bottom centre)

Custard and White Chocolate Biscuits http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2198644/custard-and-white-chocolate-biscuits
A great tasting crisp biscuit, easy to make

Cherry Shortbread Hearts
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1104645/cherry-shortbread-hearts These are a bit of a challenge to make - you need to have a  lot of time to rub butter into flour.  I cheated and cut it in using the food processor.  It was virtually impossible therefore to bring the dough together without some extra wet ingredient (that isn't mentioned in the list of ingredients).  I used a few tablespoons of water.




Almond & Lemon Curd Biscuits
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9839/almond-and-lemon-curd-buttons
A bit of work but well worth it; fabulous biscuits.



Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5720/chocolate-chunk-pecan-cookies
I accidentally cut a few corners on the assembly method for this recipe and it turned out to be the easiest (and possibly most luxurious) of this week's biscuits.  Crisp but with a bit of a tendency to crumble (and can be eaten straight from the freezer as my other half will attest).


Pistachio & Cranberry Cookies
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1759655/pistachio-and-cranberry-cookies
Despite the name, this is 'shortbread'.  It is a good shortbread too.  Leave it in the fridge for longer than suggested in the recipe and use a well sharp knife to cut the log.


Gooey Chocolate Cherry Cookies
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9837/gooey-chocolate-cherry-cookies
The name says it all.  This one was voted favorite by a group of the other half's work associates.



Star Anise Biscuits
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10212/star-anise-biscuits
They smell heavenly, - and have delicate flavour.  I made these ones small to have beside that special coffee.