A small batch of biscuits – makes about 8.

90g all purpose flour / plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

60g butter

100g sugar

2oz fresh orange juice / zest

half an egg

Oven at 180°c – baking time 15 minutes (ish)

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Seperately cream the butter and sugar together, add the egg, orange zest and juice and mix until you have what looks like a horrible scrambled egg type mixture. Then add half the flour and mix through, then add the rest of the flour and mix well until you have a creamy looking dough and pop in the fridge for a bit.

I never usually let anything rest in between, but this time I did, having ruined the first batch with lemon a couple of weeks ago, and addressed an long standing issue I have with baking biscuits and them going wrong. Turns out impatience and ignorance were the culprit! No real surprise there for me. But I gave thought to what it is I get wrong, and there appeared to be a theme with these, they spread and don’t hold their shape. So, finally thought to ask the internet, and turns out it’s the butter being too warm obviously having been a room temp the whole time (or even melted first for choch chip cookies) and then being worked on and getting warmer. The trick is apparently to put in in the fridge or freezer for a time once you have made the dough, so it can solid up again. Makes sense know I now, and it worked, obviously. It’s my own fault as the video which I got this recipe from (linked at the bottom) clearly tells you to put it in the fridge, but you know how it is, sometimes we think we know best.

After creating small balls of dough, they are then rolled in icing sugar and placed on baking paper on a tray and into the oven. I’m going to see if tangerine’s work just as well for this later, and in ice-cream, so fingers crossed for more orangey snack and treats 🙂

(c) K Wicks

Here is the link to the YouTube vid where got the recipe and method, just swapped the lemon for orange.