SWEET PASTRY DESSERT BISCUITS: easy special occasion indulgence

Delicate, thin and crispy - pretty little biscuits to accompany creamy desserts & fruit salads...

Sweet Pastry Cookies:
 'gorgeous little things but dangerous; one is never going to be enough!' 

These delightful crispy dessert cookies are the best accompaniment ever for mousses, ice cream and fruit salad.

They are actually made of sweet pastry from one of the best pastry recipes 67 has ever made -- or ever eaten - Candace Brown's Special Occasion Sweet Pastry from Great British Bake Off.  

Candice Brown (now running a country pub) made pie crust a a doddle for anyone frightened of pastry.  The pastry is made like cake: butter and sugar are creamed, eggs are added and then flour. 

The result?  Melt-in-the mouth pastry/biscuits not unlike the delicate sandy French sable.   

This recipe is saved for special occasions -- it's very rich with four egg yolks.  (Freeze the egg whites for meringues or make Grandad's Healthy Chocolate Raspberry Brandy Mousse).  67 made it slightly less unhealthy, replacing some white sugar with brown and some white flour with wholemeal - neither of which affected the delightful texture.

 

 

Sweet Pastry Biscuits

Cost: £1.75
Makes: 35'ish biscuits

Ingred:
   100gm/3 1/2oz unsalted soft butter
     75gm/2 1/2oz white sugar
     25gm/scant 1oz soft brown sugar

  4 egg yolks

  125gm/4 1/2 oz white flour
    59gm/1 3/4oz wholemeal flour
    25gm/scant 1oz ground almonds
    zest 1 lemon

Equipment: 2 baking sheets lined with silicone mats or greaseproof paper stuck down at the corners with some of the dough 

Method:

1. Beat butter & sugar till pale, fluffy & almost white (it will take a few mins)
2. Add egg yolks; beat
3. Beat in dry ingred + lemon zest, one third at a time
4. Dump onto cling film, form a ball & flatten slightly, refrigerate min 30 mins.  Allow to come to room temperature.
5. Pre-heat oven to 350f/180c/160fan
6. Roll out pastry between two pieces of lightly floured greaseproof paper to a generous 1/8 inch thick; cut into rectangles or, using a scone cutter, circles  
7. Use a thin fish slice to carefully transfer the cookies to the baking tray; if you like, lightly dust some or all the biscuits with cinnamon sugar 
8. Bake 8 or so mins or until golden, turning the tray from back to front halfway 
9. Cool on tray 5 mins; transfer to wire rack
10. Serve with ice cream, mousse or fruit salad

Comments:

'...gorgeous little things but dangerous; I had a few for tea and before I knew it, they'd all disappeared!' Retired writer

Candice Brown appears regularly  in the Sunday Times magazine

This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.