Custard Creams & Strawberry Milkshake Creams

Although I try, as a rule I'm not one for aesthetic neatness and elegance when baking. Despite numerous attempts, my piping is never up to scratch and my cookies, though tasty, are always sloppy and uneven (in fact, this is the primary reason I have still not yet plucked up the courage to have a go at posh French macarons despite having bought a packet of ground almonds for this purpose over a month ago). But I impressed myself with these lovely little biscuits which were a bit of a labour of love. The secret of their prettiness is that the dough barely puffs up at all during baking which means the biscuits keep their beautiful even shape.

Although it took me a while to lovingly craft each button using a round scone cutter, a tiny espresso cup and a straw, these colourful treats certainly aren't complicated to make. And they were certainly worth the extra time as they received an abundance of compliments on both taste and appearance - in fact, Edd Kimber himself (whose recipe I used for the custard creams) saw them on Twitter and said they were fantastic! Praise indeed :)

The pink strawberry milkshake creams were an original invention of mine which I'm rather proud of though I say so myself - I simply followed the same recipe as I did for the custard creams but substituted the custard powder and vanilla extract for strawberry milkshake powder and strawberry extract respectively. The result was utterly delicious and I will definitely be making them again!

If you don't have the time or patience to make buttons, just use your favourite cookie cutters like I did for the mini stars and hearts below. To make a Bourbon cream-esque variation, you could substitute the custard/strawberry milkshake powder for chocolate milkshake powder or cocoa.

The yellow custard creams were made using Edd Kimber's fab recipe which can be found here - http://theboywhobakes.co.uk/2011/06/custard-creams/ - so I'm just going to post the recipe for my strawberry milkshake cream version.

Strawberry Milkshake Creams

INGREDIENTS - yield depends on the size and shape of cookie cutter used but the below quantities resulted in the number of pink biscuits seen in the photo above

For the biscuits:

• 230g plain flour
• 50g icing sugar
• 50g strawberry milkshake powder (I used Hello Kitty brand but any will do!)
• 180g margarine/butter
• 1 tsp strawberry extract
• Splash of red food colouring
  
  + cookies cutters of your choice or a round cutter, an espresso cup & a plastic straw if you want to make buttons like in the photo

For the filling:

• 100g icing sugar
• 25g butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1.5 tbsp strawberry milkshake powder
• Splash of milk
• 0.5 tsp strawberry extract
• Drop of red food colouring

METHOD

For the biscuits:

1. Line two large rectangular baking trays with parchment.
2. Place the flour, icing sugar and strawberry milkshake powder into a large mixing bowl then add the margarine/butter and strawberry extract.
3. Rub the fat into the dry ingredients so that crumbs form and then squish together into a large ball of dough. If it's too sticky, add a little more flour. If it's too dry and crumbly, add a little milk.
4. Add the red food colouring, a tiny splash at a time, and knead the dough in the bowl until it turns your desired shade of pink.
5. Take the dough out of the bowl, wrap tightly in clingfilm and leave in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes to half an hour.
6. Sprinkle flour over your work surface to prevent sticking then roll the pink dough out until it's roughly 1cm in thickness (remember you'll be sandwiching them together two at a time so you don't want them too thick or they won't be pleasant to eat unless you have an extremely massive gob!)
7. Cut out as many circles as possible using the round cookie cutter and stamp each circle with the espresso cup, firmly enough that it makes a definite indent but not so hard that it cuts through the dough. Then use the end of a plastic straw to stamp out four tiny circles in the middle of each biscuit to make a button, transferring each one onto the baking trays as you go.
8. Squish all the off-cuts together then re-roll the dough and repeat the process. If you're lazy like me, cut out other small simple shapes such as hearts or stars once you've made 20 buttons.
9. Pop in the oven and bake at about 180 degrees C for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms have started to colour very slightly at the edges then transfer onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

For the filling:

1. Place the butter and strawberry extract into a bowl then add the icing sugar and strawberry milkshake powder gradually while stirring/whisking. Add a splash of milk and continue to stir/whisk until a smooth, spreadable mixture has formed.
2. Add the red food colouring a tiny drop at a time and stir until the mixture turns your desired shade of pink (you'll only need a very tiny bit).
3. Spread a small blob of the icing onto the back of one of the pink biscuits using a palette knife then sandwich together with another biscuit of the same shape and repeat until they've all been paired up.

Edit: I also used Edd's custard cream recipe to make these cute jammy heart biscuits - just make imprints in the dough with your thumb then fill with raspberry or strawberry jam :)

Plimmsberry Cupcakes

I've been on a bit of a baking hiatus recently due to the horrendously sweltering weather and so I've been indulging my cravings for homemade goodies by whipping up simple no-cook rocky road and cheesecake, but I realised I forgot to post the recipe for these lovely summery and quintessentially British cupcakes I made back when Wimbledon fever was abound here in the UK and I could still switch on the oven without melting. 

The Pimms jam filling was an impulse invention of mine that turned out deliciously but I don't think I'll be trying meringue icing again a hurry. Although it was light and tasty and significantly lower in fat than standard buttercream frosting, it was a bit of a fiddly faff-fest to make, and after being piped onto the cakes it shrunk within a few hours. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you don't frost the cakes until just before you serve them! I also ended up with an obscene amount left over; the recipe I originally used said it was just enough for 12 cupcakes but I've reduced the quantities below to a (hopefully) a more accurate estimate, although obviously it depends how much of the icing you want to top each cake with.

I have to confess that the redcurrants out of the garden were far too sharp to be edible and were just for decorative purposes only but I thought they made a rather spiffy finishing touch skewered on the wee cocktail sticks. Cheers!

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 12 small cupcakes

For the cakes:

• 4 oz self-raising flour
• 4 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz margarine/butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

For the jammy 'Plimmsberry' filling:

• 6 tsp (approx.) strawberry jam
• 6 tsp (approx.) plum jam
• 20 ml (approx.) Pimms

For the icing:

• 1 or 2 egg whites (depending on how much icing you want to cover the cakes in)
• 2 or 4 oz caster sugar
• 1/2 or 1 tsp vanilla extract

+ 12 cocktail sticks + 24 redcurrants (optional)

METHOD

For the cakes:

1. Line a baking tray with 12 paper cases.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract until a batter of a soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Drop the mixture into the cake cases using a teaspoon until they're each about two thirds full.
5. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
6. When baked, place on a wire rack and leave to cool. At this stage the cakes can be frozen for decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the filling/icing:

1. Roughly mix the two types of jam and the Pimms together in a small bowl.
2. Using a teaspoon or small sharp knife, carefully cut a small hole (about 2cm deep by 2cm wide) in the top of each cupcake. Don't discard the bits you've cut out!
3. Drop about a teaspoon of the 'Plimmsberry' jam into each hole and then gently push the sponge part that was cut out back into each one.
4. To create the meringue icing just before serving, separate the whites of 1 or 2 eggs into a heatproof bowl which can sit over the top of a saucepan of hot water without touching the water, and put the yolks to one side (these can be used to make choc mousse or eggy bread or something later!)
5. Boil the kettle and fill the saucepan with a small volume of water and leave to cool slightly on the hob (don't turn it on yet!) while beginning to whisk the egg whites on a high speed until they begin to stiffen and form peaks - this should be done for a minimum of 3 minutes.
6. Switch the hob onto a LOW heat and place the bowl of egg whites onto the saucepan, ensuring that the hot water does not touch the bottom and that the water does not boil, then begin whisking on high speed again while gradually adding the sugar and vanilla extract.
7. Continue to whisk thoroughly until all the sugar has dissolved - this will take at least 5 minutes or so. If, like me, you don't own a fancy sugar thermometer, you can test to see if the sugar's dissolved by pinching a small amount of the mixture between your fingers - if it feels gritty it needs further whisking. At this point the mixture may turn flat and runny but don't panic, just keep on whisking and it will thicken again.
8. Once all the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites have formed stiff, glossy peaks, switch the hob off and transfer the meringue into a piping bag with the nozzle of your choice (I used a star attachment) then pipe swirls onto each cake.
9. Spear two of the redcurrants onto each cocktail stick then insert into the cakes if you wish.

Remember, the icing doesn't keep well so make sure you scoff right away :)