A few months back when I was baking chocolate chip muffins, I must've dropped a/a few chocolate chips on the floor by mistake, and dint realize it till I saw Ariana's brown teeth and an extremely happy mood.
That was all that was needed to ignite her love for chocolates already! It amazes me that she prefers the bitter taste to the eye-twitching over sweet ones.
It takes quite a bit of juggling to keep a kids diet, including snacks, healthy.
I found this recipe on allrecipes, and the reviews and feedback it had were great, so as soon as I dropped off Ariana at her nursery, I got home and whipped a batch.
I always try my best to not let her eat refined flour, that's why tried this recipe with wheat flour and it turned out just perfect!
As soon as she got home to the lovely smelling biscuits, she ran straight for them and had a feast! Not all by herself though, but shared her biscuits with her cats (stuffed toys by the way) :)
The last time I had baked biscuits was, I guess, almost 13 - 14 years back, in college during our bakery class. And I still remember being starry eyed with that lovely fragrance! And whats hilarious, she had the same look in her eyes when she got back to a delicious smelling home :)
I had to try making them for Ariana, as we are pretty much running out of different home made snacks.
If you are being a bit health conscious and still trying to indulge in some delicious soul food, this recipe is just perfect for that craving, BUT just once a while :)
That was all that was needed to ignite her love for chocolates already! It amazes me that she prefers the bitter taste to the eye-twitching over sweet ones.
It takes quite a bit of juggling to keep a kids diet, including snacks, healthy.
I found this recipe on allrecipes, and the reviews and feedback it had were great, so as soon as I dropped off Ariana at her nursery, I got home and whipped a batch.
I always try my best to not let her eat refined flour, that's why tried this recipe with wheat flour and it turned out just perfect!
As soon as she got home to the lovely smelling biscuits, she ran straight for them and had a feast! Not all by herself though, but shared her biscuits with her cats (stuffed toys by the way) :)
The last time I had baked biscuits was, I guess, almost 13 - 14 years back, in college during our bakery class. And I still remember being starry eyed with that lovely fragrance! And whats hilarious, she had the same look in her eyes when she got back to a delicious smelling home :)
I had to try making them for Ariana, as we are pretty much running out of different home made snacks.
If you are being a bit health conscious and still trying to indulge in some delicious soul food, this recipe is just perfect for that craving, BUT just once a while :)
PREP TIME REFRIGERATION TOTAL TIME MAKES OVEN TEMPERATURE BAKING TIME INGREDIENTS Whole Wheat Flour Coco Powder Baking Powder Salt Butter Caster Sugar Egg Butter Paper Biscuit Cutters Whisk | 10 Minutes about 2 hours 2.30 hours 20 biscuits (medium cutter) 180 deg Centigrade 10 minutes QUANTITY 90 gms 45 gms 1/2 + 1/8 tsp Pinch 90 gms (non salted) 125 gms 1 large (room temperature) |
Keep all the dry ingredients weighed and ready.
All the refrigerated ones, like the eggs and butter, need to be brought down to room temperature for easy handling.
Its much easier if you have kept the butter paper cut according to your oven rack size, instead of wasting time at it once the biscuits are about to go in the oven. With the amount of butter that does in this recipe, the dough doesn't take time to become soft and difficult to manage.
Ensure all the rest of the things you would need, like strainer, whisks, a hand mixer, bowls and spatulas are clean and dry.
All the refrigerated ones, like the eggs and butter, need to be brought down to room temperature for easy handling.
Its much easier if you have kept the butter paper cut according to your oven rack size, instead of wasting time at it once the biscuits are about to go in the oven. With the amount of butter that does in this recipe, the dough doesn't take time to become soft and difficult to manage.
Ensure all the rest of the things you would need, like strainer, whisks, a hand mixer, bowls and spatulas are clean and dry.
To start with, add the flour, coco powder, baking soda and salt to the strainer. With a spoon start stirring them, this would ensure that no lumps are left in the coco powder or the flour, and it aerates the dry ingredients well.
After the dry ingredients are all strained through, mix them well in the bowl again. This process makes it much easier to mix all the dry ingredients together this way.
After the dry ingredients are all strained through, mix them well in the bowl again. This process makes it much easier to mix all the dry ingredients together this way.
In a different bowl, add the butter that has been brought down to room temperature.
It is important to let the butter come down to the normal temperature as it is much easier to blend with the other wet ingredients. If you try to mix cold/ frozen / hard butter with the rest of the ingredients, you might end up over mixing it to blend it, and that could make the butter curdle.
Add the caster sugar to the butter and with a whisk first, mix them together. This would make the butter and sugar form a crumbly mixture. So for the next step when you blend it with a hand mixer, the sugar won't go flying around the whole table.
It is important to let the butter come down to the normal temperature as it is much easier to blend with the other wet ingredients. If you try to mix cold/ frozen / hard butter with the rest of the ingredients, you might end up over mixing it to blend it, and that could make the butter curdle.
Add the caster sugar to the butter and with a whisk first, mix them together. This would make the butter and sugar form a crumbly mixture. So for the next step when you blend it with a hand mixer, the sugar won't go flying around the whole table.
Since I used just half the quantity of the recipe, I used a hand mixer to blend the wet ingredients. Or else, the whisk attachment on the mixer would have ended up whirring in the air, instead of finding and blending the wet ingredients.
Use a hand mixer to blend the sugar and butter into a stiff mixture. Because this mixture is so high in fat content, it is going to end up sticking to the sides of the bowl than free flowing.
Add a whole egg, that has been brought down to room temperature, to the butter and sugar mixture and blend again for a minute or two till it becomes a nice smooth, fluffy mixture.
Use a hand mixer to blend the sugar and butter into a stiff mixture. Because this mixture is so high in fat content, it is going to end up sticking to the sides of the bowl than free flowing.
Add a whole egg, that has been brought down to room temperature, to the butter and sugar mixture and blend again for a minute or two till it becomes a nice smooth, fluffy mixture.
Make a well in the dry ingredients.
Add ONLY HALF of the wet ingredients to the bowl at first.
As the reviews on this recipe said that the wet ingredients are much more in quantity than what is required, so start off with adding half the amount first and then gradually add more if needed. It is better and easier to adjust a slightly dry dough than handle an over greasy dough.
THE OTHER IMPORTANT POINT is, for biscuits dough, you have TO ADD the WET INGREDIENTS to THE DRY INGREDIENTS.
Do not confuse it with a cake batter process where it's the other way around - adding the dry ingredients to the wet.
With a spatula, start mixing the ingredients together gently. DO NOT over mix the dough as that would make the biscuits tough (because of gluten formation). If the dough seems a bit too stiff, or dry, add a little more of the wet ingredients at a time till it reaches the right consistency.
If I try to describe the dough consistency, it has to be much thicker than a muffin batter, but not as thick as brownie dough.
If for any reasons, you feel the dough has become a bit too runny, then do add a tablespoon of flour at a time to adjust the consistency.
The problem with the batter being too runny and you still using it, while baking, the biscuits would literally melt into each other a become one big brick of a biscuit.
Add ONLY HALF of the wet ingredients to the bowl at first.
As the reviews on this recipe said that the wet ingredients are much more in quantity than what is required, so start off with adding half the amount first and then gradually add more if needed. It is better and easier to adjust a slightly dry dough than handle an over greasy dough.
THE OTHER IMPORTANT POINT is, for biscuits dough, you have TO ADD the WET INGREDIENTS to THE DRY INGREDIENTS.
Do not confuse it with a cake batter process where it's the other way around - adding the dry ingredients to the wet.
With a spatula, start mixing the ingredients together gently. DO NOT over mix the dough as that would make the biscuits tough (because of gluten formation). If the dough seems a bit too stiff, or dry, add a little more of the wet ingredients at a time till it reaches the right consistency.
If I try to describe the dough consistency, it has to be much thicker than a muffin batter, but not as thick as brownie dough.
If for any reasons, you feel the dough has become a bit too runny, then do add a tablespoon of flour at a time to adjust the consistency.
The problem with the batter being too runny and you still using it, while baking, the biscuits would literally melt into each other a become one big brick of a biscuit.
Roll out a large film of cling foil.
Scoop out the dough in the center of the foil and envelope it with the foil.
Press down on it to make a disk and refrigerate for 2 hours.
As I was running out of time, I deep froze it for about 45 minutes and that worked just fine too.
Scoop out the dough in the center of the foil and envelope it with the foil.
Press down on it to make a disk and refrigerate for 2 hours.
As I was running out of time, I deep froze it for about 45 minutes and that worked just fine too.
I tried rolling out the dough in two ways, and this was the first as I sincerely tried to stick to the recipe.
Sprinkle some flour on either your working station or butter paper, bring out the dough from the refrigerator, remove it from the foil and start rolling it out.
The trouble i encountered here was that, because I chose the short cut and froze the dough, it was a bit too hard to roll out. So i had to place another butter paper on it and pat it out with my hand first to bring it down to a manageable temperature.
But if you follow the recipe and refrigerate it for 2 hours, it should be perfectly easy to roll it out according to the recipe.
Sprinkle some flour on either your working station or butter paper, bring out the dough from the refrigerator, remove it from the foil and start rolling it out.
The trouble i encountered here was that, because I chose the short cut and froze the dough, it was a bit too hard to roll out. So i had to place another butter paper on it and pat it out with my hand first to bring it down to a manageable temperature.
But if you follow the recipe and refrigerate it for 2 hours, it should be perfectly easy to roll it out according to the recipe.
So, finally, rolled out the dough between two butter papers to a 1/4'' thickness.
Take the cutters and press down in the dough. As long as the dough is at a cold temperature, it will be easy to get the shapes off the butter paper and the cutters.
The other trick to get the biscuits off the cutters is to dip the cutters in a bit of flour and then use them to cut the dough. This should make the biscuits slide out of the cutter.
But only as long as the dough is still chilled.
Take the cutters and press down in the dough. As long as the dough is at a cold temperature, it will be easy to get the shapes off the butter paper and the cutters.
The other trick to get the biscuits off the cutters is to dip the cutters in a bit of flour and then use them to cut the dough. This should make the biscuits slide out of the cutter.
But only as long as the dough is still chilled.
Since I was using the medium cutters, I had to bake these in three batches.
By the time I was done with cutting out one batch, the dough was back at room temperature and pretty difficult and messy to handle.
So, I rolled it out again to 1/4'' thickness between a butter paper and placed it in the freezer for two minutes. This wonderfully did the trick and made the dough nice and hard to quickly cut out and put the second batch in.
Or the other way that this could be done more easily is, dividing the batter into 2 - 3 portions, rolling them out and refrigerating them for a much lesser time, till the dough becomes hard. Then getting one batch out at a time and cutting and baking them.
By the time I was done with cutting out one batch, the dough was back at room temperature and pretty difficult and messy to handle.
So, I rolled it out again to 1/4'' thickness between a butter paper and placed it in the freezer for two minutes. This wonderfully did the trick and made the dough nice and hard to quickly cut out and put the second batch in.
Or the other way that this could be done more easily is, dividing the batter into 2 - 3 portions, rolling them out and refrigerating them for a much lesser time, till the dough becomes hard. Then getting one batch out at a time and cutting and baking them.
When the dough is at the right temperature it is so much easier to pull out the cut biscuits.
I preferred rolling them on a butter paper, than a counter, as it is much easier to push them out of the butter paper and the cut out shape.
Once the dough is cut to whatever shape, lift the butter paper and slightly push it out by putting pressure on the paper under the cut shape from one edge to the other.
And there’s a perfectly cut, non-messy biscuit sitting on the oven tray to be baked.
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, don't forget to check on them by the time they are 7-8 minutes in the oven.
Once they are baked and if they are still in the oven, they start to burn / blacken in the blink of an eye.
After they are baked, take them off the oven rack and place on a wired rack to allow them to cool.
They can be stored for about 2 weeks max.
I preferred rolling them on a butter paper, than a counter, as it is much easier to push them out of the butter paper and the cut out shape.
Once the dough is cut to whatever shape, lift the butter paper and slightly push it out by putting pressure on the paper under the cut shape from one edge to the other.
And there’s a perfectly cut, non-messy biscuit sitting on the oven tray to be baked.
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, don't forget to check on them by the time they are 7-8 minutes in the oven.
Once they are baked and if they are still in the oven, they start to burn / blacken in the blink of an eye.
After they are baked, take them off the oven rack and place on a wired rack to allow them to cool.
They can be stored for about 2 weeks max.