Buckwheat and Almond Roll-out Biscuits

2017 Update: Due to a problem with Photobucket, see here, there will be a lot of recipes without photos. I will be slowly redoing the recipe pages, as best I can, but many other posts will be impossible to replace. I’m doing this in my own time, while continuing to update the blog with new recipes and posts. If you’d like to donate, any amount appreciated, you can do so here. The site will always be free, the recipes will never be locked behind a paywall, but this is a lot of additional work. I’m not demanding or begging, just putting it there so if you feel like repaying my hard work you have that option. I don’t make any money from the site, all that I do here is to help others, I couldn’t charge for that.

 

Oh, I am weary, but it was worthwhile.

Okay, firstly I should say I’m not a braggart, I might joke about it, I even have a sign in my kitchen that read: I don’t consider myself a God in the kitchen. God took Sundays off”, so know that any bravado is just me being facetious. Though I will admit I’m quite happy with this recipe, it turned out to be everything I wanted it to be. It’s probably nothing special, but  am pleased with the end result. This is an original Pep’s Free From Kitchen recipe, made from scratch. What I’ll try to do, as well as posting the recipe, is to share why I chose each ingredient and what they do, or at least as far as my own, admittedly limited, understanding will allow me to. I didn’t actually make this for myself, I wanted to craft a recipe for kids on diets like mine, something that would hold a shape (It did), that would be soft rather than dry (They were) and which could then be decorated by little hands (Mine are huge, I left off that stage). Consider it my little Christmas present for all the children who’s parents stumble across this blog.

Use a wooden spoon…I forget why, just do it! It stops the BP reacting, I think.

Buckwheat is naturally my flour of choice, it has great hold and I’ve waxed eloquent on it before, no need for a repeat performance. Almonds add a element of softness. Same with the Brown Sugar, which also imparts a nice flavour, nothing too over powering, mind. An Egg was used because I’d need two Flax Eggs and they may have made it too dense. May being the operative word, try it out if you’re egg-free. Butter, a lot of butter, I was scared it’d melt, was needed to give them a richness and help create pockets of air to help lighten the cookie, same with the baking powder. It looks so simple, but it was two weeks of tweaking and a lot of swearing around the roll out stage. I’ll get to that, but fear not, it’ll be okay.

Yes. three hours. I know! THREE HOURS! Patience, I know, virtue…bite me.

This is pretty much all the other recipes I’ve made and all my experience coming together, it was really difficult I have to admit. I have a profound respect for people who do this all the time. I’ll stick to tweaks for the most part. I hate waste so I don’t always want to take risks, it’s also just me eating this so I can always make a huge batch to test a recipe. My Mother loved these so she’ll eat a few, saving me from eating the rest. It ended up worthwhile thankfully.

The hardest part is rolling out the dough. You want the right thickness or they bake too crispy or too dense. They do deform when you pull up the shapes, but more talented hands, more patient too, will probably fare better. Even a circle comes out nice so don’t feel the need to be too fancy. Like I say separate the dough and really keep it cool. These held the shape really well. You can see it below.

Like I said they warped when pulled up, but here was no rolling or spreading when baking.

These could be tricky for kids to handle, but if an adult bakes them, they should have a world of fun icing and decorating them. They held the Gingerbread-man shape really well so I imagine any shape would work. Just remember if it’s too elaborate then it may warp when pulled up. Just flour like crazy and scoop it up using a spatula or something wide. Not a knife, yeah, I did that too. You get the best part of all my mistakes. As far as taste goes, these are admittedly lovely, a slight crunchy and a sweet light interior makes a wonderful biscuit. Have I called them cookies? Probably. Rollout whatevers. So consider his my contribution to the Christmas recipe swell, nothing much, but I’m happy. Until later, happy baking.

Ingredients

125g Buckwheat Flour
35g Ground Almonds
60g Butter, Soft
60g Light Muscovado Sugar
3/4 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Large Egg

Method

1. Beat, using an electric mixer, the Sugar and Butter until just combined. Then beat in the Egg and Vanilla Extract.

2. Add the Flour, Ground Almonds and Baking Powder to the Egg mixture and fold in using a wooden spoon until a sticky, but slightly firm dough has been formed. Work into a ball and wrap in cling-film. Rest in the fridge for three hours. Dough should be firmer when removed from the fridge.

3. Preheat the oven to 175c (Fan) and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

4. Dust a work surface and rolling pin with flour. Remove the dough and split into three parts, dust each part with flour and return two to the fridge. Roll out the dough, dusting and reworking as needed, to 1/4 Inch thickness and cut out. Dough will be slightly soft so carefully lift up the cut biscuits and transfer to the baking trays. Repeat for the other portions of dough.

5. Leave both trays of Biscuits in the fridge for 10 minutes. Bake a single tray at a time, in the centre of the oven for 8-10 minutes until the edges start to brown and the Biscuits are light golden brown. Rest on the tray for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire-rack.

Gingerbread: Replace Sugar with Dark Muscovado Sugar, add 2 Tsp Gingerbread Spice Mix alongside Flour. Everything else is the same.