A Digestive Biscuit. Very British!

My guest taster was given a very special bottle of wine:  an 80 year old bottle of Sercial Madeira.  We were told it would go best with cheese, nuts, and digestive biscuits.  I accepted the challenge and found a recipe for the biscuits, all the while wondering why they are called that.

A quick trip to Wikipedia answered my question.  Two Scottish doctors created the biscuit in 1839 with the idea it would help with digestion, because of the supposed antacid properties from the sodium bicarbonate in them.  (Click here for the article.)  It was also pointed out that,

[d]igestive biscuits are frequently eaten with tea or coffee.  Sometimes, the biscuit is dunked into the tea and eaten quickly due to the biscuit's tendency to disintegrate when wet.  Digestive biscuits are one of the top 10 biscuits in the United Kingdom for dunking in tea.  The digestive biscuit is also used as a cracker with cheeses, and is often included in "cracker selection" packets.

I found a recipe in The English Biscuit and Cookie Book by Sonia Allison.  Ms. Allison describes them as "Traditional midmorning and very British biscuits".

ISBN 0-312-25347-8

Digestive Biscuits (page 8)

3/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon oatmeal

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons brown sugar

3 to 4 tablespoons cold milk

Cold butter, cold whole wheat flour, cold milk

1.  Sift the flours and baking powder into a bowl.   Add the oatmeal.

2.  Rub in the butter.  Add the sugar.  Run the mixture through the fingers to mix well.

3.  Using a fork, stir in the milk to form a stiff paste.

4.  Turn onto a floured surface.  Knead lightly until smooth.  Roll out thinly.

5.  Cut into 12 rounds with a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, re-rolling and re-cutting trimmings to make the required number.

6.  Transfer to greased cookie sheets and prick all over with a fork. 

7.  Bake until pale gold, allowing 15 to 18 minutes in an oven preheated to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

8.  Cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight tin when cold.

My Notes

Start the oven preheating!

When I read over the recipe, it struck me that it is basically a pie crust made with whole- wheat flour and with sugar added.  So I treated it as such.

I measured out the butter first (4 tablespoons is 2 ounces) and put it in the freezer.  It wasn't frozen solid but it was very cold.  

My whole-wheat flour lives in the freezer, so it was used that cold. 

The flours and baking powder well mixed.  Oatmeal waiting for inclusion.

When it came time to rub in the butter, I first grated the butter and then mixed it with my fingers into the very cold flour.  

Grated very cold butter.

The same with the sugar -- I measured it into the flour and butter mixture, then mixed it with my fingers until it was well blended (it was still cold).  

The butter is mixed in.

The brown sugar has been added.

It took 5 tablespoons of milk to get the dough to come together like a pie crust.  Four tablespoons just wasn't damp enough.  

With four tablespoons of milk.

Then I put the dough into a covered bowl to rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes while I cleaned up and set up for rolling and cutting.

With 5 T of milk and some mixing with my hands.

The recipe says you will end up with 12 biscuits, but I got 20.  

Instead of pricking it all over with a fork, I used my Uzbekistan chekich, a bread stamp with a pretty design made from nails.  Actually, I used both of my chekich to see how the biscuits would turn out.  (My daughter brought them back from her trip to Uzbekistan several years ago.)

The first batch came out golden brown in 15 minutes.  The second batch overcooked a little in 14 minutes.  

Second bread stamp pattern

The Verdict

Crispy!  Slightly sweet, and then nutty from the whole wheat.  Overall sort of bland but not in a bad way.  

I can see them as a backdrop for butter or cheese and to go with tea (what I drink) or coffee (what my guest taster drinks).

We had them with the Madeira along with a white cheddar studded with cranberries and also some almonds.  Delightful!  Eighty year old Madeira is smooth, flavorful, and perfect with the suggested accompaniments.  

There is still some Madeira left so making a second batch of digestive biscuits is a high priority.  

Success!

Melt in Your Mouth Blueberry Cake

In 1999 I visited Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington.  It was a good year to go as it was the 200th anniversary of his death and the docents had set up special tours to commemorate President Washington's accomplishments.  There was also a "funeral" tour where we read passages of news articles and accounts of the nation's shock when his death was announced.  I felt like I was there in the moment, and was genuinely moved and saddened.  

While there I also purchased The Mount Vernon Cookbook, which is a collection of recipes from the members of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.  All the proceeds from the sale went to restoration and preservation of the estate and gardens.  Well worth it!

This is a ladies' group cookbook, and I love them because the women who contribute send over their best recipes.  There are reputations to maintain!  

I was perusing the book the other day and came across this recipe for a blueberry cake.  My notes said I had made it in July of 2001, and I had added, "This is incredible.  Wonderful.  Wow."  My thought was that it had been much too long since I had made it!  It needed to be documented in my blog.

It is in the dessert section, but to me, blueberry cake just shouts that it is a coffee cake and could be served as part of a brunch.  Don't tell my guest taster that I served cake for breakfast!  

Melt in Your Mouth Blueberry Cake

2 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup milk

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Sugar to sprinkle on batter

Beat egg whites until stiff, adding about 1/4 cup of the sugar called for in the receipt.  Set aside.  Cream margarine; add salt and vanilla.  Add remaining sugar gradually.  Add unbeaten egg yolks and beat until mixture is light and creamy.  Sift 1 1/4 cups of flour and baking powder together.  Add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk.  Fold in beaten egg whites.  Fold in fresh blueberries, which have been gently shaken in 1/4 cup flour so they won't settle.  Turn into greased 8-inch pan.  Sprinkle granulated sugar on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.

My Notes

Start preheating the oven.  Choose your pan -- I used a rectangular pan instead of an 8-inch round.  It was glass, so I lowered the temperature to 325 degrees.

This recipe used a lot of bowls!  At least the way I mixed it; I had to do some planning.  

Also, note that the sugar is divided into 1/4 cup and 3/4 cups, and the flour is divided into 1 1/4 cups and 1/4 cups.  

I chose to use butter instead of margarine.

My notes from 2001 suggested putting a "good layer" of sugar on top of the batter.  I had a vague recollection that it formed a crust that was tasty.

I used the mixer to beat the egg whites.  All the rest of the mixing I did by hand.  The pictures show the sequencing as I worked my way through the steps.  The captions help you see the connections.

Bowl #1:  Whipped egg whites with the sugar.

Bowl #2:  Creamed butter with salt and vanilla.

Creamed butter mixture with the yolks mixed in.  (Bowl #3 held the yolks)

Now the flour and milk have been added.  (Bowl #4 held the sifted flour and baking powder)

The whipped egg whites have been folded in.

Bowl #5:  I love how flour acts as little anchors on the blueberries!

Blueberries have been folded in.  I did not add the excess dusting flour.

Gently spread in the pan.

This looks like a good layer.

It went into the oven for 50 minutes.  I checked it at 40 minutes and it was browning but didn't look cooked enough.  At 50 minutes, it was golden brown and a pick inserted into the middle came out clean.  I let it cool about 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

The Verdict

Beautiful to put on the table for serving!

I called it "coffee cake" and served it with fried eggs, coffee, and juice.  

The blueberries were marvelous:  giant, flavorful, and juicy.  They cooked up beautifully.  They made each bite luscious.  

The cake itself was truly melt in your mouth:  delicate, moist, lightly sweet, with a soft vanilla scent.  It was strong enough to support the berries, and tender enough to be a joy to eat.  The sugar crust was good and added a bit of crunch to whole experience.

My guest taster declared that he was considering adding "gluttony" as a new hobby!  

Yes, it was that good.  We managed to restrain ourselves and not eat the whole thing.  We are looking forward to having it again for breakfast.  

I recommend it highly.  Try it!  Plan your bowls and decide if you want to use a mixer for the batter after using it for the whites.  

You can serve this as a dessert, too!  I think it would be a surprising flavor to give to guests.  Not everyone expects blueberry cake for dessert.

I also think it would be good with raspberries or blackberries or cherries.  If you try them, drop me a note!

Success, again!  Good to know it worked then and now, nearly 20 years later.

P.S.

I have written of two other recipes from this book:

Easy Spoon Bread

Sweet Potato-Apple Souffle

Cork Cake and another New Year

Greetings from Southern California!  

This is the beginning of a new year and it has my fervent hope that it is much, much better than last year.  Not in the cooking realm -- I had fun with the recipes I tried in 2020 -- but in terms of health, peace, compassion, hope, family, and friends.  

It is also the start of my tenth year of this blog.  I have 218 posts and over 93,000 page views from all over the world.  I have to say it is a worthwhile adventure!  Having the freedom to explore any culture and any time period, then choosing what I want to try is just, well, wonderful.

One of my online cooking friends, JH, found a digital copy of the oldest cookbook published in the United States by a black woman.  Mrs. Malinda Russell was a free black woman who was married and had a son.  Her husband died and her son was disabled, and so she found herself in need of making a living.  At times she ran a laundry, kept a boarding house, and then a pastry shop.  

I have made Cooking my employment for the last twenty years, for the first families of Tennessee, (my native place,) Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky.  I know my Receipts to be good, as they have always given satisfaction.  I have been advised to have my Receipts published, as they are valuable, and every family has use for them. ... I have put out this book with the intention of benefiting the public as well as myself.

Mrs. Russell published her book in 1866, in Paw Paw, Michigan.   The title is A Domestic Cook Book:  Containing A Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen.  Click here to find the document.

I enjoyed reading the entire book.  Mostly there are recipes for cakes, icings, pies, muffins, cookies, custards, trifles, biscuits, and puddings, which is not surprising from a woman who ran a pastry shop.  She also includes recipes for cordials, jellies, jams, pickles, some meat dishes, soups, medicinal treatments, and preserves.

There are several recipes I'd like to try.  What I chose for this post was a simple cake recipe, as I needed a dessert for a special dinner.  The challenge was that she gives the ingredients but no other instructions.  (Aha!  Another Great British Baking Show technical challenge!)

Cork Cake (page 7)

Ingredients

3 cups sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup sour cream

5 cups flour

5 eggs

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon cream tartar

flavor with lemon

My Redaction

I chose to flavor it with finely shredded peel from one small lemon.  It measured about 2 teaspoons.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F.  

First I creamed the softened butter and sugar.

Then I beat in the sour cream.

Next came the eggs and the lemon peel.

In a separate bowl, I mixed the flour, baking soda, and cream tartar. 

Then I added the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stirred it by hand until just blended. 

The batter was stiffer than I expected; I almost added another egg but decided to stick with Mrs. Russell's recipe.  Modern eggs are typically larger than the eggs she had available and I expected the batter to be very moist from five large eggs.  This is why I was surprised.

It took four 8-inch cake tins to use up all the batter.  I had to spread the batter all the way to the edges of each pan.  Two had a little more batter that the other two.  I tasted the batter and liked the fresh lemon flavor of it.

They all went into the oven at the same time.  I notice the batter spread a little more while it was baking.  The thinner layers came out at 20 minutes, the thicker at 25 minutes.  They were ready when the edges where lightly browned, the top center looked set, and a pick inserted into the middle came out clean or nearly so.

After they cooled completely, I took the two thinner layers and spread homemade lemon curd between them.  Then I mixed an icing of cream cheese, the juice from the lemon that donated its peel, and some powdered sugar.  I like to dissolve the sugar completely, so I mixed it into the juice and then lightly heated it in the microwave.  Then I put it into the cream cheese and mixed it until it was very soft and spreadable.  The flavor was lemon and creamy and only the tiniest bit sweet (just enough to take the bite off the juice). 

 I decided it needed a decoration on top, so a few dried cranberries and small sprig of mint did the job.

The Verdict

The cake was completed several hours before the meal, so I put it into the refrigerator due to the cream cheese and the lemon curd.  It came out of the fridge at the beginning of the meal, so the cake had not come to room temperature by the time we were ready to eat it.  

It was tasty -- lots of good lemon flavor in the cake, the curd, and the icing -- but I was disappointed because the cake seemed so firm and a bit dry.  My guest taster thought it was just fine.  I loved the curd and icing and the overall look.

But later (because leftovers!), I tried it again but this time I warmed it up in the microwave.  Just 15 seconds for one piece.  Boy, did that do the trick!

The cake was tender, soft, moist, tasty.  The lemon flavor really came through!  It was sweet but not too much so.  The icing was enticingly gooey and the curd just added a citrusy blast in every bite.

Now I know to warm it up before eating.  I never doubted Mrs. Russell, only my own skill in interpreting her receipt.  But I did a good job and I call it a success.

Forgotten Cookies -- One of My Most Favorite

I reserve the last post of the year for one of my favorite recipes.  This year I want to record a seasonal favorite:  Forgotten Cookies!

I say "seasonal" because I tend to make them at Christmastime, however they are good any time of the year.  I just know that if I make them, I will eat them, so keeping it to a season is best for my waistline.

Once these are made, they are hard to forget.  They are light, crisp, sweet, and flavorful.  At a time when sweet goodies are in abundance, they are a nice change from the heavier cookies, cakes, and pies.

So why are they Forgotten Cookies?  Because once you prepare their mixture, you put them in the oven and forget about them!  I typically choose to make them at night so they can sit in the oven while I sleep, but you can make them any time you know you won't need your oven for the day.

Please enjoy one of my favorite recipes:

Forgotten Cookies  (30 to 35 cookies)

My handwriting many years ago.

2 large egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

I used vanilla sugar instead of sugar and vanilla.  Works great either way!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Beat the egg whites to foamy.  Gradually add the sugar and vanilla, and beat until very stiff.  Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

Put aluminum foil on the cookie sheets then spoon-drop cookies onto the foil.   Never use a greased pan.

Turn off oven.  Put cookies in.  Forget about them until the next morning.  Don't open the oven until ready to take the cookies out.

My Notes

Sometimes I use vanilla sugar and sometimes I use sugar and vanilla, as directed in the recipe.  Either way is fine, especially if your vanilla sugar is highly flavored. If you don't know how to make vanilla sugar, look at this post:  Vanilla Sugar and Grace Firth.

By "foamy", I used to think "as soon as I see a lot of bubbles in the whites."  But putting in the sugar at this stage gives a wetter mixture, so I wait until the bubbles are small and the whites are changing from yellowish to creamy.

Too soon!

Getting closer

Now is a good time to add the sugar.

When I add the sugar and vanilla, I truly just toss in a little at a time while the mixer is beating the whites.  Let them mix in and then toss in some more.  Since your aim is to have the whites "very stiff," you can take your time with their addition.

See the peaks?

Sometimes I use foil and sometimes I use my ceramic-coated cookie pan or my silicone baking sheet.  It helps to have the cookies on a flexible sheet because they like to stick to the surface.  If you are very careful you can use a spatula to get them off a hard pan, but they are delicate and easily broken.  It is easier to just peel them off the foil or silicone sheet.

As for the chocolate chips and nuts additions, I vary it according to my needs and tastes at the time.  Just chocolate chips (as I did for this example) is fabulous.  There is something about the slow bake time that transforms the chips into slightly softer versions of themselves, which is appealing. I used 1 cup chocolate chips for this example and thought the amount was just right.

Sometimes I use just nuts, and sometimes I put in crushed peppermint candies.  The candies are small and intense in flavor, so using 1/2 to 3/4 cup seems about right.  It is also fine to put in both chocolate chips and peppermints!  Whatever your taste buds desire.

When you drop the mixture onto the cookie sheet, pay attention to how big the portions are.  Too big means the heat won't necessarily get through to the middle of the cookie, which leaves a danger of eating uncooked egg white.  They don't have to be huge to be appreciated.

The pictures I have of the cookies here show the cookies being too big.  Not greatly so but there were some that had sticky centers.

These cookies don't spread and only slightly puff, so you can put them very close together on the cookie sheet.

Here is a pan before baking:

Make them a little smaller than this.

And here it is after baking (turned 180 degrees):

They have a rounder, softer look after baking.

The Verdict

These are so good!  You can vary the sugar level to make them less sweet.  The combination of crispy egg white, sweet, vanilla, and creamy chocolate is irresistible.  And they are light, which makes it easy to enjoy them and not feel full.

If your oven is big enough, make several batches at a time.  I did a triple batch after having a lot of whites left over from another recipe.

I have heard that people have piped the cookies for a more uniform, decorative effect.  This is great as long as the additions can fit through the nozzle.

I also know that there is a way to bake them in a low temperature oven, to make them quickly instead of waiting overnight.  Either way, you end up with a scrumptious cookie.

Merry Christmas!

Boiled Water Soup

I can see my cookbook collection from where I sit at the dining table, so I often find myself looking over the titles and deciding if there is any one title that is "calling" to me.  This time it was Loaf, Crust, and Crumb by Silvija Davidson.

ISBN 0-7181-3825-2

She starts off her book with a discussion of breadmaking, the ingredients and the history of not only making bread but using bread in cookery.  Then she has this amazing directory of bread types; literally about 130 pages of breads and their descriptions all in alphabetical order.  

The descriptions list where the bread originated, main flavors, uses.  Many I have never heard of!  For example, bara brith is a fruit bread from Wales:

The finest bara brith I have tasted was made in a turn-of-the-century wood-fired brick bakehouse ...  It was richly fruited, dense and chewy, made with organic stoneground whole-wheat flour and imbued with the tang of woodsmoke...  (page 28).

The recipes follow this, but make no mistake:  these are not bread recipes.  They are recipes that use bread in a variety of ways.  There are things to do with breadcrumbs, along with recipes for sandwiches, soups, savory dishes, stuffings, sauces, and desserts.   

The recipe that caught my attention was named Aigo Boulido, which "is the Provencal dialect for eau bouillie - boiled water."  I thought it would be amusing to write a blog post on Boiled Water Soup.

Aigo Boulido  (page 224)

1 3/4 pints water

2 - 6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf and/or 4 sage leaves

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

1 egg yolk (optional)

4 thick chunks country bread, slightly stale

Put the water, garlic, herbs, oil, and a little salt in a large saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Beat the egg yolk in a large jug and gradually strain on the flavoured water (discarding the herbs), whisking all the time.  Adjust the seasoning, adding pepper if you wish.  The bread can either be grilled, placed in warm soup bowls and the soup ladled over, or torn into chunks and stirred into the thickened soup -- in which case you might whisk the soup into the egg in a warmed tureen, dispensing with the jug.

My Notes

I had some whole wheat bagels, which I cut in half and let sit on the counter for a few hours.  I turned them once to make sure both sides were drying out a little.

I used 5 cloves of garlic, which I crushed with the flat end of my big pestle.  I also chose to use just the bay leaf, and I put in 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Water, not yet boiled

While the broth was simmering, I noticed a funny popping noise, which I thought was the garlic.  

Once the broth was ready, I strained it into a quart measuring cup that had the beaten egg yolk in it.  I poured in a little broth, whisked, added more broth, whisked more, etc. until all the broth was mixed into the egg yolk.

Water, boiled

With egg yolk beaten in

When I tasted the broth to adjust the seasoning, I noticed it was lightly garlicky, subtly bay, and needed more salt (1/2 teaspoon did the trick) and some pepper (1/4 teaspoon).  That gave a nice balance to the delicate flavor of the broth.

The broth had a chance to infuse the pepper while the bagels were prepared.

Two bagel halves went under the broiler until they were golden brown.  I placed them each in a bowl and poured the broth over the top.  I put in enough broth to barely float the bread.

The Verdict

The bagels quickly soaked up the broth and became soft.  I used my knife and fork to cut them into bite-sized pieces, and then used my spoon to eat the soup-with-bread.

I had broth left over when I ate all the bread, so I broke up the other half of a bagel (that had been toasted) and ate the rest of the soup with that.  It was interesting to note that the toasted bagel didn't absorb the soup as quickly as the broiled bagel, and I liked the bit of crunch I got from that.

My guest taster and I both liked what we ate.  We agreed it wasn't hearty enough to be a main dish (although I did serve it that way, with some mashed sweet potatoes that had sauteed apples and onions mixed in), but we thought it would make a good first course soup.

The broth was delicately flavored and the bread gave it some body.  Broth + bread was a good combination!  The whole wheat made it more like a "peasant" soup and I liked that very much.  I was surprised at how much of the garlic and bay flavors came through from just 15 minutes of simmering and it was just right because it wasn't overwhelming.  

Success!  I would consider doing it again, but as a side dish or first course.  The vegetarians would like this, and they could skip the egg yolk.  The yolk made the broth yellow; without it, it would look more like boiled water.

I think I would like to spruce up the look of the served soup with some sort of garnish.  Perhaps a bit of chopped parsley or thinly sliced green onions would be nice on top.  

And there you have it:  boiled water soup!