One bonus for not having horse competitions every weekend during the winter means I can indulge in one of my other fave pastimes – baking! Since watching the Great British Bake Off I’ve been eager to start baking cakes again. Last weekend I made these really cute Vanilla Stars, using a really simple recipe from ‘Everyday Muffins and Bakes’.
Yummy star biscuits |
Ingredients:
- 225g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 150g butter, cut into small pieces
- 125g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
- 1tsp vanilla essence
Method:
- Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar and vanilla essence and mix together to form a firm dough.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to 2.5cm/1″. Stamp out 12 stars with a star shaped cutter. Arrange the stars on a lightly greased baking sheet.
- Bake in a preheated oven. 180°, for 15-20 minutes or until the stars are a light golden colour. Transfer the stars to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust them with a little caster sugar just before serving.
Simples! They went down very well with my folks and work mates.
For those of you who loved the Great British Bake Off, I totally recommend following the finalists blogs:
- Ed (overall winner) http://he-eats.com/
- Miranda (my personal fave – quintessentially English!)http://www.mirandagorebrowne.typepad.com/
- Ruth (I love the name of this blog) http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/