14. English Muffins

I'd been wondering when to bake these muffins for weeks; they're not really the sort of thing you take into work to share around and the idea of Joe and I wading through a mountain of muffins didn't appeal. Then I remembered the wonderful invention which is the freezer, and thought that it couldn't hurt to deposit half of them therein.

In true baker fashion, I got up early on a Saturday to make these. There I was, bustling about the kitchen in my jim-jams, preparing our daily bread. Grandad would be proud, but would note my poor time-management. As if they would ever be ready for eating at a civilised hour for breakfast!

They were very easy to make - I didn't even break a sweat about the 'tepid' milk, just put the jug in the microwave for 30 seconds and decided that would do. Maybe I was wrong, and bad things happened to the dough as a result, but it didn't cause me any anxiety. What did, was the temperature of my 'warm place' for the proving. I'd heated the oven a bit, then switched it off, but worried about the clingfilm melting into the muffins. It didn't.

After an hour, they'd puffed up nicely. First hurdle over. The next process was more worrying: cooking them on a griddle rather than in the oven. Here, I have to have a grumble about the Baking Bible. It doesn't decree with enough precision. 'Heating' the oil and then 'turning down the heat' are not helpful suggestions for the beginner baker. Thus, I found myself in trial and error territory, which isn't a bad thing, but without reassuring 'don't worry if it's a bit doughy' or pictures, I don't really know whether I've done something wrong or that's how it's supposed to be. One thing I will say is that they looked bloody good. They puffed up even more, and I liked the griddle effect. The big worry was the doughy middles. Were they cooked enough?

We experimented a bit and put some in the toaster, to try and crisp up the soggy middle: still decidedly doughy. The only point of comparison either of us had were the Big M muffins, which we know as quite light and fluffy (but maybe that's what chemicals do to your muffins). They were certainly less stodgy when they'd cooled a bit; actually I quite liked them this way. I like a bit of chew to my bread. They were quite bland tasting, but satisfying when smothered in butter.
After having one with a fried egg in for breakfast, we saved a few for eating with soup for lunch. It was very satisfying to have homemade soup and bread and they really came into their own when dunked into a bowl of hot soup.
I had one for breakfast the following day, with apricot jam on, and as a sort of scone with cheese later: both yummy. The remaining six have been frozen, ready for breakfast next weekend. We'll see how well they cope with this.
Baker's verdict: fun to make; doughy inside and not sure if they were meant to be. What did I do wrong?
Husband rating: 4.5 - didn't really like them. Too doughy and lacking in seasoning.

13. Very Best Shortbread

This is the last batch of biscuits I intend to bake for a while; at least until I reach the end of my first 'section'. I now have a few more cakes, some pies and bread, meringues and a cheesecake to go. I think I could quite happily stick to biscuits, which have seemed the most practical bake so far, being good for storing and sharing. Anyway, shortbread is always a winner, so I was looking forward to having a go at this. I've made it before, but only to form the base of Millionaire's Shortbread, so this would test my mettle in the good quality biscuit arena.

My first challenge was locating the semolina in the supermarket. What a mission! I was eventually led to the packet desserts aisle - does anybody have semolina as a dessert anymore? I suppose they must do, for there it was. I was almost tempted to stock up in case it goes out of fashion forever.

Making the shortbread was a bit fiddly, and the dough took a fair bit of manipulating to get it to hold together without cracking. I wasn't very happy with how it went into the tin; it didn't have a lot of 'give' and was hard to work with.
I hoped the rough and ready appearance would diminish upon baking and cutting into fingers, and it did. After chilling, the almonds and sugar were scattered over it, and it was baked for about 35 minutes. It came out quite soft - perhaps it needed a bit longer, but I didn't want to brown it. I was a bit disappointed by the amount of almonds that fell off when I cut it; I'd expected the sugar to sort of glue them in place. Next time, I'd miss both ingredients out. The sugar made it too sweet, and I didn't really like the texture of the crystals against the soft, buttery biscuit. The almonds added another flavour, but actually I quite like shortbread just as it is.
Baker's verdict: pretty easy to make and very tasty. No need for the stuff on top.
Husband rating: 7.5. Tasty, but didn't need the sugar on top.

12. Chocolate Fork Biscuits

Not much to say about these biscuits really. They're not actually on my list because they're just a variation on the ones I've already made. They were made spontaneously; I decided at the last minute that it would be nice to take some biscuits to a family get together to tide us over before going out for a meal. I had the ingredients to make these and knew they were really easy as well. It's really satisfying being able to knock something out quickly, and even more satisfying baking something which makes the kitchen smell delightfully chocolatey when the husband didn't even realise I was planning to bake! It wasn't easy to tell when they were done, because 'browning' isn't really visible when cocoa's involved, but they came out a lovely crumbly texture, so I think I got it right. An in-between 18 minutes sufficed.

Baker's verdict: nice to feel I've mastered something - I'll soon be making these little beauties blindfolded!

Husband rating: 8.25 - nice and chocolately, melt-in-the-mouth and moreish.