This past Sunday, I had booked us in for a family portrait session. Since James was born, we haven’t had a good picture of the three of us. I thought that this upcoming holiday season was a good reason to get some nice holiday photos. We planned this for months. Painstakingly figuring out outfits for all three of us. What color scheme to use and if it was possible to wear what we already owned. Roydon had a very nice green button up shirt and a silver tie. The rest of our outfits went off of that. I happened to already own a silver sparkly sweater that would match and look festive. The only thing we needed was an outfit for James.
I found the perfect little set. It was a green, plaid button up shirt with khakis and a gray bow tie. We switched out the khakis for jeans so we could all match. I was so excited to see my little man all dressed up. He looked so adorable. I couldn’t stop giggling and cooing over him. James seemed to like his ensemble as well. After getting ourselves ready we were on our way. We parked and started getting James out of the car seat when we realized that he had blown out of the diaper and up his back. What were we to do?! We did not have as spare change of clothes that would be appropriate for our pictures. We ended up changing his diaper and wiping down James and his nice clothes as best as we could. We then proceeded to take the pictures and hurried home to throw his clothes in the wash.
Besides that unfortunate incident, the photo session went incredible well. We have some very sweet pictures of James and of our little family. I’m so excited to get them in the mail. James is so darn photogenic.
It’s buttery, it’s crumbly. It almost dissolves in your mouth. Absolutely delicious” ~Paul Hollywood
I got to be honest, I almost forgot to do the challenge this week. Between James’ early morning jam sessions and attempting to keep up with my daily chores, I completely lost track of time. Before I knew it, it was already Thursday. Luckily, this recipe had very basic pantry items, so I was able to accomplish it in no time.
These beautifully attractive biscuit sandwiches were relatively easy to put together. A nice surprise to a very exhausting week. For the biscuits, all that was needed was butter, powdered sugar, flour and corn flour (or as we Americans use, corn starch). That hardest part came in piping the batter in pretty swirls. The batter was extremely thick, and it took all of my strength to get it out. I wouldn’t say they were a very pretty sight, but it’ll do. While they baked in the oven, I started on the filling.
L
The filling was also simple to put together. It was basically similar to an American buttercream; butter, powdered sugar and a small bit of vanilla extract. That was whipped up until it came together to a creamy consistency.
While I was laying out the cooled biscuits to begin assembling, I was joined by my little assistant. He recently discovered the kitchen and always makes his way in to join me. Can’t say I minded too much and he was so proud of himself.
I just want to note that while the recipe includes making your own raspberry jam, I did not. I have tried making jam before and I haven’t quite mastered it. The jam always ends up way too liquidly which wouldn’t work in this case. So instead of ruining the rest of the challenge, I opted for using some raspberry preserves that I had on hand.
I spread the raspberry preserves on one side of the biscuits and then piped the other biscuit with the icing filling. I then started to press the two sides together. On my first attempt, I cracked one of the biscuits. I didn’t realize they’d be so fragile. I was careful with the rest of them, but still managed to break on other one. They looked so amazing. I could not wait to try one.
OH. MY. GOODNESS. These were so mouthwateringly good! They simply melted in your mouth! The combination of fruit and icing was such a flavorful. I shouldn’t be surprised with how much they melted in your mouth considering they are basically nothing but butter. I will definitely be making these again. Though I better start doing some hand exercises.
Viennese Whirls
(pbs.org)
Ingredients:
For the jam
200g (7 oz) raspberries
250g (9 oz) jam sugar
For the biscuits
250g (9 oz) very soft unsalted butter
50g (1 ¾ oz) icing sugar
225g (8oz) plain flour
25g (1 oz) corn flour
For the filling
100g (3 ½ oz) unsalted butter, softened
200g (7 oz) icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
1. For the jam, put the raspberries in a small, deep-sided saucepan and crush them using a potato masher. Add the sugar and bring to a boil over a low heat. When the sugar is melted, increase the heat and boil further for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat ad carefully pour into a shallow container (pass it through a sieve if you’d rather not have seeds in your jam). Leave to cool and set.
2. For the biscuits, preheat the oven to 375° F. Line 3 baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment. Using a 2in round cutter as a guide, draw 8 circles on each sheet of paper, spaced well apart. Turn the paper over so the pencil marks are underneath.
3. Measure the butter and icing sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Sift in the flour and corn flour and beat well, until thoroughly mixed. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe 24 swirled rounds (not rosettes), inside the circles on the baking sheets.
4. Bake in the center of the oven for 12-15 minutes, until pale golden-brown. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and harden.
5. For the filling, measure the butter into a bowl and sift the icing sugar on top. Add the vanilla and beat with a wooden spoon or an electric whisk until very light and smooth. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
6. Spoon a little jam onto the flat side of 12 biscuits and place jam side up on the cooling rack. Pipe the butter cream over the jam and sandwich with the remaining biscuits. Dust with icing sugar to finish.
Piece of Cake 