'Emma' Biscuits

These are more traditionally know as Fork Biscuits in my family. My flatmates re-christened them 'Emma' Biscuits as apparently that is a more appropriate name as I make them (this could get confusing - Emma Cake, Emma Cheesecake...)

The other day I was having lunch with three friends, including my two flatmates. They decided to write a 'To do' list for me with all the baked goods they desire on a napkin. They're so cute.

There were two capitalised entries - Treacle Tart and these biscuits.

Several of the things on the list have already been made - see Chocolate Cheesecake, Cinnamon Rolls - but the others are all things you can expect to see fairly soon. Any other requests?



And so here they are - Emma Biscuits. I've tried to make them for this blog several times but never got the photographs right - and I usually only make one flavour. This time I went a bit mental and did all three variations I use. There's the dark brooding cocoa one, the mellow and unusual hot chocolate one, and then the plain - but still quite stunning in its simplicity - vanilla.

This is a family recipe, scribbled in my 7 yr old hand in the notes section of my mum's copy of Delia's Book of Cakes. It also has a big cat sticker stuck on the back, dating from the same period. They're definitely one of the things I clearly remember making throughout my childhood. I also remember eating the majority of a half-dough mix multiple times - it just tastes so good. Oops.

I've noticed that it bears a lot of resemblance to Nigella's recipe for Granny Boyd's Biscuits in Domestic Goddess. Perhaps Granny Boyd and my Granny got together to create them!

Fork 'Emma' Biscuits

250g butter
120g golden caster sugar
315g self raising flour
15g dark cocoa powder
15g hot chocolate powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170C. Cream the butter and sugar together. Split into three. Whizz one third with 100g of the flour and the dark cocoa until it comes together - it won't seem like it will, but don't worry. Form into small balls with your hands and place on a greased baking sheet with a bit of space. Use a fork to squish each ball. Put into the oven for about 10-15 minutes - the cocoa ones won't really change colour, but should be slightly firm to the touch. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the next third with the hot chocolate powder and another 100g of flour, then with the final third and the remaining flour and vanilla.

Makes about 50 or so.

{Edit} For the smaller version I usually make:

85g butter
40g caster sugar
and
115g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
or
100g plain flour
15g dark cocoa or hot chocolate powder

Treacle Tart

After the quite overwhelming response to my last post about my whisky and dark chocolate Beautiful and the Damned cake, I didn't know what to post about next. After a big project, what can follow?

In the end, I reached back to a classic. It's a classic English pudding, but also a classic to me, a childhood staple.

This is the Treacle Tart I mentioned in my post about Eccles Cakes. It's another treat from that special bakery, another childhood memory. It wasn't our house in Cornwall without at least one Treacle Tart sitting on the top of the counter.

As children the most exciting part of the day was pudding after lunch, when the tart(s) would be slipped in the Aga for a few minutes to warm and then served with big dollops of clotted cream.  Later on, as teenagers, we used to come home from beach parties and tipsily sneak slices of the tart before heading to bed.

Apart from the vast amounts of golden syrup, this is actually a very useful store cupboard-and-leftovers type of pudding. The bread in particular can be whatever you have lying around, as long as it's not too seeded or flavoured. I used some old bits of wholemeal, a chunk of white bloomer that had somehow ended up frozen and a white roll. 

It's also incredibly easy. All you have to do is make a pastry case and then a simple mix-and-pour filling. I added a bit of ground ginger and some double cream to loosen the set but other than that the recipe didn't need fiddling with. 

I couldn't possibly serve Treacle Tart without clotted cream. It would just be wrong. (Though I did allow certain people a small amount of vanilla ice cream...). They even have matching tops - look how similar the crust of the cream is to the top of the tart!

All in all, I was very pleased with this. It's not really the tart of my childhood, but I doubt I could ever replicate that. This version is yummy and so unbelievably addictive - we demolished the whole thing in one sitting.  

Do try it - I know the concept is a bit odd if you haven't heard of it before, but it's so good!

Edit: My new and improved treacle tart recipe is here.