The Startup Cook - Granny Boyd’s Biscuits

Nigella Lawson is perhaps the most charming and enigmatic home cooks on the food network. Of course that is a personal opinion and therefore could be counter argued, but having made quite a few of her recipes it is fair to say that she is exceptional. More than often her recipes are time saving and delicious both simultaneously.  She has cleverly constructed recipes in such a manner that certain elements of the process can be used for your own personal creations.

This particular biscuit recipe has been taken from her book ‘How To Be A Domestic Goddess’. Of course it was passed on to her by her editor, but that does not make it less Nigella-like. This biscuit is ideal with your evening cup of tea or as recommended by Nigella with a scoop vanilla ice cream. Simple and yum, she is the ultimate domestic goddess.

Ingredients

1 cup of (all purpose) flour
½ - 1/3 cup of sugar
9 tbs of butter
2 ½ tbs of cocoa powder

Directions

Pre heat the oven to 170 Celsius. Prepare a baking sheet and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar.

Sieve the flour and cocoa powder in to the butter mixture.

Using a hand mixer, whisk the ingredients for a few minutes.

Once the ingredients are incorporated, use your hands and work on the dough.

Roll the dough in to small balls and place them on the prepared tray.

Press them down with a back of a fork.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Then lower the temperature to 150 Celsius and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes.

Disasters, Warnings and Tips

This recipe will give you around 15 – 18 cookies.

I LOVE NIGELLA! Sorry I hadn’t mentioned it in a while.

Serve a few these with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. YUMMMMMM!

Read The Colour Purple (by Alice Walker) recently, it’s absolutely brilliant.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool immediately on a cooling rack. It cooks while it cools.

It’s important that you use super fine sugar for this recipe.

I added a tablespoon of homemade coffee liqueur to the mixture.

Try to get a good quality cocoa powder for this recipe.

By Shazzana Hamid