After a Lifetime of Failed Biscuits

and not making them for at least 10 years I had another attempt yesterday which failed yet again. I made the vanilla biscuits and hokey pokey biscuits from the Edmonds book and plain biscuits from an Alison Holst book. What could I be doing wrong after trying all the obvious solutions?

I've had 5 different ovens over the years and besides I can make very good cakes, so it's not the oven. Ialways weigh and measure ingredients, loosen the flour before measuring and sift the dry ingredients. Sometimes my biscuits spread over the tray, other times they stay knobbly and end up soft and dry. Yesterday my hokey pokey biscuits stayed like little knobbles on the tray and are thick and floury, horrible to eat but with a nice flavour. My vanilla biscuits are better, but stayed thick and are soft in the middle. The plain bicuits were rolled and sliced thinly, but once again are soft and dry rather than light and crisp.

A bag of farmbake bikkies sounds like a good solution for the future.

There is very little I make out of the Edmonds book. If you are measuring your ingredients, there is not really alot that can go wrong. It could be your oven, but if you would like to try the crisp coconut biscuits recipe which makes 40, then that is always an easy one to start with.

It sounds like you need someone to show you a correct mixture consistency. Eg how soft the mixture should be. Spreading out can indicate not enough flour, and not spreading could be because your mixture was too dry and you had to over mould the biscuits. I alwaysmix my biscuits with a little less flour than indicated and then top up if needed. Good luck, just keep experimenting

donnabeth, please try the following recipe, always comes out great and a true favourite... then other recipes could become easier.

Afghans.

150 grams unsalted or normal butter softened,
1/3(one third) cup lightly packed soft brown sugar,
1 egg lightly beaten,
1 teaspoon vanilla essence,
1 cup plain flour,
2 tablespoons cocoa powder,
1 / 3 ( one third ) cup dessicated cocnut,
1 1/2 ( one and a half ) cups lightly crushed cornflakes and
1 / 2( one half )cup dark chocolate bits for the topping.

Now have all the above ready to start baking and then do the following.

Just soften the butter, do not melt butter, very important.

Preheat oven 180c, using electric beaters, cream butter & sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
Add the beaten egg & vanilla essence & beat well.
Sift flour and cocoa together and add to the mixture plus coconut & cornflakes.
Stir with a metal spoon until all the ingredients are just combined.
Put level tablespoons of mixture on baking trays allowing room for spreading.
Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned, remove from oven but leave on tray to cool completely.

Topping;

Place the choc bits in a small heatproof bowl.
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, then remove the saucepan from the heat.
Sit the bowl of choc bits over the saucepan, making sure the base of the bowl does not sit in the water.
Stir until the choc has melted and is smooth then spread over the top of each biscuit thickly and allow to set.
One can if they wish to add a nut in the middle of choc, this is optional.

OR, use a nice Choc icing with a dob of softened butter in the icing, similar to a cake icing if one is accomplish in doing this instead of using choc chips melted method.

Cheers.

dont give up donnabeth- even the best bakers have problems with some recipes.

Crisp Coconut Biscuits 125g butter;1 cup caster sugar;1 egg;2 cups s. r flour;pinch salt;1 cup coconut;extra caster sugar.
Cream butter & sugar, beat in egg, add sifted flour, salt & coconut. Roll into balls and press flat between palms of hands. Dip tod side in extra sugar. Place on greased trays, sugar side up;allow for spreading. Bake in mod hot oven 10-15 mins. Makes about 40

I'll start with the coconunt biscuits and hope for the best. I love afghans and rarely make those-they tend to end up dry as well.

Here's hoping for the best, and many thanks.

Biscuits do tend to be a bit drier than cakes on most occasions, comes down a fine timing of cooking hence be wary in not too over cook the times given.

Any icing, fillings etc given helps to give that extra much needed touch or finishing though.

My son has a habit of sometimes put a couple of certain biscuits into the micrwave and a quick zap just to warm a little, to soften a little and then straight down the hatch... LOL, but that is him... . .

Sometimes, I personally may spread a wee smear of butter occasionally at times with jam on some cookies mainly dry buttery biscuits but once again, that's me... LOL again.

Hopes all helps.

it should say dip top side of biscuit. When i roll them into balls and press between my hands Ithen pat it into the sugar while it is stuck to my hands.

'biscuit' is French for 'twice-cooked'. I wonder if the French cooks traditionally put their cookies back in the oven to dry out? ? Anyone know?

"Biscotti" is Italian for twice baked and this is exactly how biscotti are made. usually done in a log and baked, then sliced thinly, spread on a baking sheet and back into the oven to bake again so they are hard and crisp.

NEVER fail biscuits. I can not bake to save myself. . im a masterchef not a nestles hottest home baker... BUT these biscuits are the easiest and only thing i can bake and soooo yummy.

Oat and Condensed milk biscuits

250g butter, softened
3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
chocolate peices ( i just chuck a random amount in of dark chocolate melts and white chocolate melts. Also cranberries are nice mixed in also)

pre heat oven to 180 degrees. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
beat butter, condensed milk and sugar togeather until light and creamy.
add flour rolled oats, baking powder and chocolate bits and mix with spoon.
add spoonfills on the baking paper tray and cook for 15-20mins untill golden brown.

donnabeth, how is your creaming technique? Incorrectly creaming and adding of the sugar is what usually causes biscuit dough to 'spread' out, rather than hold their shape during the cooking process.

Be sure to cream your butter till it is pale, BEFORE adding sugar. Only add small quantities at a time and continue beating till it is thoroughly incorporated before adding more. The finished creamed butter should look almost identical to the butter before you started adding sugar. A good tip is to use caster sugar if you can't achieve this appearance with ordinary sugar. Just remember to use it by weight rather than cup because you'll get more caster sugar into a cup because it is finer.

Another good tip is to cast around for biscuit recipes that don't have creamed butter and sugar, are cooked in a tin and sliced into squares after they are cooked. Lol. I liked those sorts of biscuits best of all for baking. Brownies are perfect.

COOKESSENTIALS; MY THANKS TO YOU. I made your coconut biscuits and they turned out light and flaky and crisp. I admit I was a bit worried about the mixture when it seemed to be too dry and crumbly, but it worked a treat. Something I did differently was squash them down quite flat, more to get them to hold their shape than intentionally, but maybe that was part of the problem with soft dry biscuits. I also added chopped chocolate for fun.

Tonight I'm moving on to afghans, then, does anyone have a sure fire recipe for hokey pokey biscuits that are nice and light and crisp?

well done donnabeth- see it's not that difficult. i always squash firmly between my palms when I make them. You will find that once you get a few goodies under your belt that your confidence will improve too and you will just get better and better - practice makes mefect you know!

Baking is not my forte, but I find that Biscotti recipes are usually foolproof :)