Baking for Winter

Am I the only English blogger not to have documented the snow yet?

Probably, but there's a reason for that. Here in Hereford, although we've had a few inches, we've not had enough to shut down our roads, prevent our deliveries getting through or even force us to shut the restaurant for the evening. Im not even aware that any hereford schools have closed. As I write this, it rains and the ice turns to slush, slush turns to water and drains away from view.

Lucky huh?

We haven't been deterred from taking M for snowy walks either. It has been a pleasure to all don our wellies, coats, hats and gloves and venture out into the white. M wears a harness so we can keep her close and we can pull her up quickly if we feel her begin to slip. Of course, last year it snowed too but this year it was her first real experience and we watched as she tentatively went down the front doorsteps and left her first impressions in the snow. It seemed she enjoyed herself quite a bit. The next day, when the majority of the snow had melted, we took her out again and she splish-splash-sploshed in every last one of the puddles we came to. 

And actually, so did L. 

Oh okay, yes I joined in too.

The colder weather puts me in a mood to use lots of spices in my baking. Last week I made sure that these simple biscuits were still just warm for us when we got home from one of our winter walks around the block.

Orange and Cinnamon Spiced Biscuits

Ingredients

115g buter

95g icing sugar and more for dusting

Zest of 2 oranges

2tbsp orange juice

2tsp vanilla extract

150g plain flour

40 grams cornstarch

20g ground almonds

2tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt

Method

Cream the butter, icing sugar sugar and lemon zest together until creamy and fluffy.

Add the lemon juice and mix.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cream to a dough.
Transfer the dough to a sheet ofbaking paper and shape into a log about 2 inches in diameter.

Use the parchment to tighten the log and form a nice cylinder.

Refrigerate the dough overnight or for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Cut the log into 1/4 inch thick disks.

Cook for 10 - 15 minutes until just golden.

Let them cool on the baking sheet.

When they have cooled a bit but they are still warm, cover them in icing sugar.