Goosnargh Cakes

By: Pete on 07:38:00

These were a very quick bake I did last night...possibly too quick, as I didn't really leave the dough to rest for very long (it was supposed to be an hour, but it was probably closer to 10 minutes), which led to the biscuits doming a bit during the bake.

The main reason I wanted to try these was two-fold...one was that they have caraway in them, something I'd used at the weekend for rye-bread, and secondly (apart from the sugar sprinkled on post-bake) they are fairly savoury. Caraway is a rather unique flavour...it sort of hangs around your mouth. This is a very butter-heavy recipe, so it's good practice for your rubbing skills!

Goosnargh Cakes Recipe

Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 200g cold, unsalted butter (diced into 1cm cubes)
• 15g caster sugar (+ more for sprinkling)
• 1tsp caraway "seeds" (read the Wikipedia article linked above)
• Icing sugar, for dusting

1) Place the flour in a bowl

2) Add the butter, and rub in until you reach the breadcrumb stage. You might need to chill the bowl for a bit halfway, if the mixture starts to get greasy

3) Mix in the sugar and caraway, and  form into a rough

4) Wrap in clingfilm, and chill for an hour

5) Pre-heat oven to 180'C

6) Cover 2 baking tray with baking parchment

7) Once chilled, roll out on a lightly floured surfae to 5mm thickness (I used my trusty batons!)

8) Using a 6.5-7cm pastry cutter, cut out 20-24 biscuits (I got 22 out of mine, could have got a couple more, but ran out of baking tray space)

9) Sprinkle the biscuits with caster sugar

10) Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the edges just start going brown

11) Remove from the oven, and literally sprinkle with icing sugar while still warm