The Empire Bites Back

The second week of January 2020 was as intense and action-packed as expected but also much more rewarding than expected. It mixed moments of intellectual excitement, clean-hitting during Cricket training and compromising body postures at a local village hall. 

Some comfort food was on the menu by the time Saturday 18 January rolled round. During the morning The Dogg and I discovered a new route through a familiar local wood and for our troubles were chased by a strange wolf-dog. The Dogg also succeeded in flushing an exotic-looking Mandarin Duck at a pond we walked passed. It was so muddy round and about that by the time we got home we were dirty enough to resemble some of the iconic pictures of mud -painted Rugby Union players from the 1970s, where every game seemed to take place on a a very damp day in January. 

Once we were cleaned up I searched my memory and recalled a retro biscuit recipe for something known as Empire Biscuits. These were the sort of biscuits your Gran might have made when she was a kid in the days when the United Kingdom genuinely had an Empire. 

Some inspiring music was playing in the background in the form of Frank Zappa's 1988 album "Guitar". The album is exactly what it says on the cover; a long collection of Zappa's guitar solos culled from various sources over the years. It succeeds in holding the listener's fascination for its entire length, as Zappa is such an accomplished an eclectic axe man that he keeps the music totally fresh throughout the album's duration. 

The ingredients of  this recipe are as follows:

Biscuit Base

• 130 grams of Caster Sugar
• 250 grams of Unsalted Butter
• 1 Egg, beaten. 
• 500 grams of  Plain Flour

Filling 

• Jar of Strawberry Jam. 

Topping

• 200 grams of Icing Sugar
• Few teaspoons of  water
• Glace Cherries.

Method 

• Pre-heat your oven to 180°c (or 160°c for a fan assisted oven). If using a Gas Oven pre-heat to Gas Mark 4. 
•  Line two baking trays with greased cooking foil. 
• Cream the Unsalted Butter and Sugar until it is very fluffy.
• Add the egg and mix until combined.
• Gradually add the Self-Raising Flour until a dough is formed. Knead the dough into a ball and then place in the fridge for around twenty minutes. 
• Roll the dough on a floured surface to around 1cm thick. Using a round cutter, cut the biscuits out and transfer them to the greased baking trays. 
• Bake for around 20 minutes until the biscuits become solid and golden. 
• When the biscuits are totally cool add the jam to the underside of half of them and attach them to the other halves to form a sandwich. 
• Prepare the icing by stirring the icing sugar and water slowly together until you have a thick paste. Spread the icing evenly over each of the biscuits and add the glace cherry. 
• Put the biscuits in the fridge for twelve hours to ensure the icing solidifies. After twelve hours remove from the fridge and serve once at room temperature. 

As the winter sun rolled into the lounge last Sunday Afternoon I took the time to chomp on one of the biscuits and reflect on how far that we'd all come in the last fifteen months. We had made a memorable start but the best was coming.