Recipe: Vanilla Chai Biscuits

I got my bake on today and I decided that I wanted to capture the spicy flavours of vanilla chai tea in a buttery, crumbly biscuit. I'm really pleased with the results and I thought I'd share my recipe with you in case you fancy trying them too.

Vanilla Chai Biscuits

Makes 30

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter (room temperature)

110g caster sugar

275g plain flour

1 vanilla pod

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C if using a fan oven) or gas mark 3.

Cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Sift in the flour and the spices. Split open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds and add these to the mix too, along with the vanilla extract.

Mix well.

Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls (about the size of a walnut) and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Make sure you leave room for the biscuits to spread as they cook. Using a fork, slightly flatten the balls of dough.

Bake in batches for 15 to 18 minutes. Oven times will vary so make sure you check them. You want them to be golden at the edges. 

Remove the biscuits from the oven and leave to stand for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

You can buy ground cardamom but I only had cardamom pods in stock so I removed the seeds from their green casing and ground them with a pestle and mortar.

I use the tablespoon from my measuring spoon set to ensure consistent biscuit size.

The inspiration for these biscuits was Twinings Vanilla Chai tea. It comes in a beautiful Christmassy caddy and it tastes divine. The mix of festive spices with the creamy vanilla is just utter yum. (And no, I'm not being sponsored by them to say this; it is just a very lovely beverage.)

Happy baking!

Oat Biscuits

This is my three hundredth post. Yes, I've published three whole hundred posts full of beads and waffle. Yay me! I'm celebrating with a cup of tea and one (or two) of these homemade oat biscuits. They're like flapjacks in crunchy cookie form. Yum!

Here's the recipe for them (as requested by Sue) :

Oat Biscuits

Makes approximately 24

Ingredients

150g (6oz) Porridge Oats

150g (6oz) Self Raising Flour

150g (6oz) Caster Sugar

150g (6oz) Butter

2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup

2 Tablespoons Milk

Method

1. Heat butter, syrup and milk in a saucepan until butter is melted.

2. Pour into a bowl containing the oats, flour and sugar and mix together.

3. Roll heaped-teaspoon-sized amounts of the mixture into balls and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Space them well as the mixture will double in size.

4. Bake in batches at 180°C (160°C for fan ovens) for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Leave biscuits on baking tray for five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.