Rubbed-In Biscuits

With an upcoming trip to Berlin, my to-do list this weekend was packed (travel pun intended.) I wanted to bake buns, but decided on biscuits instead as I figured they'd get eaten faster at the office too. I didn't want leftovers!

The clue is in the name for these biscuits, you've got to get your hands dirty to rub in the butter, then mix into a dough.

One egg yolk wasn't quite enough to get the mixture to bind together, so I added teaspoons of the white one at a time until I could just about knead it. The dough was still very crumbly though. For once, the recipe instructed a thickness to roll to which was great!

Mine took a solid 17 minutes to turn golden, and I was expecting them to rise or expand a little but they didn't. The recipe claims it will make 25, I managed to make 20.

The flavour is very buttery, not overly sweet, in fact you can taste the salt. The buttery-ness of them makes them melt in the mouth though, almost like shortbread. If I make these again, I'd make one of the variation recipes like the mocha biscuits to amp up the flavour.

Rubbed-In Biscuits

Butter of oil for greasing

200g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

75-100g butter (I used 95g)

50g caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg yolk

Grease two baking sheets. Set the oven at 180C / gas 4.

In a mixing bowl, mix the flour and salt. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar and baking powder. Bind to a stiff paste with the egg yolk.

Knead well and roll to a thickness of just under 1cm on a lightly floured surface. Cut into rounds with a 2 inch cutter. Re-roll and re-cut any trimmings.

Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheets, bake for 12-15 minutes or until firm and pale golden brown. Leave to stand for a few minutes then cool on a wire rack.

Variations:

Plain mocha biscuits: Add 50g powdered drinking chocolate with the flour and 10ml / 2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 7.5ml / 1 1/2 tsp boiling water with the egg.

Plain coconut biscuits: Use 150g flour and 50g desiccated coconut. As soon as the biscuits are cooked, brush with warm apricot jam and sprinkle with coconut.