It is not quite Christmas yet but it is time to start preparing all those little items you are going to need. It is already too late to make a Christmas cake; a good one needs to mature for a few months before it tastes just right. It's not too late to make mince pies and we'll have a go at them next week.
But this week it is brandy snaps. You can make them now, and if you actually put brandy in them, they will keep until Christmas - that is if you can keep the family away from them.
Ingredients
- One tablespoon each of: Flour, Treacle, Sugar and Butter
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- Drop of brandy (optional)
Preparation
- Gently heat the treacle, sugar and butter in a saucepan until all have melted and you have a sticky sauce in the bottom of the pan
- Stir in the ginger and flour and remove from the heat
- Grease a large baking tray and, using a teaspoon, put well spaced drops of the sticky sauce onto the tray
- Bake at 350 degF for a few minutes. The sauce will bubble and form a lattice structure as it cooks
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little
- Remove the thin baked cookies from the tray (very carefully) using a metal spatula and roll them around a wooden spoon handle
John's Notes
Once you have mastered this recipe it takes only a few minutes from start to finish. I spent most of my evening getting this recipe just right and learned a few things I can offer as a helpful tip.
First, measure the ingredients! That sounds obvious, but I didn't do it the first time and used too much flour (and ended up with something resembling gingerbread).
Second, don't take the tray out of the oven too soon - let the sticky stuff bubble away for a few minutes to ensure the flour is fully cooked.
Finally, clean up your pans as soon as you are finished. Clean-up is easy when everything is still warm and sticky. It won't be so easy the next morning when the sticky stuff has hardened.
DON'T FORGET TO PIPE THE CREAM IN THE END OF THE BRANDY SNAPS WHEN THEY ARE COLD. DELICIOUS.BARBARA, EDMONTON, ALBERTA.
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