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Sweet Biscuits


Traditional Burrbrede

“[Sansa] drank a glass of buttermilk and nibbled at some sweet biscuits as she waited, to settle her stomach.” -Game of Thrones

Modern Sweet Biscuits

aka Hob Nobs

Our Thoughts

The traditional sweet biscuit is shortbread at its very very best. Burrbrede, or shortbread, is a traditional Scottish flour confectionery, made from three ingredients. Although a proper recipe wasn’t memorialized in a cookbook till 1736, shortbread has been a Scottish treat since at least the 12th century.  Perfect with tea or a glass of cold milk, these biscuits are difficult to stop eating. Soft, flaky texture, and just a bit chewy eaten straight from the oven, these biscuits get an enormous stamp of approval from us!

The modern biscuits are our take on the glorious Hobnob, king of all chocolate biscuits. Clearly we’re big fans, and these home made hobnobs shape up pretty well. A bit more rustic and oaty than the store bought variety, they are equally as delectable when dipped in hot tea. This batch filled our biscuit jar, and were gone in record time!

Traditional Burrbrede

 

Ingredients:

  •  3 cups flour
  • 4 1/2 sticks cold butter, cut into cubes
  • 1 heaped cup sugar
Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter. Once the mix resembles bread crumbs, rub in the sugar to form a paste. It will be short and crumbly, but gather it and form a disc. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the dough to 1/3″ and cut into shape. Lay on the baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure to not burn the biscuits; their color should remain very pale. Remove from oven and rest for one minute before moving to a wire rack to cool.

Cooks note: Shortbread is traditionally made in three shapes: rounds, or bannocks, rectangular fingers, and triangular “peticoat tails”, the favorite of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Modern Sweet Biscuits

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups rolled oats (not quick oats!)
  • 2.5 sticks of butter (~250g)
  • 1 Tbspn golden syrup (or light corn syrup)
  • 1 Tbspn very hot water
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 5 oz. bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease or cover pan with parchment paper.

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, and oats. In a small saucepan, melt the butter then remove from heat. Stir in the golden syrup. In a small bowl, mix the baking soda with the hot water, then stir into the butter mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Roll dough into walnut-sized balls and place on the baking sheet, leaving about an inch on all sides of each cookie to allow for spreading. Gently flatten the balls slightly, they will flatten more when baked. Bake for 10 minutes or till golden. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes. The move the cookies to a wire rack and bake the next batch.

For the chocolate topping, break the chocolate into small chunks and place in a small bowl. The easiest way to melt the chocolate is to microwave it for 1 minute, and stir till it all melts. Microwave for an additional 30 seconds if needed. Dip the bottom of each biscuit in the chocolate, and place on a baking sheet, chocolate side up. Allow chocolate to set overnight. Enjoy with a cup of tea for dunking! Makes about 20 biscuits.

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14 Responses

  1. Tara Urbanek says
    April 19, 2012 at 9:37 am

    Oh my, hobnobs! I came across these in London many moons ago, and then found them in an “international grocery” here in the states. Dangerous knowing how to make them! Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Trinity says
    April 19, 2012 at 10:45 am

    I suddenly crave fudge strip cookies. MMMmmmm

    Reply
  3. Nadia says
    April 19, 2012 at 10:55 am

    I like the idea to make it one piece as in traditional burrbrede: could be easily transformed into a quick tart with some cream and berries (if let’s say you have unexpected guests :)

    Reply
  4. jessica says
    April 19, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    did I read that right? a whopping 1.25 pounds of butter?

    Reply
    • ChoppedGinger says
      April 19, 2012 at 6:45 pm

      You sure did :) To be fair, the recipe does make a ton of biscuits. And with butter as the only binding ingredient, there was bound to be a load of it!

      Reply
  5. Sandy Fox says
    August 20, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    A popular additional ingredient in Scottish shortbread is ground rice (not rice flour) – it makes the wheat flour go further and adds a lovely nutty texture, even though it’s finely ground.

    Making the paste into a long cylinder, rolling it in brown sugar and then cutting it into 1/4″ discs allows you to make circular biscuits with a wonderful crunchy edge.

    Reply
  6. Pat says
    September 29, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    I use what is probably a 19th c. (?) recipe, 1 part dark brown sugar, 2 parts butter, 4(ish) parts flour (if you mix AP and cake, they will be very flaky). You may have to add a bit more flour if it’s a damp day. Also, I don’t use a rolling pin, just shape by hand. They have a lovely caramel taste, but not TOO sweet.

    Reply
    • Jayne Zenker says
      March 4, 2013 at 7:41 pm

      Pat, could you please give a measurement for your 19th c. Biscuit recipe? I’m not really sure how to bake with “parts”. I’m better with baking measurements. I’m also in the US, so if you happen to have the recipe in that format, that’d be great. But I can convert it from metric if need be. Thanks. :)

      Reply
      • Gydd says
        April 9, 2013 at 4:23 pm

        as I understand it, parts are just simply a ratio. so for instance 1/2 cup brown sugar/ cup butter/ 2 cup flour

        Reply
        • Sandy Fox says
          April 10, 2013 at 4:39 am

          You may have to be careful with ‘parts’. A cup of flour and a cup of butter do not weigh the same. If the ‘parts’ intends weight, using cups will give a slightly different result – a bit heavy on the more solid ingredients. It probably doesn’t mater for smaller amounts, but if you are scaling up for a party it could be significant. I think that recipes given in ‘parts’ would probably refer to volume (cups) otherwise it would be sensible to give weights.

          The only solution is to make the recipe many times and experiment – what a shame. :D

          Reply
  7. myfaireldy says
    August 28, 2013 at 12:53 pm

    Well, I know what I will be doing for the rest of the day! Woot, time to fill the cookie, sorry, biscuit jar!

    Reply
  8. Alex Cockell says
    September 22, 2013 at 7:40 am

    Hobnobs, eh? “The SAS of the biscuit world”? DIP ME AGAIN!

    Reply
  9. Gemfyre says
    November 9, 2013 at 2:14 am

    Those Modern Sweet Biscuits sound a lot like ANZAC biscuits.

    Reply
  10. Cassandra Michaud says
    April 10, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    I have 2 questions.
    For the traditionnal burrbrede recipe.
    1st) when you say stick of butters you mean the small sticks (about as tick as the tip of a thumb) or the big bricks of butter (about as thick as the palm of a hand) ?

    2nd) approximatly how many biscuits does 1 batch make ?

    Reply

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