Day 16 - Brand new recipe

Oh how I wish my little lizard had a sense of how important sleeping in on the weekend is. I was up at 8am this morning because my lil Rico was awake and wanted to eat. So after giving him a few worms and chopping up lettuce for him, I thought I could climb back into bed and sleep for another few hours. Was I ever wrong. After laying in bed for 5 minutes I hear commotion in his tank, when I open my eyes here Rico is crawling up the front of his tank trying to get my attention. So now while I am sitting here typing this up, he is running all over the bed trying to find another way to get into trouble. He is lucky he is cute.

Ok so I have to admit that this challenge is very difficult for me. When I am going to serve a new recipe, I try making it before hand so I can work out any kinks, this may take 3 or 4 trys. So for me to be posting my first try for everyone to see makes me cringe. I also didn't choose a simple technique to try, so it was 50-50 that it would work out perfectly. When I try a new recipe I make sure I have plenty of time to do every step as described. Also, like I'm going to show, it doesn't always work out the first time around. It may take a few tries, but everyone can learn the most difficult of recipes. So here is my first attempt at Brandy Snaps.

Brandy Snaps

Oven: 350F

1/3 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1/3 cup soft brown sugar

¼ cup flour

1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

60 g dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.

Place the butter, syrup and sugar in a small sauce pan and stir over low heat until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the flour and ground ginger to the saucepan. Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture until the ingredients are well combined, taking care not to over beat.

Using 2 to 3 teaspoons of the mixture for each brandy snap, drop the mixture onto the tray about 12 cm (5 inches) apart. Bake for 5-6 minutes, or until lightly browned. Leave on tray for 30 to 45 seconds then, while still hot, lift one biscuit off the tray, using a large flat knife or spatula , and wrap around the handle of a thin wooden spoon and set aside to cool while you curl the remaining brandy snaps. Repeat to use all mixture.

Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, remove from the heat and place the bowl over the water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t sit in the water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted.

Dip both ends of each brandy snap in the melted chocolate and leave to dry on a foil-lined tray.

Tips (This one is from my cook book):

There is a real art to working with these biscuits: work quickly, as they harden and crack when cooled. If they cool too much, return them to the oven for a few minutes to warm, then try again.

Melt the butter, syrup and sugar together on low heat.

  

Mix the remaining ingredients into the sugar mixture.

It will look like a thick caramel sauce.

Drop the mixture onto the covered baking sheets.

The snaps will bake into a spider web effect.

This was my only perfect one. Wrap the snaps around a round handle while still warm.

Well it was a good first effort.

Tips:

Test the snaps before lifting them, if they are to hot they liquefy when you pick them up. So they have to be just right.



I bought these shoes for my annual casino night. I love them, I need another night out to wear these again. Hint hint :D.

So I will be trying this recipe again, and hopefully it will be better than this one. I will give an update when I try it again.Well that is all for now, I have to try and find Rico and get him back in his tank.

Happy Baking!

Sey