Page 8 - YC Cooking School

The Art of Baking

yuppiechef.com/cooking-school.htm

Ten tips and tricks for brilliant biscuits

1. Remember the ratio
When it comes to making simple butter biscuits there’s a really helpful ratio to
remember 3:2:1. Three parts flour, two parts butter and one part sugar.
2. Cream your butter and sugar
Lovely light biscuits usually start off by lightly creaming room temperature
butter and sugar together. Do not aim to cream together until light and fluffy as

you would a cake, just until the butter and sugar are well incorporated.
3. Go slow with the flour
Add flour gradually and mix it thoroughly until just combined with the butter
and sugar mixture.
4. Give your dough a break
Biscuit dough needs resting and chilling. Don’t over-mix it as this will cause the
glutens to develop and the dough to become chewy. It’s sometimes a good idea
to split your dough in half, this means that it is handled less. Put your dough or
biscuits in the fridge before baking to reduce spreading.
5. Consider the silicone mat

Silicone mats are where it’s at. They are reusable and ideal for making biscuits or
cookies. Also, aluminium baking sheets are recommended over dark baking
sheets as these can absorb extra heat and cause the cookie bases to burn.
6. Give your cookies space
Lay them out on your baking tray with about 4cm in between each one so that if
they do spread, they will not run into each other. If using cookie cutters, make
sure that you dust them in flour before using them so that the dough doesn’t
stick.

1/2