Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
For some time now I have been fantasising about gingerbread cupcakes topped with spicy frosting and a miniature gingerbread man and I decided this weekend that if I was going to do it, I would need the perfect biscuit – I guess I just assume that after that, everything else will just fall into place, wishful thinking?
Despite the abundance of Kit Kats in this ‘blog I am not normally a big biscuit eater* and they often get forgotten about entirely until I come across a really exciting cookie cutter or want to play around with a new piping nozzle. For such occasions I have a great biscuit recipe (developed from a buttery shortbread recipe when I needed something a little more malleable) that produces fool-proof biscuits that are crisp and crumbly when fresh and still smooth and melt-in-the-mouth even after a couple of days. My initial plan was just to add a few teaspoons of gingerbread spices to this mix and leave it at that but even straight away I was worried that I was missing something essential to the gingerbread man. I remembered then that my sister has made gingerbread men since we were kids and her recipe has remained largely unchanged and unchallenged so I thought it would make a good baseline comparison for a taste test. To tell the two biscuits apart (and because I just picked up this incredibly cute cutter set on ebay) I made my gingery-biscuit recipe and cut Miffy shapes from it and made my sister’s gingerbread biscuit recipe and cut teddy bears from it. The resulting biscuits were then baked, tasted and compared. And the verdict? Well, my quick fix recipe is definitely out of the running. Everyone agreed it was a very good biscuit, but just not what we were looking for in a gingerbread man. My sister’s recipe had the fiery taste and syrupy richness that I was looking for, but didn’t quite have the snap in the texture I felt was needed. I guess the jury is still out on the best gingerbread man recipe. I suspect I could cook the teddies longer to toughen them up, but am tempted to try for a treacly recipe with even more bite to it. This hunt is far from over, gingerbread man!
*honestly! I get a real kick out of trying all these weird and wonderful Kit Kats but all I do is test a finger here, a mini kit kat there, a third of a pack of Apple pretz in the middle of the night…

Tags: biscuit, cake, chocolate, cupcake, edinburgh, kit kat, misti
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Monday, October 26th, 2009
So I had a serious snack attack on Saturday night and broke into the Apple Pretz without taking a picture first. An empty packet is almost as good, right? The verdict is that these things are incredibly nomable and substantial. For skinny little biscuit sticks, they pack quite a satisfying carby punch. It took three sittings to eat this pouch (yes, I could have taken a picture while there were still some left but every time I reached for the camera I just ended up nibbling on some more pretz instead). They taste a lot like a caramel apple would if it had been made with dried apple rings. There is a definite appley taste, but also a salty, buttery caramely-ness to them that is a little strange in such a dry snack, but very moreish.

Tags: biscuit, cake, chocolate, cupcake, edinburgh, kit kat, misti
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Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
While I don’t really see the need for a cookie flavoured biscuit I couldn’t say no to this Kit Kat. Mostly because it is the first one I have ever come across in a rigid cardboard box. For some reason I have always had a fondness for sweets in boxes and used to buy my smarties and fruit gums packaged that way when I could – in fact, if I am honest, I don’t even like smarties or fruit gums when they are not boxed, the same goes for malteasers. I am sad to say that I was initially disappointed by the contents of this pleasing package. The ‘fingers’ are wider than average and are individually wrapped which robs you of that wonderful feeling you get when you snap a Kit Kat in two, I especially enjoy it if I can run my thumbnail through the foil first (this is the main reason I dislike Kit Kat chunkys , however, I also think the ratio of biscuit to chocolate is unbalanced). Despite being a biscuit flavoured biscuit, they do taste markedly different from a regular Kit Kat thanks to a malty layer of ‘cookie’ that gives them a cerealy taste. All in all a tasty snack, but no where near as exciting as the adorable mini Ramune flavour Kit Kats.

Cookies Kit Kat
Tags: birthday, biscuit, cake, chocolate, christmas, cupcake, edinburgh, kit kat, lemon, misti, vanilla, wedding
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Monday, October 12th, 2009
I’ve always believed that, since we have to eat, we might as well enjoy it and so I try and put as much care and imagination into everything I eat and cook as I can. That doesn’t mean I never get lazy and phone for a takeaway, I do – perhaps more often than I should admit to, but when I do, I look forward to it! My parents brought me up encouraging me to try new things and over the years I have developed to the point where I get incredibly excited when ever I come across a food I have never heard of before. Usually this results in me grabbing a new ingredient from the shelves and running home to google it, or ordering something from a restaurant menu that makes everyone within ear-shot give me funny looks but when I heard that in Japan there are literally dozens of flavours of kit-kat on the market at any one time, it resulted in an obsession. I immediately resolved to try them all and spent a scary amount of money acquiring as many flavoured kit-kats as I could get my hands on from various internet sources.
The first batch arrived today and as I delve into the weird and wonderful world of Japanese snacks I will post my thoughts and pictures here. The first little prize I laid my hands on was the mini Ramune Kit-Kat. I had to look this up, but apparently “Ramune” is a popular Japanese soft drink that has an amazing way of opening it – you have to pop a marble into the bottle to get at the juice – and a sort of lemon-lime flavour. First of all, miniature kit-kats are adorable. Secondly, these miniature kit-kats are a wintry blue colour and when you break the seal they immediately fill the air with a sour/sweet smell. Initially, I thought they were maybe a little bit too sweet and a little bit too bubble-gummy, but as the flavour develops it becomes tangy and you could swear that the kit-kat was actually fizzy. This was its saving grace and why I am glad there is more than one of the little cuties!

Ramune Kit Kat
Tags: birthday, biscuit, cake, chocolate, christmas, cupcake, edinburgh, kit kat, lemon, misti, vanilla, wedding
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