Saturday 7 August 2010

Happy Raspbirthday!


Kate made me laugh with a comment on my last post - that she has to read my blog at lunchtime to avoid drooling on the keyboard :) Well, I hope this one has the same effect as it concerns the biscuits I made her for her birthday last week. This took place during my raspberry glut, but it also gave me the opportunity to try out a recipe for some really pretty little pink treats I'd cut out from an old copy of Prima magazine. They're little butter biscuits sandwiched together with a creamy, white chocolatey, raspberry filling. I didn't manage to get too good a photo of them but they did look very dainty tied up in a little bag. I halved the recipe but made the whole batch of filling, since that's where the raspberries came in. I used some of the rest to ice some chocolate cupcakes - also birthday presents for a certain little Birthday Buddy and his brother, Almost Birthday Buddy, whom I saw in Cambridge last weekend. They were much appreciated. And I had a lovely day with my old friends Tracy and Julie, too :)


Raspberry creams (from Prima magazine)
[full quantity - makes 16]

75g butter, softened
125g icing sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Filling:
125g raspberries
1 tsp sugar
5 Tbsp double cream. whipped
150g white chocolate, melted and cooled

1. Cream together butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla, then mix in flour, baking powder and pinch salt until smooth. Between two pieces of clear film, roll out to £1 coin thick. Chill for 1 hour [I chilled it in a ball and rolled it out afterwards].

2. Preheat oven to Gas 4/180C. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Cut chilled dough into rounds with a 4cm cookie cutter and place on baking tray 5cm apart [cookies don't spread much]. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until very pale gold Cool on baking sheet for 5 mins, then transfer to rack to cool.

3. Blend berries and sugar, then sieve to remove seeds. Whip cream and raspberry juice into white chocolate. Chill for 1 hour. Sandwich cooled biscuits together with berry filling [the filling in the magazine picture was *much* pinker than mine - either use more berries or add a few drops of pink food colouring if you want it really pink]

6 comments:

Johanna GGG said...

sounds delicious - now if only i had a raspberry glut

Julie said...

Thank you! Loved seeing you too. And the knitted pig has been a big hit :)

Kate said...

I am sorry I can't supply a picture of them all pretty in the bag in which you you gave them to me but they are LONG gone! I meant to tell you that they were delicious but you went away on hols and it slipped my mind. YUM and thanks!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Mmmmmmmm to both options! I want a raspberry glut too!

Lysy said...

Kate - I'm so pleased you liked them :)

Julie - I'm glad Isobel liked the pig. I'd been saving it for her for ages (so please excuse any Scooty hair it may have accumulated!). I'm hoping to see you in Brighton in a few weeks xx

Jacqueline - the raspberry glut was a lot of fun until it got stressful, and now it's a freezer glut :)

Tracy said...

Late to the party here, but just had to chime in to say I recognize those cupcakes! We polished them off handily before departure - they were absolutely delicious. Thank you again! And also for the readable prezzies, which were much appreciated.
So lovely to see you again. Hope we can reunite in Brighton next month. x