nikki mcwilliams: pass the biscuits

I've been intending on blogging about Nikki McWilliams and her wonderful biscuit cushions for a while. In fact, I had intended to write about it the day after the UK General Election, in a fit of patriotism, but I also thought that writing about a very series of very Scottish-centric snack based cushions (Tunnocks Tea Cakes and Caramel Wafers being quintessentially Scottish) from a Scottish designer might prove divisive given the result. But I'm going to do it now because I love them.

Nikki McWilliams, is a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, as am I and in fact, we graduated on exactly the same day in June, as the class of 2008. Originally a fine artist, Nikki began making her iconic biscuit cushions, once leaving university, combining her interest in textiles and making functional art out with the confines of a gallery, and her fascination with the ritual of the tea break.

The Tea Break at DJCAD, being an important ritual, at least in the jewellery department, particularly on a Friday. Friday for jewellers in fourth year was cake day, and each week one of us would bake biscuits, cakes or any overly sweet treat we could, and we would all settle down in the studio, taking half an hour away from the workshop to eat cake, drink tea (or coffee) and have a natter. It was our way of having some down time as a group during an incredible important, stressful and manic few months of our final year.

If the Fine Art department was anything like Jewellers, I can pretty much guarantee that the tea break was as important to them as it was to us and Nikki's biscuit offerings would have been more than welcome in the jewellers studio, and are definitely less fattening and coma inducing than some of the home made treats that we baked for one another.

Each cushion is made start to finish in the UK and Nikki has been steadily adding to her collection of Malted Milks, Party Rings and Teacakes, since 2009. Selling they through her Etsy store, her website and retailers around the UK, and her designs have popped up in magazines, television and blogs alike, and no wonder, because they are simple, beautifully made and utterly squish-ably whilst having a cup of tea.

It makes me kind of sad that I didn't cross paths with her while we were at college. But it's pretty great to see someone I went to university with doing so well and only marginally jealously inducing.


Link | Nikki McWilliams Website
Link | Nikki McWilliams Blog
Link | Nikki McWilliams on Etsy
Link | Nikki McWilliams on Pinterest
Link | Nikki McWilliams on Flickr

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Listening: Ball and Biscuit - The White Stripes

Leftovers: Gingerbread Men vs. Yeti's

I have never in my life made gingerbread before. Unless you count a large quantity made out of foam board and my own less than edible icing recipe. So having spent weeks researching gingerbread houses online, I wanted to try and make some, and fearing I might have to resort to a hot glue gun to get a house to stick together, I settled on making gingerbread men. I also decided to use Martha Stewart's Gingerbread Snowflake recipe because Smitten Kitchen, a blog I've successfully used recipes from before, recommended it. But for the love of ninja-bread men, if you make this recipe, make half! Make a quarter even! I didn't... which was a mistake.

Gingerbread adapted from Martha Stewart Gingerbread Snowflake Recipe

Ingredients:

• 750g (6 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 227g (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 200g (1 cup) packed dark-brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 large eggs
• 345g (1 cup) unsulfured molasses (or treacle if you're in the UK)

Method:

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. 
3. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses/treacle. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. 
4. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F/Gas Mark 4). 
6. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to about half a centimetre thick. Cut into your shape of choice. Space a couple of centimetres apart (they don't spread much) on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
7. Bake biscuits until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let the biscuits cool on sheets on wire racks.

Lemon Royal Icing from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 2 large egg whites, or more to thin icing
• 500g (4 cups) sifted confectioners' sugar, or more to thicken icing
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 3 drops glycerin

Method:

1. Beat the egg whites until fluffy and stiff (but not dry). 
2. Add sugar, lemon juice and glycerine; beat for 1 minute more. If icing is too thick, add more egg whites; if it is too thin, add more sugar. The icing may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
3. Put into an icing bag or squeezy bottle with a small tip.
4. Decorate as you wish...
5. ... allow sisters to help. End up with vampires. 

Who wouldn't like a blood sucking gingerbread vampire in their biscuit tin at Christmas?

In hindsight, this recipe, while really good and easy to make, wasn't really what I'd been wanting. It was too treacly (I don't like treacle), too clovey (I don't like cloves, especially in sweet food), I slightly under baked them so they were soft rather than crunchy and most importantly, I didn't read the recipe quantities properly. It's measurements were based on making sixteen, seven inch snowflake decorations and so I ended up making enough dough to actually make my giant gingerbread house a reality.

Shame, but then there were Yeti's...

Marks and Spencer's were selling Gingerbread Men Yeti's before Christmas and they were so good I wanted to make my own. Which was actually the main reason I wanted to make gingerbread other than having spent weeks looking at houses made of it. So using the same - slightly more naked - gingerbread men, I dipped them in melted white chocolate (a good one with vanilla seeds in it) and then covered them in dessicated coconut. I set them in the fridge and there you go, gingerbread yeti's. 

Actually, with the white chocolate and the coconut, the gingerbread was quite nice. It sweetened and mellowed the spices, but again it would have been nice if the biscuits were crunchy.

So, not an overall success, but I may try Mary Berry's recipe next year. She uses golden syrup and fewer spices, which should make the biscuits taste more of how I expect gingerbread to taste. But, that's months and months away, plenty of time to research.

Link | Martha Stewart Gingerbread Snowflake Recipe via Martha Stewart

Link | Martha Stewart Lemon Royal Icing Recipe via Martha Stewart

Link | Spicy Gingerbread Cookies via Smitten Kitchen

Link | Gingerbread Men Recipe by Mary Berry via BBC Food

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Listening: Ball and Biscuit - The White Stripes

Recipe: Empire Biscuits

Yesterday I decided to make Empire Biscuits. Which I haven't done since my Masters when we were asked to bring in a traditional dish from our country of origin. This was my contribution, though apparently, despite being a very Scottish treat, they're originally German and were called Linzer biscuits, then German biscuits and then at the out-break of the First World War, they were rechristened Empire Biscuits.

Learn something new every day.

This, however, is based on my granny Betty's recipe, which has always been one of my favourites. Plus I got to use jam I made last year and gluten free flour because my little sister's avoiding wheat for a while. Which, actually makes very light cakes.

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Ingredients:

6oz butter (or margarine if you prefer)

2oz icing sugar

2oz corn flour

2oz plain flour

Method:

Cream together the butter and sugar, then mix in the cornflour and then the flour. Start off using the back of a wooden spoon, then once the last of the flour is added switch to using your hand, it's easier to get it to form your dough that way. Once it's smooth and not sticky, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge to firm up for five to ten minutes, this will stop the biscuits spreading as much.

Roll out the dough onto a floured work top to a thickness of approximately 5mm (half a cm). I'd go for the thinner side because you'll sandwich the biscuits together. Then I used a 48mm cookie cutter, which is the smallest I have in my set, to cut lots of rounds. The number you get depends on the thickness of your dough, I got 20, but just make sure you have an even number - though an extra is useful, just in case one broke or burnt. Lay them on a baking paper lined tray with a centimetre or so between each.

Place the tray in a preheated oven at 180C until they're golden around the edges. The recipe says 15-20 minutes, but mine were in for 12 as our over runs hot, but even that was a little long. I'd recommend cooking them for ten minutes, then checking as they go from under to over within seconds.

While they cool, make water icing. Mix approximately 3oz of icing sugar and two teaspoons of milk stirred together to make a smooth, slightly thick paste. I didn't measure it properly, but just add more sugar and/or milk until you get the right consistency.

Once the biscuits have cooled down, sandwich them with a little jam in the middle and put a small puddle of water icing on the top, then before the icing sets, finish with a Jelly-tot or glacé cherry.

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They're yummy. One problem when it came to taking a photo for sharing though...Misty.

Yep, apparently Empire Biscuits are like crack to my dotty old cat. Who went from asleep to wide awake within seconds of realising there was a plate nearby. This is seconds before she lunged at the plate in a bid to give my biscuits a try. Also seconds before I pulled it back and almost dropped them all. Not clever.

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Listening: Arctic Monkeys - Black Treacle