Jessica's Bake Off Challenge

 Following the success of my llama cookies a couple of weeks ago, I decided to make these iced lavender biscuits for my take on the 24 Iced Biscuits challenge from Series 7, Episode 2 of The Great British Bake Off. Mind you, these are biscuits in the English sense of the word- a.k.a. cookies to us Americans. Not American biscuits, which are more like English scones in shape and texture. And let's not get into the nonsensical things that Americans call scones... These lavender biscuits are a flavorful variation of the typical sugar cookie. The lavender gives a light floral flavor. Also, my addition of fresh lemon juice to the royal icing helps to balance out the earthiness of the lavender. In order to get a substantial lavender flavor in these biscuits, I added both dried lavender and lavender extract to the cookie dough. I desiccated the dried lavender and mixed it in with the granulated sugar. Although it would be possible to break down the lavender with a mortar and pestle, I do ...

The signature challenge for Series 6, Episode 2 of The Great British Bake Off  is to make two dozen biscotti. Biscotti are traditionally an Italian cookie distinct for its twice-baked hard exterior. Fillings are somewhat variable. An eastern European Jewish variation of biscotti is called mandelbrodt. Mandelbrodt literally translates to English as "almond bread". Except for when I make mandelbrodt for my aunt, who is allergic to all nuts, I always include almonds and some almond extract. These biscuits are very hardy and are a good, easy crowd-pleaser. The recipe which I use calls for oil rather than butter, making them pareve (neither dairy nor meat). They are good to serve as a dessert for a crowd, or are good to bring as a snack on road trips. Due to the fact that they are rather hard, they do not easily go stale, and will stay fresh for a while. For once, I will not disclose the recipe which I used. The recipe is, I believe, my great-great-grandmother's; it ...

One of my cousins requested that I next make macarons for my challenge. I had not planned any stand-alone macaron challenge, but I had planned to use macarons as my biscuits for the showstopper bake of Series 6, episode 2. This particular challenge involves making 36 biscuits (cookies to us Americans) in a box made out of a different type of biscuit. As stated in the title of this blog post, I chose to make pistachio and raspberry macarons in a box made of spiced orange gingerbread. My first try at the pistachio raspberry macarons (incidentally my first time ever making macarons) turned out well, but got eaten by Vincent and some dinner guests before I even made the box. Hence, I had to start all over again. Thankfully the first batch went to a good cause. I worked first on making the macarons. The pistachio macarons are actually fairly easy to make. The dry ingredients- almond flour, ground pistachios, and confectioner's sugar- are gradually folded into whipped egg white...