Kate Moss may have invented the basic bitch, but I'm all about the basic batch - a basic batch of biscuits that is, eg; the kind of thing that Kate Moss would not touch with a bespoke bargepole. On a Monday morning I like to take the edge off the week ahead by baking up a quick batch of said biscuits and I have a go-to recipe that is SO FAST I have been known to knock them out while making a round of teas. I thought I'd share it with you, so you can enjoy this calorific ritual too; in theory they're a little treat to last the rest of the week, but in truth I'm usually lucky if they make it through 24 hours before I wolf them down. And that's why Kate Moss and I are not often mistaken for each other.
The best thing about it is that it's just a base recipe and you can chuck in whatever you have in the cupboard. Last week I made them with some dark chocolate and dried sour cherries I had , this week I found a packet of hazelnuts. I had a quick flick through the Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit (sidebar: if you haven't already got this book, buy it now, it's the single best addition to any cook's library and the one I refer to most often) and decided to recreate the flavours of Frangelico in a cookie, so I added a shot of espresso, a dash of cocoa, a splash of vanilla bean paste and those hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped.
150g Golden Caster Sugar
150g Butter Spread (eg: Lurpak lightly salted spread)
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
200g SR Flour, split in half
Plus, whatever flavour you fancy
This makes roughly 12 good sized biscuits. Cream together the butter spread and sugar (the vegetable oil in the spread means you don't have to wait for butter to warm and soften up), then add the golden syrup. Add in your biscuit extras, in the case of the Frangelico biscuits that means 1 Tbsp of Espresso, 2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder, 50g toasted, roughly chopped hazelnuts (save a few to sprinkle on the top) and 1 Dsp of Vanilla Bean Paste, then add the first 100g of SR Flour. Mix together well, then add the second 100g batch of flour and mix. Dollop six large spoonfuls on a greaseproof covered baking tray, giving them plenty of space to spread themselves out and pop in the oven at 200 for 10 mins; take out when they're just starting to brown. Devour. Nothing tastes as good as biscuits, so you can stick your skinny, dearest Kate...