Adventures from my Kitchen

I realize I am a bad blogger – here one minute, gone the next, but I seem to have blinked and it’s August. In my defence, I’ve travelled to Melbourne for classes, then back to home to Perth for classes, then to Sydney for Recipe Testing, then back to Perth for classes, then to Melbourne again, back home to Perth, then down south. As you might have guessed I AM SO THRILLED TO BE HOME!!! (Oh, and I’ve written another book). But, I’m not at all complaining – I am exceptionally lucky to do work I love and it’s been a deeply fulfilling time, both creatively and with the many wonderful people I’ve met.

With the cooler weather (it’s still quite chilly here), this is what I’ve been making recently -Traditional Biscuits ( Drop Scones ). Southern biscuits are generally a little sweeter, and have more fat than our Australian scone and freeze well. They are a wonderful way to anchor stone fruits and berries. Serve them warm with loads of delicious fresh fruit, whipped or lacto-fermented cream, or sweetened yoghurt.

The Biscuits:

1 cup white spelt flour

1 cup wholemeal spelt flour

2 tablespoons rapadura sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ – ½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup coconut oil, set hard

1 cup rice milk

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

For the fruit:

½ – 1 cup approx fresh fruit per biscuit

maple syrup

Pre heat oven to 200c or 180c if fan forced

Line a baking tray with parchment paper

Add the flours, rapadura sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon to a mixing bow. Whisk through to distribute the ingredients evenly. Grate the very cold coconut oil into the flour. Using your fingertips or pastry cutter, rub the oil into the flour as quickly as possible (body temperature will melt it) until it is incorporated – the mixture should look like small breadcrumbs.

Alternatively, you could use a food processor. Add the flour/s to the processor and using a butter knife, break up the very cold and hard coconut oil into chunks as best you can and add these to the processor. Pulse one or two times, or until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Turn the mixture into a mixing bowl.

Holding back 1 tablespoon from the 1 cup of milk, mix together the milk and apple cider vinegar. Add the wet to the dry and lightly mix together (over mixing will give you heavy biscuits). If the mixture looks very dry, add the remaining 1 tablespoon milk.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Making sure your hands have a little flour on them, lightly shape into a rectangle 18cm x 20 cm – it doesn’t matter, so long as they are approx 3cm depth. Flour a knife and cut into 14 pieces. Using a palette knife pick them up, as best you can (don’t worry if they fall out of shape a little – they’re not scones) and place on the tray.

Bake for 10 – 15 mins, or until lightly golden and cooked inside.

While the biscuits are baking, slice the fruit and sweeten to taste.

Break the biscuit, top with fruit and cream or yoghurt and serve.