In which we make pop biscuits and I am serene...

 

On Monday morning while Minty is at kinder Turi and I usually find ourselves with a little 'alone time' to fill in.  More often than not, we end up in the kitchen together for a spot of baking.  Since Turi is still only two, the kitchen tasks he can actually complete are still a bit limited.  Mostly it's his job to carry the ingredients from the fridge, press the button on the electric scales, tip things into the bowl, and of course the most important job of all, lick the spoon!  Occasionally he will over enthusiastically attempt to crack an egg, slip with the stirring spoon and throw flour all over the floor or 'zero' the scales midway through measuring.  I have to say 'it's not licking time yet' more times than I can count.  I have to constantly remind myself, 'you are calm and serene'.  In other words it's typical 2-year-old fun!

Lately we've been trying to recreate the pop biscuits from Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree (or 'pop cakes' if you are reading from the overly sanitised and Americanised newer editions).  

'She [Silky] brought our a tin of Pop Biscuits, which were lovely.  As soon as you bit them they went pop! and you suddenly found your mouth filled with new honey from the middle of the biscuits.  Fanny took seven, one after another, for she was rather greedy.'

Don't you just love Fanny?  I can really relate.

Trying to actually create a biscuit that is filled with honey is more difficult than you'd think.  The honey completely melted into the biscuits in our first attempt and though they were lip lickingly delicious, they weren't exactly pop biscuits.  This week we used a little tart tin to help the biscuits keep their shape and hold the honey.  The result was certainly more successful with a proper honey centre.  They looked a little bit like a mince pie though so I think there is still room for improvement.