Biscuits are loved for their crunchy, crumbly texture, and it’s this that makes them so hard to master.
Many people avoid home-baked biscuits for fear of undercooking or burning them, but Mary Berry has a foolproof method.
Her straightforward recipe uses just four simple ingredients including one unusual addition; semolina.
As shared in her cookbook Mary Berry’s Absolute Favourites, the beloved British chef claimed that “just one batch of basic dough” lends itself to endless possibilities.
Mary recommended a trio of flavours to spice up the dough, but you can keep it simple by enjoying the biscuits plain.
Method
First, preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan/Gas 4), then line three baking trays with greaseproof paper.
For the dough, measure the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until soft and creamy.
Stir in the flour and semolina until combined, then divide the dough into three portions. Dust a clean work surface with flour and knead the dough.
Leave the biscuits plain or flavour each with different ingredients. Mary suggested lemon, almond and chocolate chip.
For the lemon biscuits, finely grate the zest of one lemon into a bowl and add it to one dough portion. Roll it out into a long sausage shape (20cm long), then sprinkle one tablespoon of demerara sugar over the dough and slice into 20 even round (1cm thick) and arrange on a baking tray.
For chocolate chip biscuits, knead 50g of milk or plain chocolate chips into one portion of dough then shape into 20 balls and arrange with plenty of space between each one on a lined baking tray. Press down the dough with the back of a fork until 2cm in diameter.
To make almond biscuits, knead one teaspoon of almond extract into the remaining dough, along with 40g of flaked almonds. Shape into 20 small balls and arrange on the third baking tray, spaced apart.
Top each biscuit with a few almonds then flatten with the back of a fork into 2cm discs.
Regardless of flavour, all of the prepared biscuits should cook for 10 minutes until golden brown in the preheated oven.
