I’ve been missing my adventures across the pond a little more than usual lately—maybe because I couldn’t go there even if I wanted to. (Always want what ya can’t have!) But fortunately, I was able to bring a bit of England to Chicago with teacakes, as this little treat is easy to make under quarantine conditions.
If any of you are Great British Bake Off fans, you may have seen bakers attempt to make teacakes from Paul Hollywood’s recipe. These delights consist of crunchy biscuits topped with gooey marshmallows, all enveloped in a rich chocolate shell.
Not that. Paul’s recipe delivers elegant capsules of fresh marshmallow and dual-floured biscuits. Mine are based on the Waitrose store-bought version my friend introduced me to in London. But I swear, my British bakes still taste great (and are simpler to make)!
Not gonna lie, I went a bit rogue with this one.
I started off using Mr. Hollywood’s recipe, but quickly realized that I didn’t have the molds needed for the chocolate shells. (So I expect no handshake from him. But handshakes these days are forbidden anyway, so we’ll call it even.) So instead, I only used his recipe for the biscuits--after converting the measurements from metric to imperial system (silly American!). The recipe calls for very few ingredients that you most likely already have in your kitchen: flour, sugar, baking powder, butter, milk, salt and chocolate. See, very quarantine-friendly indeed!
While mixing the biscuit dough, I found it to be more crumbly than expected, so I added drops of milk as I went along in order to make the dough more malleable.
Cutting biscuits with a milk carton cap
Remember when I said I went rogue? I used the cap of a milk carton to cut into the dough to form the biscuit shape into perfect circles. Fittingly enough, these circles are just the right size for Jet-Puffed marshmallow halves to rest on.
After the biscuits alone baked in the oven at 325°for 10 minutes, I put the halved marshmallows on top and baked them for 2 minutes more so that they attached themselves to the biscuits.
Marshmallow-topped biscuits
Next, I let the marshmallow-topped biscuits cool for 10 minutes before starting the double boiler. I melted half of a bag of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips and dipped each biscuit at a time. If you have any leftover chocolate after coating all of the biscuits, I highly recommend putting the extra melty chocolate over the drying teacakes to create Jimmy Neutron-like swirls.
Leave your little teacakes out to dry, and there you have it! Quaranteacakes.
I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these turbulent times. <3
Ingredients*
*Makes about 24 teacakes
Directions
Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.
To make the biscuits, put the flours, salt, baking powder and caster sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips. Add the milk and stir everything together to form a smooth ball.
On a floured surface roll out the dough to about 5mm/¼in thick. Cut out six rounds with a 2in straight sided round cutter (milk cap!).
Place the rounds on a flat plate or board and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. Make sure the biscuits are perfectly round and well chilled, otherwise they might spread or shrink when baked.
Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes. They do need to be hard, not soft as they form the base of the teacake.
Remove the biscuits from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
As the biscuits cool, melt the chocolate using a double boiler. Dip the biscuits into the melted chocolate one at a time, removing each one with a fork. Place the chocolate-coated biscuits back onto the wire rack.
Place on a plate and keep cool – but do not refrigerate, to make sure the chocolate keeps its glossy shine.