Great British Bake Along: Paprika Thins

It's the weekend so we know what that means!  It is time for:

We're now two weeks into the Great British Bake Off and round 2 was biscuits.  It came up much sooner than the past couple of years but I was rather thankful it fell on this week as biscuits take less time than most things and I had a second bake planned since it is the Hubby's birthday this weekend (post to come later this week).  But before we get into the bake, let's talk bakers!

Once again, we had three interesting challenges.  The signature bake was to produce 36 savoury biscuits.  Admittedly I don't feel I can comment much on this one as I am not an eater of such things.  I am not a crackers and cheese girl, despite my love of cheese.  So I couldn't say if what they were doing was anything special.  Admittedly, I thought Martha was mad to make sandwich biscuits because then she was making 72 not 36 but good for her for pulling it off.  I didn't think Diana's really counted as biscuits given they were made with pastry, though again she was also mad because she made her own puff pastry and they only had two hours?!  I remember thinking Norman's were a bit boring and simple as well.  In fact, most of the things Norman did this episode were too simple.  It was a bit disappointing.

The technical challenge was florentines.  Now, I've made florentines before but don't make them very often because they always cause me bother.  Every time I have made them they have adhered to the paper they were cooked on and I've had to painstakingly remove it after baking.  It is so frustrating so I was watching intently to see if any of the bakers had the same problem.  Apparently not!  I want to know what paper they were using!

Then there was the showstopper.  Oh, I would be quite frustrated with this one because it is so fiddly!  A scene constructed entirely of biscuits is not an easy task, but this is the showstopper so it wouldn't be.  I wouldn't even know where to begin.  Some of the designs though!  Just...wow.  Luis's was ridiculously good.  Especially since he chose fiery flavours for the dragon.  That was clever.  Richard's was also amazing.  That interlocking sea monster was just a work of genius.  It's not really a surprise he won this week.  These two are definitely ones to watch.  I'm also keeping an eye on Chetna and Jordan because I really like them!  And I think Martha is due a win (even though I'm still horribly envious).  She doesn't seem to have done anything wrong so far and yet has been beaten out of Star Baker each week.

As for who left this week, I admit I did not think it would be Enwezor.  I really thought it would be Norman, though the Hubby pointed out that Norman had received compliments in the first round.  Enwezor had not had much in the way of praise.  It was sad.  I liked his rocket!  And props to him for baking with children attached to his legs when he is at home.  I don't think I would have the patience for that!

Next week is bread.  I'm thinking Norman may do rather well on this one.  He strikes me as a bread man.  Guess we shall find out on Wednesday!

Right, so onto this week's bake.  Like last week I decided I would take on the signature challenge.  I rarely make anything savoury so this would make a nice change.  Luckily, my lovely yellow biscuit book has a section on savoury biscuits so I ran options by the Hubby and his mum and sister, since they would be the ones eating them, and these paprika biscuits won.

A biscuit dough often is, this wasn't too tricky to put together.  I had it made in 15 minutes.  In fact, the whole process was actually pretty quick.  Even though I could only fit 12 biscuits in my oven at one time, I was still finished all 36 well before the 2 hour limit was up.  I even ended up redoing the first 12 after I'd initially cut them out because I realised I had split the dough wrong (and I'm supposed to be good at maths!).  So this is a fairly quick bake.  And very simple.  I always appreciate something quick and simple, especially when I am pressed for time because there are other things to be making.

They turned out rather well though I don't think I would be complimented on my presentation.  Whilst the bake seemed to be fairly even, they do vary in thickness ever so slightly.  The thickest ones could have done with a couple more minutes baking, but it was hard to tell since they are still soft when they come out the oven and firm up as they cool.  Some also went a little wonky when baking.  Other than that though they were okay.  The paprika was not as strong as I thought it would be but I discovered my paprika was out of date...and as we learnt on GBBO this week, that weakens the flavour.  Should have opened my new packet.  They were still enjoyable though and go very well with cheese.  I'll be making them again with in date paprika and they should be even better!  

Recipe - adapted from Home Baking Biscuits and Cookies

Makes 36

• 345g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 170g/6oz oatmeal
• 3 tsp paprika
• 3 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 170g/6oz butter
• 6 tbsp soured cream or yoghurt

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line 3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the flour, oatmeal, paprika, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix together.
3. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Gradually add the soured cream (or yoghurt) and bring the mixture together to form a smooth but firm dough.
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5cm/0.25inches thick.
6. Use a round 7.5cm/3inch diameter cutter to cut out the biscuits and place onto the prepared trays. 
7. Prick each biscuit with a fork.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a light golden brown.
9. Allow to rest on the trays for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Individual Honey and Walnut Cheesecakes

Dessert Challenge time has rolled around once again!  And once again we have a classic combination that I have never encountered before!  This month's ingredients are honey and walnut and my contribution is little, individual cheesecakes!  Also, as an added bonus, these cheesecakes are both sugar free and wheat free, as all the sugar is replaced with honey and the base is made of nuts! 

When I sat down to think about this challenge I was at a bit of a loss.  Honey and walnut is not something I've really used in combination and I've only used honey...once I believe as a significant ingredient, back when I made that honeycomb layer cake.  Oh wait, there was also that honey wheat bread.  But yes, for the most part, not really worked with this month's ingredients.  Hence I decided to turn to Google and see what came up for the two of them.  Of course, the most popular result was baklava!  I did consider baklava.  But it does involve my nemesis: pastry!  And you know me, I am wanting to make my own pastry.  I can't just buy it from a shop!  But baklava requires phyllo pastry, which is possibly one of the most terrifying looking pastries to make and I didn't think I was quite ready to attempt that.  Besides, I don't have a big enough table for all the stretching.

So it was back to the drawing board.  To be honest, I am not entirely sure how I eventually ended up at cheesecakes.  I have never made cheesecake ever.  Nor have I eaten it.  It just doesn't really appeal to me.  But that never stops me from making something.  Some browsing around yielded that I could use walnuts to make a base so that was great and I figured I could get the honey bit into the cheesecake's filling somehow.  It was then I had an idea!  Honey can be used as a sugar substitute so why not substitute the sugar in the filling for honey!  Clearly this was a stroke of genius!  So I looked into ratios and advice of substituting honey.  When it came to cheesecakes though, most places recommended against it due to the liquid content.  But one site did have some suggestions on how it could be done so I took inspiration from there.  I then found a simple looking cheesecake recipe to work from and was set!

Now obviously, when you have no experience either making or eating something then it is clearly a great idea to mess with a recipe!  You may have guessed that the first attempt did not go quite to plan.  Its main problem was the base.  My first issue was that I did not have ground almonds.  Well, I did but they were out of date so I couldn't use them and I hadn't ordered more.  I should really not be so lazy about walking over to the kitchen and checking these things when I am ordering my weekly shop.  Anyway, it meant I ended up substituting in more walnuts.  I also did not bake the base on its own, because the recipe I was adapting didn't either.  I had also read that nuts could burn much more easily than a biscuit base and didn't want to risk cooking them for too long.  The result after baking the whole thing was that I had a greasy base that remained rather gross and soggy even after the cases were removed.  They also fell apart very easily and were apparently quite bitter tasting.  Oh dear.  The topping was apparently quite nice according to my lovely tasters at Markinch Primary School, which was something at least because I had no idea if it had come out correctly.  I had kept them in the oven a lot longer than recommended because I could not work out if they were cooked or not.  However, overall, I was not happy.  So I made a second attempt the following weekend.

This time I made some changes.  I actually put the ground almonds in this time and I baked the base sans topping for a bit first to try and firm it up somewhat.  I had also been unhappy with the presentation of the previous cakes because I had used very large cases to line my tins.  Too large and so they folded in and caused the final cakes to have weird shapes.  This time, I used smaller cases.  I also decided to pipe my filling in, rather than use a spoon since it gave a smoother finish.  I stuck to the cooking time too.  I could actually see a change in colour on this attempt.  I couldn't with the last batch which is why I cooked them longer than I should have.  My final changes came with the decoration.  Before I had just drizzled them with honey and topped with a walnut.  I figured I could do better and go a bit fancier.  So I made a honey glaze to coat the walnuts and then roasted them!  And then made a honey sauce for drizzling.

And the final result?  A VAST improvement!  For a start, they looked much nicer and more appetising.  The bases were not greasy though they were still a little soft in comparison to a normal cheesecake base.  And the taste was much, MUCH better according to my tasters.  These ones were scoffed!  I was very pleased.  I am definitely getting better at this baking thing if I can mess with a recipe to such an extent and get a great result on the second attempt.  Of course, I would have preferred it to be right first time around but I am still very happy!

Recipe - inspired by Bill Granger, via GoodFood

Makes 12 individual cheesecakes

Base:

• 100g/3.5oz walnut halves
• 55g/2oz ground almonds
• 50g/1.7oz butter 

Filling:

• 400g/14oz cream cheese
• 55g/2oz runny honey 
• 100ml/3.5fl.oz sour cream
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of half a lemon

Honey Roasted Walnuts:

• 30g/1oz runny honey
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 55g/2oz walnut halves

Honey Drizzle:

• 55g/2oz runny honey
• 15g/0.5oz butter
• 1 tsp water 

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Blend the walnuts into crumbs in a food processor.
3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and then add it and the ground almonds to the walnuts.  Mix to combine.
4. Divide the nut mixture between the paper cases and press flat.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, make the filling by first mixing the cream cheese, sour cream and honey together in a large bowl until smooth.
7. Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract and lemon zest and mix to combine.
8. Either spoon or pipe the mixture into the prepared cases on top of the walnut base.
9. Put back in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the topping has puffed up and started to change colour.
10. Switch off the oven and leave the door ajar.  Let the cheesecakes rest in the oven for about 30 minutes before removing and carefully transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
11. Whilst the cheesecakes cool, make the honey roasted walnuts.  Cover 2 small trays with baking parchment and preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 1.  
12. Put the honey in a small saucepan and heat gently until it becomes thin and very, very runny.
13. Stir in the cayenne pepper with a rubber spatula.
14. Add the walnut halves and stir until they are fully coated. 
15. Spread the coated walnuts out onto one of the trays in a single layer and then bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.
16. Remove from the oven and transfer to the other tray and allow to cool so that the glaze sets.
17. When the cheesecakes have cooled, press a glazed walnut piece into the top and then store in the fridge until ready to serve.
18. Make the glaze shortly before serving.  Put the honey, butter and water into a small saucepan.
19. Cook over a gentle heat until the butter melts and the honey turns thin.  Whisk together for about 5 minutes.
20. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.  It will darken and thicken.
21. To serve, remove the cheesecakes from their cases and plate.  Give the sauce a quick whisk and then drizzle over the top of the cheesecakes.