I’m back for my second bake in my GBBO bake-along series! Honestly, these bring me so much joy since trying something new rekindles my love for baking and reminds me how far I’ve come since starting my journey in the kitchen. However, if I’m honest, the least exciting part of GBBO is biscuit week – how many times can the contestants make gingerbread houses? I really hope they found a creative new task for this year’s series, but I won’t find out for quite a while. No spoilers, please!
contumely (adj): rudeness, contemptuousness, reproach
Also, why would you make biscuits when you can make cookies? The only version of these crispy dry cookies that I like are chocolate-covered digestives. Nothing else would be missed. But, in the spirit of things, I stuck to the brief. Here’s what I conjured up for…
Week 2: Biscuit Week
When biscuits aren’t your preferred treat of choice, it was a bit challenging to find a new recipe that wasn’t just flavored shortbread. Been there, done that. And with limited equipment, a higher demand on kitchen space, and minimal time, I couldn’t go “all in” like I did with the tuiles a couple of years ago. So after scrolling Pinterest (a good excuse to avoid work, right? 😉), I settled on this: Soul Cakes.
Soul cakes are from Shropshire, England, and are kinda like a combo between a scone and a biscuit. They have the quintessential crack, of course, but they’re lighter, not quite as dense, and are elevated by the addition of dried currants, which was a fun reminder of the time Tim and I picked black currants in Ireland. 😊
These biscuits are traditionally eaten during Allhallowtide (Oct. 31-Nov. 2), which is another reason I chose this recipe. I knew space in my posting schedule would open up just in time for Halloween – so Happy Halloween! I know many out there love Spooky Season for its decor, hauntings, and the chance to dress up. I’m not into that, but I do love a good “spooky” tradition, especially if it has pagan roots, so the history of the soul cakes was a particular draw.
In England, these cakes – round, flavored with spices, and cut with a deep cross – were handed out to “soulers” (usually children and the poor) who would go from door to door begging for food. When handed a cake, the soulers would sing and say prayers for the souls of those living in the house as well as their deceased relatives and friends.
The recipe recommends that you roll out this dough and cut circles with a cookie cutter. But…my dough was pretty moist, I didn’t feel like chilling it, and I didn’t want to make the effort to roll and re-roll the dough, I opted to roll the dough into balls and press flat with the base of a glass. I thought it worked just fine. And Paul isn’t here, so they don’t need to be uniform circles. 😄
Overall, they’re probably my second favorite biscuits (after the digestives), but would I make them again? No. I’d rather have a cookie.
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