Real Tea Dunkers

Biscuit dunking is a skill that one learns quite early in life.  It is a lesson in risk.  How long can you dangle or dunk a biscuit in your tea before it succumbs to gravity and becomes a soggy mess at the bottom of the cup?   I think the Italian biscotti or cantuccini probably holds itself in shape for longer because it is twice baked.  Ah that we could all be twice baked and not sucuumb to going soggy around our middles.

I have always avoided any recipe that uses the term twice-baked so I’m not about to start doing that with biscuits. Life is too short.   But I did want to make a biscuit that went really well not only with but IN a cup of tea.  It had to be a biscuit that tasted good in its natural biscuity form but also had to hold its own when dunked.  I’m not sure if I was truly successful on the latter.  We took up the challenge and the longest we got away with was 4 seconds.  And  this isn’t bad in homemade biscuit dunking terms. I think commercially made biscuits could probably beat us but……these WERE special.    I got really carried away and put a spoonful of made black tea with lavender in the mix.  This meant that when they were dunked, the flavour of the tea and the lavender reacted and became a gorgeous almost unidentifiable spicy experience.  So, if you fancy taking up the challenge, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

100g softened butter or margarine

100g soft brown sugar

150g self-raising flour

2 teaspoons dried lavender flowers

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 tablespoons made Ceylon tea with Lavender (i.e. liquid)

Method:

Cream butter or margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Stir in flour, flowers, essence and tea to form a soft dough.  Turn out onto a lightly floured board and roll out as thin as you can manage.  Cut into desired shapes and place on a tray lined with baking parchment.  Cook at 180C for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and leave on tray until firm enough to transfer to wire rack.

Happy dunking