It's rainy today and I'm feeling in a Mary Poppins kind of mood hence the title. I am also craving cups of tea in china cups and biscuits...yummy biscuits I can dunk into the tea. In the past I have mentioned the wonderful ladies of <a href="http://www.trotski-ash.com/">Trotski &amp; Ash</a>, well, I have been making their <a href="http://www.trotski-ash.com/2009/07/recipes/brown-sugar-biscuits/">Brown Sugar Biscuits</a> with much success the last few weeks. However, the continuous problem has been holding onto said cookies for more than an evening! Check out some pics from the process below:

<img src="http://cravenmaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/bsbisc01.jpg" alt="Brown sugar Biscuits ingredients" />

The ingredients are quite simple. I prefer to use <a href="http://www.kerrygold.com/usa/product_butter.php">KerryGold</a> unsalted butter because it reminds me of home, and I feel has a different texture and taste to other butters I encounter. As it is a solid <b>butter, I tend to leave 4oz</b> of it out in the kitchen for a few hours so that it can soften up. You want the butter to be super loose when making these biscuits! You also need about <b>8 oz of brown sugar, i prefer trader joes organic brand, one egg, a smidge of baking powder, one and a half cups of whole wheat plain flour and some traders candied pecan nuts for the decor</b>. Not much eh?!

<img src="http://cravenmaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/bsbisc02.jpg" alt="Whisked Egg" />

I <strong>whisk the egg</strong> up a bit with a fork so is all nicely mixed in and has that nice orangey yolky glow.

<img src="http://cravenmaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/bsbisc03.jpg" alt="Softened Butter and brown sugar" />
This is where the elbow grease comes into play if you haven't softened the butter well enough. LOL. <strong>Mix the butter and sugar until it is a nice creamy brown concoction</strong>. Depending on your speed and strength of mixing it could take a little while. Either that or I was just tired that day..

<img src="http://cravenmaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/bsbisc04.jpg" alt="Add the egg" />
<strong>Add the egg to the butter and sugar and mix it in well</strong>. The mix is now nice and fluid, though not runny, and a warm golden brown. Next sift the flour and baking powder in and add a pinch of salt. Always a pinch of salt!

<img src="http://cravenmaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/bsbisc05.jpg" alt="poised and ready for the oven" />
Next <strong>roll up little balls</strong> of the mix using a teaspoons worth at a time. Be sure to make sure the surface you roll them on is <strong>dusted with flour</strong>..I made the mistake of not doing so the first time and it was a bit of a sticky task! Once you place the balls of mix on a greased baking pan, push a candied pecan slice into the middle...almost done!!
<strong>Cook the biscuits in the middle of the oven on gas mark 190C - until the bottom is a nice light golden brown</strong>. With my gas oven it was very very quick, about ten minutes. Don't worry if you think its a little early to take them out - it probably isn't if your oven is anything like mine!!

<img src="http://cravenmaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/bsbisc06.jpg" alt="Yum - ready to eat" />
Voila! Now these biscuits above are actually from the second batch I made, not the first, which is where the rest of the pictures are from. Hee hee....the biscuits from the first batch didn't even last long enough for me to photograph! My friends descended on them like it was their first meal in a week...grr..so craven. lol. But, the second batch I used 1/4 less cup of flour which made the biscuits come out a little flatter. Using the cup and a half of flour made the biscuits more dense and substantial. Experiement with your flour levels depending on the type of biscuits you fancy that day!

One thing for sure you will never buy biscuits again...not when you can make this brown sugar biccie goodness. Check out the Trotski and Ash post about these biscuits <a href="http://www.trotski-ash.com/2009/07/recipes/brown-sugar-biscuits/">here</a>.

<i>all images by me using <a href="http://shakeitphoto.com/">shakeitphoto</a> for iphone</i>