The Art of Biscuit Making

   

                                                                                                      

Biscuit mouldTurkey is renowned for its delicious biscuits, cakes and pastries. Beautiful displays of carefully crafted biscuits adorn the shelves and window displays in the patisseries or 'pastanesi’ as they are called in Turkey. These patisseries can be found on every street corner, usually buzzing with locals enjoying a cake or biscuit along with a cup of Turkish tea (çay) or a Turkish coffee.

Our hand carved biscuit moulds are an example of how traditional hand-craft and baking come together; making ordinary biscuit making into a work of art. Each mould is carefully carved, each one slightly different and with a unique identity of its own.

 

Tahini cookies

The biscuit making process...well that's easy. They work perfectly with any biscuit dough recipe, though shortbread is perfect. Roll the dough into small balls and press each dough ball into the mould and then gently tap out onto the baking tray.

If you aren't into biscuit baking, well we think these hand-carved moulds are simply beautiful objects in their own right. They make unique ornaments either on their own or in a collection. With so many different biscuit mould designs, the difficulty is choosing which ones to have.

 

They are always a point of conversation in our home, when you tell the story about what they are for, and of course when you share the delicious results of your biscuit baking.   

 

Take a peek at our Pazaar Biscuit Moulds here  

 

Tahini cookiesThis is our tried and tested Turkish tahini cookie recipe;

Tahini Cookies

Ingredients 

▪   100g caster sugar

▪   150g unsalted butter, at room temperature

▪   110g tahini paste

▪   1/2 tsp vanilla essence

▪   25ml double cream

▪   270g plain flour

▪   1tsp ground cinnamon, sumac or sesame seeds (topping)

They are delicious made with tahini, but if you can't get your hands on any just add some extra vanilla essence. 

Method

1. Place sugar and butter in a bowl and mix for a minute or so until just combined but not aerated

2. Add tahini, vanilla and cream and mix again. Add flour and continue to mix until a dough comes together

3. Knead in bowl for a minute or so until the dough is smooth

4. Pinch off 20g of the dough and roll in the palms of your hand to form a ball. If using our Pazaar biscuit mould, press the ball of dough into the mould, push in gently and then tap out onto a lined baking tray. Do not overcrowd the tray as they will spread slightly whilst baking

5. Continue to roll the balls of dough and place on baking tray. If you aren't using a biscuit mould, simply press each ball flat with the back of a fork

6. Sprinkle the biscuits with a little cinnamon, sumac or some sesame seeds

7. Place the tray/s in an oven preheated to 200c/180c fan and cook for approx 15 minutes or until golden. Watch towards the end as they can over brown very easily

8. Slide the tahini cookies onto wire rack and allow to cool before storing in an airtight container

Makes 30 – 35 biscuits.

Enjoy!