Practice: 3D biscuit scene

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Above is an accurate depiction of me.  I have eaten many BISCUITS as of late.  Then, I got hit with a stomach virus which put me waaaaay behind in my baking game.  Apologies for the lateness of this post.  But, I am back to being a baking and eating monster. 

This is one is going to be pretty short and sweet (like pastry… get it?!).  I wanted to show my process and progress of my way to the #showstopper to close out my first biscuit week.  Truth be told, initially when I thought about this showstopper (back during Thanksgiving), I got really nervous.  Then, a light bulb went off in my nerdy mind: (Ding!) HOGWARTS.  I can make a Hogwarts 3D biscuit scene.

Fast forward to February 2019….

Me: FACE PALM.

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What was I thinking!?  I’ve never made a 3D biscuit scene.  Hell, I haven’t even made true English biscuits.  But since I am of a stubborn stock, once I get something in my mind… I can’t let it go.  

When I was young and innocent, back during Thanksgiving 2018 (yeah, ok, I know it was only a few months ago), I gleefully googled “Hogwarts images” and sent them via email to myself.  As I opened these images up this week… I was like "#accio time machine"… to take me back to when I thought making a 3D biscuit scene of Hogwarts was a good idea, so I could slap myself.

But I haven’t graduated from witchcraft and wizardry school yet, so I am stuck with my stubbornness and trying to figure out to craft Hogwarts because this badger won’t quit (#Hufflepuff, baby!).

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I figured I should at least start with baking the biscuit that I would use to craft my 3D structure.  So I started with a ginger(bread) biscuit. As I was mixing this recipe, I found it odd that I hadn’t made gingerbread before.  I don’t know why… just one of those things I never got around to. I knew that I had all the ingredients in my pantry so I wasn’t too scared of another “Pantry Caper” scene.  

Ok, we got some AP flour, some spices, some sugar and butter… and some molasses.  Great! And wouldn’t you know it after I had run around town for miscellaneous adult life things and a couple of auditions…. it turns out that I DID NOT HAVE MOLASSES (cue me turning into Jack-Jack monster from Incredibles 2).  But wait! I do have treacle. (The Dana Jack-Jack retreats). Remember my new found fondness for golden syrup from earlier this month… well guess what, now was the time to try its deeply rich and dark cousin.  Also, it’s Harry Potter’s favorite tart so…

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Treacle, again, something that I have never tasted or used.  But now I must use in as many recipes as I can. I remember that I ordered this from the Amazon box during the summer and it took FOR-EH-VER to get her from across the pond … I didn’t have prime option for that apparently.  It was a nice little surprise that showed up on my doorstep when it got here. Anywho, the flavor is a very rich, deep syrup. A little woody and earthy...in the best way possible! Definitely an umami booster. (According to Dictionary.com - Umami: a category of taste in food (besides sweet, sour, salt, and bitter), corresponding to the flavor of glutamates, especially monosodium glutamate.)  Cue brain: trying to find excuses to use treacle.  

The flavor of the dough was packed full for flavor and warmth from the spices.  Next time, I might try messing around with the recipe and adding fresh ginger… hmmmm.

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Look at those beautiful colors in a bowl. Like a good eyeshadow palette.

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Once again, I want to make sure that you know that I have no clue what I am doing.  So I let the dough rest in the fridge. I figured I would just roll out the dough and then use a sharp knife and cut the outline of Hogwarts.  And that is exactly what I did. BTW, I do not have any drawing or crafting skill. I can see how this might seem super rudimentary to some of you who may be advanced in this part of the art world.  

I baked the biscuits for about 10 minutes.  The larger pieces I had to throw back into the oven because I thought that they were a little soft in the middle...but the small pieces were pretty hard… and that may have changed the flavor a little bit. The flavor seemed to be muddled in the harder pieces.  Which is to say less of the all around warm, spiced goodness. Since I am not really sure if these cookie/biscuits are supposed to have a “snap” or be some place in between, I will have to think about that before baking my true #showstopper.

I don’t want to be sacrificing flavor in order to have firm construction, because the 3D biscuit scene should be edible.  Also, maybe don’t choose to construct Hogwarts for your first 3D BISCUIT SCENE!  Sorry, slight anxiety panic.

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Since I didn’t actually have time to “construct” a practice 3D scene… I will pray to the baking gods that something will turn out for the real thing.  I actually have a couple of other biscuit/cookie recipes that I want to bake to see if I can incorporate for construction and flavor. I found a couple of recipes on the online wonder that is Pinterest.  This particular recipe is not a ginger biscuit but at this point I am not too big a stickler on the flavor as long as it tastes yummy.

​All in all, I figured out a couple of ways to get it to stand up but I have to be a little more exact on measurements of cutting and not just #wingingit - (insert: cool name pun here (sorry, I couldn’t figure one out, Lindy)).  Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that I finally got some rolling pin spacers so I feel confident that these will help me in my construction… maybe the baking gods ARE on my side!  I plan to use a mixture of royal icing to “glue” and cream cheese frosting...because cream cheese frosting and delicious ginger cookies - duh.

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I mean, it's Hogwarts like...right??

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And I got some cool meringue powder that I can use with royal icing.  :) I have only used it once before so I am excited to play around it with more.  A large majority of royal icing recipes call for egg whites, however, if you don’t want to separate eggs and then try to figure out what do to do with the yolks (mmmm, custard), it’s nice to have another option that has a long shelf life and that it is easy to measure out too.

​Truthfully, I am not sure how the decorations will be… decorating is not my forte when it comes to baking…. I am better at the making and EATING part.  

One of my goals during this entire #bakeoff challenge is to get better at the decorating part. Hopefully, my trepidation will turn into some great lessons and skills as a #homebaker.

I promised that I would bring you all the #bakewins and the #bakefails… I am doubting that a biscuit scene will get constructed...but we shall see.  It's in the hands of the baking gods now.

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See, the darkness in the center of one of the pieces - it was slightly underdone.

And... one slightly PG-13...

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For your viewing pleasure… some cute yoga pig sugar cookies.  My tribute to Lunar New Year.   Just had one for breakfast.  See you for the #showstopper.

​Until then, Happy Baking.  Happy Eating. Happy Repeating.