SHREWSBURY BISCUITS

                                Let me thank Loga,my daughter's friend who introduced me to this world of blogs.The history of my baking dates back to 1970s,when an aunty(the mother of one of the well known orthopaedic surgeons of Coimbatore)from Coimbatore who was our neighbour and friend in Tirunelveli taught us how to make cakes and biscuits at home.The uncle was holding a high position in the education department.She even got the cake oven,made of iron,costing Rs.5 ,from Cbe. and it had to be used on the kerosene stove.Then entered in the market,the ANANDA CAKE OVEN,costing Rs.50, and the cakes were baked in the aluminium oven,placed on an iron plate of sand,heated by a gas stove.There was the pamphlet, SPONGE CAKE by Chandrani Wiliams,an add on product. 


                               This Choosebury Biscuit,that is how we colloquially call it, is very popular till date in the local bakeries of Tamil Nadu.The recipe,I came to know from my neighbour in Madurai in the early 80s.At that time,Vanaspathi was used for biscuits and we used butter for cakes.

                             Dalda,as Vanaspathi ,called by the brand name in those days, was supposed to be an "elite element" in the preparation of Sweets,Pongal and the all time favourite of TN, the Mysore Pak.Ghee was only used for the "final touch up".The preface may be long,the process of baking is simple.

Biscuits ready for baking

Biscuits after baking

Ingredients:

Butter 150 grams.
Sugar 150 grams. ( 3/4 cup)
All purpose flour(Maida) 250 gms.( 2cups)
Baking powder 1 tsp.

Method:

1. Powder the sugar.Sieve the flour with the baking powder.Grease the cookies plate with ghee.

2.Mix the powdered sugar well with the butter using a blender or a wooden ladle.

3.Add the maida little by little and knead as done for chappathies.

4.The final dough should not be hard.It has to be a little loose and flexible,as it has to be made into small balls and flattened.If the dough is hard,cracks may develop along the sides of the biscuit.At times,even a little maida may be left after the right consistency of the dough is reached.Do not worry.

5.Take a little dough,roll it into a ball and flatten it, approximately one inch diameter.It may expand after baking .Do like this with  the whole dough.Arrange them in the cookies tray, with space in between for expanding and may be 2 trays are needed for the biscuits,roughly 60 in number.

6.Preheat the oven to 350 degree F . Keep the two trays in the oven .After 15 mins,open the door,gently lift a biscuit ,inserting a knife at the bottom.Wear hand gloves.If the biscuit is even a little brown at the bottom,remove the trays from the oven .The top of the biscuit may be a little soft.It becomes alright on cooling.Leave the 2 trays with the biscuits aside.After 30 mins.,store them in airtight containers.



Note:
Final products. 500 gms. 
Total time taken : 40mins.

If you are using an electric oven like Bajaj or something similar,set the temp., a little less than high , preheat for 10 mins. and bake the biscuits.I use only stainless steel plates of the max. size, that can fit into the oven.Arrange them in the plate and bake them.While they ere getting baked,arrange the rest of the biscuits in another plate of the same size.When the first  plate with biscuits are ready,remove and allow them to cool.keep the second plate inside for baking.