How to Bake Rascals
Yields: 6
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Ingredients needed to make Rascals:
- 5 ½ oz self-raising flour, sifted
- 5 ½ oz plain flour, sifted
- 4 ½ oz butter, diced
- 4 oz mixed dried fruits
- 1 ¾ oz mixed peel
- 2 fl oz milk
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg, lightly beaten along with a splash of milk to form egg wash
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp mixed spice
- 3 ½ oz caster sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
- Blanched almonds, to serve
- Glace cherries, halved, to serve
- Butter, as required, to serve
Cooking instructions for Rascals:
- Warm up your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place both kinds of flours in a bowl and stir them all together along with a dash of baking powder.
- Throw in the butter cubes into the dry mixture and work them together, while rubbing them between your fingers, until they blend together to form a crumble-like mixture.
- Sprinkle the lemon zest, spices as well as dried fruits into the dry mixture until well combined and set aside.
- Crack the egg into a separate bowl and beat in milk until both of them blend together to a pale yellow mixture.
- Drizzle it into the dry mixture and stir them all together until they clump together to form a soft dough.
- Place the dough onto a lightly floured working surface and roll it out into an inch thick circle.
- Carve out round biscuits with the help of a cookie cutter and arrange them on a baking sheet, previously lined with a sheet of parchment paper.
- Brush them with the prepared egg wash, sprinkle the almonds on top of the biscuits and stud them with the cherry halves.
- Pop them into the hot oven and bake for 20 minutes or until they turn golden brown and are baked through.
- Set aside on a wire rack to cool slightly and serve warm along with a splodge of butter on top of each.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
