Brandy snaps are one of my favourite biscuits and this recipe is taken from the wonderful Great British Bake Off cookbook. Instead of the cream filling in the book, I’ve used Shrikhand – an rich, Indian sweet yoghurt because I made these for Diwali festivities. You might also like the Shrikhand Tarts.
You’ll need
For the Shrikhand
- 500ml plain yoghurt
- 5 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp ground cardamom – I use fresh kernels and grind them just before use in a pestle and mortar
- 12 unsalted pistachios – finely choppped
- a few strands of saffron – optional
For the brandy snaps
- 50g unsalted butter
- 50g demerara sugar
- 50 golden syrup
- 50g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
For the finishing touch
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 12 more unsalted pistachios – finely chopped
- Edible glitter
TO MAKE THEM
- First start the Shrikhand and get the water out of the yoghurt. Lay a wad of newspapers on your worksurface and cover them with the muslin cloth.
- Pour the yoghurt on top and flatten it out across the muslin.
- Leave this for a couple of hours (overnight somewhere cool if you like) for the water to draw out into the newspaper. The longer you leave it the thicker the Shrikhand will be.
- Now preheat the oven to 180C and line 4 baking trays with non stick baking paper.
- Now make the brandy snaps.
- Put the butter, sugar and syrup into a heavy based pan and heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Don’t let the mixture boil.
- Take the pan off the heat when you can scrape a wooden spoon across the bottom without seeing any granules.
- Leave this mixture to cool for a for 3 minutes and then sift the flour and ground cardamom in followed by the lemon juice.
- Stir it all well and then spoon a heaped teaspoon of the mixture onto a baking tray. Make it a neat round shape on the paper as it will spread in this shape. Aim for 4 on one tray spaced well apart.
- Bake these for 10-15 minutes – it should have spread and be a dark brown colour.
- Leave them to cool ever so slightly – until you can lift them from the baking paper but they are still bendable.
- Quickly roll them over the handle of a wooden spoon into a tube shape and then slide them off.
- Leave them to cool on a wire rack.
- While they are cooling, finish off the Shrikhand. Scrape the yoghurt off the muslin cloth and into a bowl.
- Add the caster sugar, cardamom, saffron and chopped pistachios and mix well.
- Leave to cool in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
- Compile the brandy snaps by piping the Shrikhand into the bramdy snaps.
- For the finishing touch make some sugar syrup using 2 tbsp water and 2 tbsp caster sugar.
- Then brush some over the top of a brandy snap and sprinkle over some chopped pistachios and edible glitter.