Have you ever been disappointed? There’s a list that swims around in my head of things that just should have been better. Here’s a few:
- A la carte kitchens. Or rather the ad for this children’s toy manna from the ’80s. I was fully prepared to use a naked flame and serve warm beans on toast to my parents in bed. What did I get? Plastic beans. Plastic toast. No flame.
- Leaving school. I couldn’t wait to get away from the blue kilt, strict teachers and PE knickers. Suddenly without anything to rebel against rebellion was futile. And rebellion is of course nothing but fun.
- Labour and my rubbish pain threshold. Pre labour: “I want to feel the pain and give birth naturally.” Post birth: speechless. And that was with an epidural.
- McDonalds milkshake. I nagged and nagged. I was 8. They gave in. Imagine my shock and horror when I needed a spoon to eat a banana milkshake. It wasn’t meant to be that way. Not in my head.
So I’m over some of these things. Okay, I’m only over the last one. And that’s ’cause I’ve found a way to encapsulate my idea of the perfect banana milkshake flavour in biscuit form. Yum. Makes 12 ish.
Ingredients:
For the biscuits:
- 117g unsalted butter, very soft
- 27g icing sugar
- 100g plain flour
- 17g custard powder
For the filling:
- 100g icing sugar
- 50g butter
- 15g custard powder
- 15g banana Nesquick powder
The butter has has has to be very soft. I leave mine out overnight. If you don’t, you can’t pipe these little beauties.
Preheat the oven to Gas 4. Use an electric hand mixer to cream the butter until it turns lighter in colour, then add the icing sugar and beat again. Then add the flour and custard powder and carefully combine with the mixer. Might be worth mixing with a wooden spoon first to make sure you don’t splay flour and custard powder everywhere.
Next take a large star tip and a piping bag and pop the biscuit gloop into it. Then pipe stars straight onto a baking tray (The high butter content means you don’t need to line unless you enjoy lining trays that is) about 1 inch across and about 1.5 inches apart. You need to pipe 24 to make 12 biscuits but just pipe as many as you can. If you don’t have a piping bag then just use teaspoons to pop blobs of the mixture onto the tray. They won’t look as pretty but frankly this is about recreating banana milkshake/custard flavours, not a beauty contest.
Put into the oven on the middle/top shelf and watch like a hawk. These turn from uncooked to dark brown in the blink of an eye. Usually 10 mins from start to finish to cook but watch towards the end. Once cooked remove from the oven and place tray on a rack. Don’t poke, lift or prod the biscuits until they are completely cool. They are fragile little things.
Make the filling – just cream all the ingredients together. Once the biscuits are dry, pair them into equal sizes and then either pipe the filling onto one half of each biscuit or spoon on. Then gently press the biscuits together and leave to set. Eat with milk like it’s 1988.
(Oh and if you fancy a strawberry milkshake flavour then strawberry Nesquick does a wonderful job…)
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Holly Bell 
Hi Holly, I asumed these are the same recipe as the strawberry and custard melts even though the recipe is slighty different than the on the BBC Food website. Anyway, I saw you used a template on the GBBO and i was wondering what circular thing you used to draw around to make the circles for the templkate. Thanks, Matthew :)
Hi Holly, mine turned out quite flat – er what did I do wrong?!
Do you have an oven thermometer? Sounds like you might have a less hot oven than it says. These aren’t very high though – they’re flat little discs with a slight peak. Xx Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
Thank you Holly I will try again – huge disaster, just had a tray of crumbs!!!!
Just made these – yum! Just making a second batch for mums & tots tomorrow. I didn’t bother with the nesquik though – just custard cream yumminess. Going to have a play now and see if I can make them chocolatey too – assuming I just use cocoa instead of custard powder.
Hi Sian, the custard powder is pretty important as it has cornflour in which gives that very melty texture in the mouth. I would take out a tbsp of the flour and replace with cocoa to give extra choc flavour and retain the texture. xx
These look excellent. Not sure of the blue knickers. But sure I has some relevance.
My almost 34year old step-daughter is still traumatised because she didn’t get an a la carte kitchen -I must share your disappointment with her LOL
Please do! She wasn’t missing out much! Xx
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Holly if you ever write a recipe book you just HAVE to put in these special pearls of wisdom. I love reading all about your inspirations and life, it brings a smile to my face!! and a lightbulb moment of oh yeah I know what you mean. Can you remember the Mr Frosty Ice making kits, I adored mine after the initial disappointment of my own ‘slush’ puppies of not being like the ones in the shops!
I have hazy memories of loving mr frosty but running out of the flavoured powder really quickly. It was powder wasn’t it? Or did I just make that up? X Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
That’s it, my morning tomorrow is sorted :0) they look lush x
Mmmm these sound wonderful. I think I just might have to make them. Thank you Holly xx
That’s okay Carole! They’re my kind of biscuit. Small so you can eat more! x
Oh I am so with you Jo. I want to love caviar but it's just not my thing. x
I hated those big blue knickers, Those biscuits look and taste stunning, biggest disappointment for me the taste of caviar what is it about those salted black fish eggs !!
Claire, I wish I'd thought of that as the recipe title! x
They look beautiful. Like classy iced gems.
I think PE knickers could be revived as a fashion item by Lady Ga Ga. :-)
Oh they look lovely. Perfect for some 80s nostalgia.
The thing that really takes me back, though, is the mention of PE knickers. Wow – remember those? Seems bizarre now.