Original
Recipe
Drie a pound of very fine wheat flower in an Ouen two houres, after
the bread hath beene drawne, or the Ouen being warmed, but not heated for
the nonce, the flower were best in an earthen Pipkin couered, least it
loose the colour, put to it a pound of double refined Sugar beaten and
cearsed fine, then take ten new laid Egges, take away fiue of their whites,
straine these Egs into a Bason, with a spoonfull of Rose-water, and sixe
spoonfuls of scalded Creame, when you haue all in the Bason, first put
in your cearsed Sugar, and let it dissolve by beating it into your Egs,
then put in your flower by little and little, vntil both the flower and
the other things be incorporated, beat it well together an houre at least,
and you shall at last see it turne white, then you must have coffins of
white plate indude with butter as thinne as you can, so as it be touched
in euery place, then take an ounce and a halfe of sweet Anise-seed, and
one of Coriander, dried rubd and dusted, put the Anise-seed in the batter,
& the batter into the coffins, and bake it an houre at least if you
will, you may make Cracknels of the same batter, driue it thinne vpon the
Plates, and when you take it off, rowle it thinne like a Wafer, and dry
them again in the Ouen.
Country of Origin: England
Modern
Recipe Interpretation
·
¾ cup flour
·
½ cup sugar
·
2 eggs
·
1 Tbsp anise seed
·
2 tsp rose water
Mix
all ingredients together and beat for about 45 minutes. Spray pan well and fill a baking pan with ¼
inch mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for
15-20 minutes, or until the mixture has risen and turns gold brown. (Wright)
In
the modern recipe, the amount of the ingredients has been decreased. Instead of caraway seeds, anise seeds are
used. Both seeds are closely related
within the parsley family. If using
small molds instead of a pan, bake at 325 degrees F for 11-12 minutes.
Lessons Learned
After playing with this recipe a few times, I found that my biskets came out less brown and crunchy when I lowered the oven temperature slightly and did not bake them for as long. By altering the baking time and temperature, the biskets came out of the oven more like muffins rather than very hard biscotti. Overall, I found that people were more receptive to the softer, muffin-like quality.
A recommendation was also made to me after making the above video. The suggestion given was to use a pastry bag to put the dough in the molds, rather than spooning it out. If a pastry bag is not available, get a heavy duty Ziploc bag and cut a small corner out.
After playing with this recipe a few times, I found that my biskets came out less brown and crunchy when I lowered the oven temperature slightly and did not bake them for as long. By altering the baking time and temperature, the biskets came out of the oven more like muffins rather than very hard biscotti. Overall, I found that people were more receptive to the softer, muffin-like quality.
A recommendation was also made to me after making the above video. The suggestion given was to use a pastry bag to put the dough in the molds, rather than spooning it out. If a pastry bag is not available, get a heavy duty Ziploc bag and cut a small corner out.
Works
Cited
Matter, James L. "To Make Prince Biskets." A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlemen. 1617. http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec156.html
Plat, Hugh. Delights for Ladies. 1609. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delightes_for_Ladies#.
Plat, Hugh. Delights for Ladies. 1609. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delightes_for_Ladies#.
8
January 2015.
Wright,
Kristen. “Prince Bisket.” http://www.greneboke.com/recipes/princebisket.html.
29
March 2019.
