Sweet, lacy, crunchy biscuits. Easy to make – just be sure you have plenty of wooden spoons! Delicious filled with cream or made into little ice cream bowls. A special dessert with minimal effort.
Welcome to that awkward lull between Christmas and New Year! Is it Tuesday? Saturday? Is it even still December?! Who knows.
We’ve peaked in terms of ability to entertain and socialise for the year. Which also means it will be a quiet Hogmanay for us. I may cook something nice, it may be a frozen pizza, either way we will be in bed long before midnight!
If you are more of a celebrate right up until the bells sort of person, and you plan of entertaining this Hogmanay, can I suggest you make a batch of Brandy Snaps to share with your guests?
Brandy Snaps are wonderfully easy to make but deceivingly look like a lot of effort has gone into them. The classic shape for a Brandy Snap is the little rolled tube – achieved by wrapping your biscuits around the handles of wooden spoons whilst they are still warm.
Alternatively, you can drape them over a rolling pin, creating little taco-like biscuits. Or how about using some cream horn/cannoli cones, you make little crunchy sugar cones?
Or perhaps you want to make little Brandy Snap bowls, perfect for dropping a little scoop of ice cream into. That one may have people questioning how you became such a skilled pâtissier!
Whatever your choice of Brandy Snap shape, they are sure to be a hit with any party. Or just for munching at home before you dose off in front of the telly!
Ingredients:
Butter or Margarine
If we’re talking tradition, butter is what would usually be used. However margarine is a great alternative, particularly if you’re concerned about cost or want to omit the dairy (making these vegan brandy snaps!). As these Brandy Snaps are packed with sweetness, spice and brandy flavours, the choice between butter and margarine doesn’t really impact the overall taste.
If you do opt for margarine, just be sure to use a block margarine, as opposed to the spreadable kind – the latter will make your biscuit mixture too thin, and spread too much.
Soft Light Brown Sugar
You can experiment with different sugars, depending on your preference or what you have available. I personally love a light brown sugar, as it is a nice balance between the sweetness of a white sugar, without being quite as rich as a darker brown sugar.
Golden Syrup
Not only does golden syrup add it’s own unique flavour, it also lends a nice golden hue and helps perfect the overall texture of your brandy snaps.
Self-raising Flour
Brandy Snaps aren’t known for their light airy texture but you do still want a little bit of rise to them as they bake. The self-raising flour lends just enough lift to to the biscuits as they bake, stopping them from spreading too much and giving them that lacy texture.
Brandy
For real authentic brandy snaps, a dash of brandy is required. Without it, can you really call a brandy snap a “Brandy Snap”?! The amount of brandy used is minimal however, so if you are set on making these and you don’t have any brandy, and will have no use for it other than for making brandy snaps, I have a secret solution for you…use some lemon juice instead.
I’m not a big fan of alcohol and unless I can buy a miniature bottle of brandy (not always easy), I swap it out for lemon juice. There’s undeniably a difference in taste but it’s by no means a bad thing – just slightly different.
Ground Cinnamon or Ground Ginger
A little extra flavour to compliment the sweetness and make these little crunchy biscuits a bit more festive. In my experience, I find cinnamon to go best with brandy, and ginger if you are using lemon juice. However, which one you choose is down to personal choice – go with what you prefer!
What is Golden Syrup?
Golden Syrup is a popular baking ingredient in the UK… But what is it? Where can you get it? And what can you use as a substitute?
My in-depth Golden Syrup Guide has all the answers to your questions!
Granny's Top Tips
• You must leave a decent amount of space between your brandy snaps when baking. I recommend 1-2 tsp of the mixture per biscuit, which doesn’t seem like a lot but they do spread super thin, and if there isn’t enough space between the biscuits they will just bake into one big mess. For a 9 inch by 12 inch baking sheet, I would only make 3-4 biscuits at a time.
• Keep a close eye on your biscuits as they bake. There’s a fine line between them being perfectly baked and them being overdone and having a burnt sugar taste.
• When it comes to shaping your brandy snaps, keep the flat side down and the lacy baked side up. This isn’t vital but it gives your finished biscuits a nicer look.
Love this? Try this:
Brandy Snaps
Ingredients
- 50 g Butter or Margarine
- 50 g Soft Light Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp Golden Syrup
- 50 g Self-raising Flour
- 1 tsp Brandy or Lemon Juice
- 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger or Cinnamon
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°c (160°c for fan assisted ovens or Gas Mark 4) and line a couple of baking sheets with some greaseproof paper. Set aside.
- In a medium sized pan, gently melt the butter/margarine, sugar and golden syrup over a low heat.
- Remove the pan from the heat before adding the flour, brandy/juice and ginger/cinnamon. Mix everything together until you have a paste-like dough (it will be more paste-like the warmer the mixture is, as it cools it will resemble more of a dough).
- Spoon small amounts (about 1-2 tsp) of the mixture onto your pre-lined baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between them - they spread quite a lot! You will repeat this process with the remaining mixture, so don't try and fit it all in one go.
- Place your baking sheets into your pre-heated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are a nice golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before using a pallet knife to lift your biscuits off of the tray. Gently wrap around the handle of a wooden spoon, with flat-side of the biscuit down (you want the nice lacy affect from baking to be on show). Place onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Repeat this process with the other biscuits - if your biscuits cool too quickly and are no longer pliable, simply pop them back in the oven for a minute to warm back up. If you don't have many wooden spoons, or would prefer a different look, you can instead drape the biscuits over a rolling bin for little taco shells, wrap around cream horn/cannoli cones, or on an upturned cupcake tray to make little bowls.
- Once cool and ready to serve you can pipe some freshly whipped cream into your Brandy Snaps, or serve with ice cream.
Free-from & Vegan
Nut-free: No nuts are used in this brandy snaps recipe but be sure to check your ingredeints individually to check for hidden allergens.
Dairy-free: Simply use a dairy-free margarine to make this a dairy-free brandy snaps recipe.
Vegan: Simply use a dairy-free margarine to make this a vegan brandy snaps recipe.
Gluten-free: In theory, it should be simple enough to swap out the self-raising flour for a gluten-free self-raising flour, however I have not tried this and can’t confirm for sure that it will be a like-for-like swap. Let me know if you do give it a go though!
