Winter is Coming....

No that the title is not in reference to the change of seasons, but rather the words of the Stark family in George R. R. Martin's Songs of Ice and Fire book series. This wonderful series was the inspiration behind the hit television program A Game of Thrones, which I got hooked on last year. It is an incredible show full of violence, intrigue, and some of that steamy stuff that HBO is known for. But the books, well that is a different matter all together. It still has all the elements that make the show rather riveting, but in far more detail, and there is also great detail in the food. A pair of fans, Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer, noticed this and penned the wonderful, and official, Songs of Ice and Fire companion cookbook, cleverly called A Feast of Ice and Fire. It even features an introduction from George R. R. Martin himself! Talk about a seal of approval!

Having fallen in love with both screen and page versions of this incredible series, I of course had to snatch this book up when I found it at the store. Now in case you haven't noticed through my previous blogs, I love to make things from scratch and in as old fashioned a way as I can manage while still making great use of my Kitchenaid. Seriously, I would be so lost without that thing! Flipping through the pages I found recipe after recipe of mouth watering treats and savory meals. Really not the thing to do on an empty stomach. One thing I love about a lot of the recipes is that they are presented in a traditional medieval fashion, and then a more modern adaptation of the same recipe. Right away, the recipe for the honey biscuits jumped out at me and practically begged to be made. Now these are not American biscuits but British biscuits, which on this side of the pond are known as cookies. So, on a whim, I decided to make a batch of the modern honey biscuits, because they just looked too tasty to be denied!

For Modern Honey biscuits you will need:

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice or mixed spice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 cup (or one stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup honey
1 cup raw sugar for decorating

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of your mixer, combine the flower, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices, granulated sugar and spices.

 

 



 

Run the mixer for a second to kind of get everything combined. The smell of those spices...ah heaven. And it smells so much like the change in season. Earthy ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. Mmmm....too bad its not that chilly here! Then it would be perfect!

 

Next add in your cubed butter and blend it with the flour until it resembles fine bread crumbs.

 



Next, measure out the honey, and either heat it in a small saucepan on the stove over medium heat, or pop it in the microwave for 1 minute, to get the honey nice and runny, and pour it into the mixture. I found this interesting that essentially all  this is a spiced pie crust dough with honey as there is no other liquid added to these cookies, and yet they still come out soft and delicious.

Combine the ingredients until a soft dough forms. Its going to be quite sticky, but it smells amazing!

Here you are to shape the dough into little balls. To keep some semblance of uniformity, I used a cookie disher to scoop up the dough and roll it into a ball in my hands. Pour the raw sugar into a small dish, and roll the dough ball in the sugar until its coated.

Place the little balls of fragrant tastiness on the baking sheets, leaving room for them to spread. I put eight on each sheet.

 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits crack. Just like with snickerdoodles or chocolate crinkle cookies, the cracks mean they are done. Let them cool on the sheet for five minutes, then transfer them to cooling wracks. You can eat them warm or let them cool off a bit.

 

 

Now I will say this on these biscuits, they are very gingery. The pumpkin spice blend contains ginger, plus the two additional teaspoons the recipe calls for makes these very spicey. If you are not particularly inclined towards a lot of ginger, I recomend backing off the additional ginger by a teaspoon. But they are incredibly tasty, especially for a late evening snack with some tea or a glass of milk. And they definately bring that fall flavor to even a warm Texas evening that hasn't quite decided to show that its technically fall! Definately a repeat recipe!

Brightest Blessings!