The Lady Director’s Crimson Biscuits

I was very excited when She Simmers and Bouchon for Two created a monthly veggie food fight - but was a little apprehensive when I discovered beetroots were the first vegetable. You see, I am not best fond of beetroots. My impression of beetroots has been forever tainted by the sour, vinegar soaked variety that stain school salads. I have actually never cooked with raw beetroots before, so had no idea how to approach this.

A quick dip into cooking history revealed that beetroots have been used in recipes for centuries. The ancient Romans believed them to have aphrodisiac properties and in the middle ages they were used as medicine for problems with digestion. Old English recipes show that beetroots were popular in cakes, tarts, chutneys and biscuits. I was sold on the biscuits. To make this challenge extra fun, I decided to use an old English recipe.

Richard Bradley was the first Professor of Botany to Cambridge University. In 1732 he published The country housewife and lady's director, in the management of a house, and the delights and profits of a farm. (You can download a copy of this work here, if you so wish!) The work is addressed "to the ladies of Great Britain, etc," and in the preface, Bradley states that his motivation to write the book was the "Difficulties I have undergone in my Travels, when I have met with good Provisions, in many Places in England, which have been murder'd in the dressing"! As well as a multitude of sarcastic comments about the food served to him by various hosts, Bradley also includes advice on farming and household management, and many recipes. Including this one for biscuits made from beetroots:

To make Biscuits of Red Beet-Roots; from the same; call'd the Crimson Biscuit.

Take the Roots of Red-Beets, and boil them tender; clean them, and beat them in a Mortar with as much Sugar, finely sifted; some Butter; the Yolks of hard Eggs, a little Flower; some Spice, finely beaten, and some Orange-Flower-Water, and a little Lemon-Juice. When they are well mix'd, and reduced to a Paste, make them into Cakes, and dry them in a slow Oven.

I used this recipe as a starting point, and used a basic biscuit recipe to work out the quantities. The beetroot and egg made the dough much more moist and sticky than usual so I ended up increasing the flour quantity (original basic biscuit mix: 3/4 cup plain flour, 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup sugar).

Ingredients for The Lady Director's Crimson Biscuits (makes 12-20 biscuits depending on how big you would like them!)
1 raw beetroot
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg yolk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tbsp orange extract/natural orange flavouring
juice of half a lemon (reserve the other half to clean your hands afterwards!)

(1) Preheat oven to 150 C/300 F.

(2) Beat the beets! As part of the challenge I opted to stick with the eighteenth century solution of a pestle and mortar and chopped the beetroots before grinding them. Feel free to blitz them in a food processor.

(3) Put the chopped beetroots, sugar, butter, egg yolk, orange extract, lemon juice and allspice into a large mixing bowl and cream them together until well mixed. I used my hands for this to keep with my challenge of doing it the eighteenth century way (and had suitably stained hands for halloween!) but it would have been quicker and less messy with an electric mixer!

(4) Next add the flour and knead the mixture into a dough. Mine was a fantastic Barbie-pink colour!



Roll the dough into small marble-sized balls and press into patties. Arrange on baking tray.



(5) Bake for 25 minutes in the centre of the oven and then allow to cool on a wire rack.



The biscuits came out a lovely orangey-pink colour (not crimson!) and the flavour was sweet, delicate and fragrant. The earthiness of the beets was perfectly complimented by the light, sharp flavours of orange and lemon.

For a drink to go with my biscuits I decided to jump head-first back into the twenty-first century. The orange and lemon in the biscuits made me think of Margaritas so I put together a Bloody Beetroot Margarita for halloween!

To make a Bloody Beetroot Margarita mix 1 fl oz each of tequila and cointreau with the juice of half a lime and shake with ice. Strain into a salt-dipped martini glass and top with beetroot juice to taste (for a more sophisticated Beetroot Margarita, try this).



I used up my left over beetroots to make a cake - I used a simple carrot cake recipe and subsituted the carrots with beetroots. The cake-mix was a fabulous pink!





After baking, the cake was a rich caramel colour and was rich, moist and tasty!



I've really enjoyed my experiments with beetroots and will certainly cook with them again. And I can't wait for next month's food fight!