Why does it work?
- Custard powder gives biscuits their distinctive golden yellow color and custard flavour.
- Keeping the dough cold prevents the dough from sticking to the cutter and helps the cookies retain their shape and embossed details as they bake.
Shortly after moving to England in 2019, I discovered the joys of the supermarket biscuit aisle. Here, “biscuit” refers to a cookie that is served with tea, not with tea American variety Enjoy it with butter or broth. Packages of cookies filled the shelves from top to bottom, and while some offerings such as gingerbread, Alienchocolate chips – were familiar, others, like bourbon creams and Digestive biscuitsIt was new to me. The variety available was almost overwhelming, and I found myself browsing through each package, carefully debating which one to try first.
In the years since that first shopping trip, I’ve sampled most of the cookie offerings in the aisle, and custard creams have become one of my favorites. These sandwich-style cookies feature a buttercream-flavored frosting of pale yellow custard powder between two crumbly rectangular cookies. Custard creams, paired with a cup of tea (what many Britons call a cup of tea), are a staple of tea breaks at home, in the workplace, and in social settings across the UK.
It’s not clear exactly when custard creams were invented, but biscuits were incredibly popular during the 20th century: research on British Newspaper Archive It reveals that “custard cream” was mentioned nearly 100,000 times between 1900 and 1949. In 2007, reconnaissance 7,000 Britons have crowned custard cream the UK’s favorite biscuit, and while these are a bit old-fashioned, It was recently outdone With chocolate-covered desserts like Hobnobs and Digestive Chocolate Biscuits, custard cream remains a popular accompaniment to a cup of tea.
Real custard creams are known for their distinctive embossed pattern, with swirls surrounding a diamond shape and the name of the biscuit stamped into the paste. The swirls on the cookies are supposed to be ferns, a design that dates back to the Victorian era, said Stuart Payne, author of A nice cup of tea and a sit down,, He said BBC In 2007. In London, the Chelsea Physic Garden displays an image of a custard cream among its collection of ferns, showing how the design stamped around the diamond biscuit logo reflects the plant’s spreading fronds.
In addition to the classic version, custard cream comes in all sorts of modern flavors, like lemon, rhubarb, orange, and peach and cream. The famous British department store Marks & Spencer even sells chocolate-covered custard cream. Since many Britons enjoy custard cream daily, people often buy a tub or two during their weekly shopping trips. Although store-bought custard creams are very affordable and cost around 32p (about 40 cents) per tin, it is extremely beneficial to make your own. Baking your own custard cream means you can control the sweetness of the buttercream and fill the cookies with as much or as little as you like. Most importantly, it allows you to enjoy them fresh, when they have the best flavor and texture.
Basic techniques for making the best custard creams
Use real custard powder. During my research, I found recipes that offered substitutes like cornstarch or pudding mix. I tested these possible substitutes, but found that the cookies lacked the distinct vanilla flavor and color that custard powder provides. To get the best custard creams, it pays to look for the real thing. Although many brands are available, I recommend using Bird’s Custard Powder, which is what is traditionally used. (As a bonus, you’ll have plenty of leftover custard powder to make a batch.) Nanaimo bars.)
Keep the dough cold. Place the dough in the refrigerator before rolling it out, and again after cutting the biscuits. Cooling allows the cookies to maintain their rectangular shape and embossed details as they bake, and prevents the dough from sticking to the cutter. If the dough starts to feel warm or too soft at any time, place it back in the refrigerator for five to 10 minutes before continuing with the recipe.
Warm the milk. Custard powder gives the buttercream its distinctive amber color and vanilla custard flavour, but you can’t just add a spoonful of dry powder. Like instant pudding mix, custard powder is designed to dissolve in hot milk. Whipping the custard powder into warm milk before mixing it with the butter and sugar helps dissolve the powder, resulting in a smooth, silky buttercream.
Consider creating special partitions. For custard creams that look like they’re professionally made, I recommend using the Classic Custard Cream Cutters with Embossed Fern. But if you can’t find it or don’t want to buy it, a regular rectangle will be fine.
Fill them your way. Keep things simple by spreading the buttercream with a small, graduated palette knife, or to be more precise, cut the frosting into two lengthwise strips. If you’re feeling extra fancy, you can cover the flat side of the cookies with little dots of buttercream for a decorative finishing touch.
How to serve custard cream
Everyone eats their custard creams differently. Some bite, some break, some gnaw. Others dip biscuits in tea or coffee. Others, myself included, prefer to separate the sandwich cookies and eat the soft filling first, with the crunchy cookie as a chaser.