The Great Biscuit Bake-off 2023

The much anticipated, annual Year 8 Great Biscuit Bake-off was held recently. Food Technology students worked in groups of four in response to the design challenge. Their design brief laid out the rules and helped students to develop their understanding of the role a brief has in all design-based projects.

Planning was intense. Ambitions were high. Students worked hard to address requirements of the brief including the originality of their product, time parameters and related considerations and constraints of the challenge. Students were also mindful of their target audience and the fact that the competition winners would be based on peer votes.

Students were the given base recipe and choice of flavourings to create their own unique biscuit. Completed creations were photographed and photographs were included in a poster design. These posters were displayed in the Art/Tech building. To conclude the design process students evaluated their finished creations and reflected on the task, working in groups and the successes of their realised biscuit concepts.

If you now feel inclined to step up and take on the challenge of a great biscuit bake-off at home, please see the details below.

Rules
You may make one quantity of the given base biscuit recipe - no others may be used. One batch of the base biscuit recipe will make 18 (7cm diameter) biscuits, but you can make them whatever size, shape and arrangement you like! You may choose up to four different flavour additions from the ones listed. You must come up with a name for your biscuit. You must also design a poster to go with your biscuit for the photo. You may not bring any ingredients or biscuit cutters from home.

Rules

You may make one quantity of the given base biscuit recipe - no others may be used.
One batch of the base biscuit recipe will make 18 (7cm diameter) biscuits, but you can make them whatever size, shape and arrangement you like!
You may choose up to four different flavour additions from the ones listed.
You must come up with a name for your biscuit.
You must also design a poster to go with your biscuit for the photo.
You may not bring any ingredients or biscuit cutters from home.

Base Biscuit Recipe - Makes 18 (7cm diameter)
125g butter 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla essence ¾ cup (100g) brown sugar ½ cup (100g) caster sugar 1 ½ cups (225g) SR flour Preheat oven to 180oc. Line two silver baking trays with silicone baking sheets. Melt butter in microwave safe bowl in microwave for 30 seconds (or until melted). In a large plastic bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar and use wooden spoon to stir well. Add eggs and vanilla and stir to combine. Sift in flour and mix gently with wooden spoon to combine. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on baking tray - allowing enough room for them to spread. Bake for 8-10 mins if you want them chewy or 18-20 if you'd like them crunchy. Allow to cool and set on tray for 5 mins, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.

Base Biscuit Recipe - Makes 18 (7cm diameter)

125g butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
¾ cup (100g) brown sugar
½ cup (100g) caster sugar
1 ½ cups (225g) SR flour

Preheat oven to 180oc. Line two silver baking trays with silicone baking sheets.
Melt butter in microwave safe bowl in microwave for 30 seconds (or until melted).
In a large plastic bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar and use wooden spoon to stir well.
Add eggs and vanilla and stir to combine. Sift in flour and mix gently with wooden spoon to combine.
Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on baking tray - allowing enough room for them to spread.
Bake for 8-10 mins if you want them chewy or 18-20 if you'd like them crunchy.
Allow to cool and set on tray for 5 mins, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.

Flavouring Choices - Choose up to 4
This column, replace the equal amount of flour with:	Dark Chocolate	Butter Frosting	Sprinkles
Desiccated Coconut	Spices	Glace Icing	Raspberry/Strawberry Jam
Rolled Oats	Prunes	100 & 1000s	Marshmallows
Cocoa Powder	Dried Apricots	Lemon Juice	Food Colouring
	Sultanas	Lime Juice	Honey

Fish Biscuits by: Juliette Fishlock, Taehee Kim , Saadhana MuralIdharan & Alex Sharapova

Splatter Sweets by: Aanya Dua, Kira Klancevic , Charvi Palyam & Shreya Raghavan

Susuwatari by: Charlie Buchan, Evelyn Le, Tracy Luu & Hayley Tran

Kentucky Fried Cookies by: Adrien Hansnata, Jacob Jones, David Shalla & Justin Zhang

Bronwyn White - Assistant Domain Leader Art Technology