Brandy Snaps
Home » COOK » Recipes » Recipes By Course » Desserts »My husband made some brandy snaps for Christmas Day to take with us to his parents whom we were visiting that day. I’m told, by my mother-in-law, that he used to make them when he was a child, and since brandy snaps seem to be a Christmassy thing, I suggested that he make them. And so he did…
He found a Mary Berry recipe online that he followed and which I’ll be sharing here. He did a great job and we loved crunching on these tasty morsels with some whipped cream piped inside. I’m not sure why they are called brandy snaps as they don’t have any brandy in them!
Brandy Snaps
Ingredients
- 55 g/2oz butter
- 55 g/2oz demerara sugar
- 55 g/2oz golden syrup
- 50 g/1¾oz plain flour
- ½ level tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line two baking trays with baking parchment then oil a thickish handle of a wooden spoon and lay it on a cooling rack.
- Measure the butter, sugar and syrup into a small, heavy-based pan. The easiest way is to measure the butter, then the sugar on the scales (in the pan if you have digital scales), then measure the syrup on top to make up to 165g/6oz total weight.
- Heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. This will take about 15 minutes over a low heat. Don’t let the mixture boil as it may crystallise. To check when the sugar has dissolved, stir occasionally, pulling the spoon across the bottom of the pan until you can no longer hear the gritty granules being scraped along and most of them have disappeared.
- Leave the mixture to cool slightly, about 2-3 minutes, then sieve in the flour and ginger. Pour in the lemon juice and stir well to mix thoroughly. Drop four teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto each of the
- prepared baking trays to make neat circles, about 10cm/4in apart.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture is well spread out, looks lacey and is a dark golden colour. Once baked, you need to work fast to shape the brandy snaps, so its easier if you bake one tray at a time. Remove each tray from the oven and leave for a minute or so to firm up slightly, then lift from the baking parchment using a fish slice. The mixture needs to be just
- firm enough to remove, but pliable enough to shape. Check by releasing around and under the edges with a small palette knife.
- Quickly roll a circle of the warm mixture around the handle of the wooden spoon, having the join underneath. Press the join lightly together to seal, then slide the brandy snap off the spoon and leave
- it to firm up on the wire rack, again with the join underneath. If any of the circles on the sheet harden too much to work with, put them back in the oven for a few seconds to soften again. Repeat until all the mixture has been used. If the mixture in the pan becomes too firm to drop in neat spoonfuls, roll a teaspoonful of it into a small smooth ball in your hands, sit it on the baking tray and flatten slightly with your fingers. When cold, store the brandy snaps in an airtight tin or container; they will keep for at least a week.
- To make brandy snap baskets, mould the warm cooked mixture around an orange (trim both ends so the orange stands firmly and to give a flat base to the basket), or the base of an oiled 200ml/7fl oz metal pudding basin, a tea cup or small jam jar – and use your fingers to flute the top edges. You don’t need to oil the orange, as its natural oils will prevent the brandy snap mixture from sticking.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
This post is part of Cook, Craft, Create: December 2013, why not check out the other ideas this season?
Christy Beckett
May 31, 2014 @ 11:52 am
These are one of our favourite sweets although I do find them tricky too make, mine often end up too hard to roll but they still taste yummy x
Jill Cordner
May 31, 2014 @ 9:54 am
I love brandy snaps but mine never look like that lol x
Yolanda Davis
May 9, 2014 @ 7:15 pm
they look great; i’ll definitely be trying to make these.
Karis
January 30, 2014 @ 2:03 am
I love brandy snaps, and yours look delicious.
Michelle Ordever
January 30, 2014 @ 10:58 am
They’re a great crunchy treat :)
Paula Phillips
January 27, 2014 @ 8:00 pm
I haven’t tried these yet so may have a go at making some as they look so easy.
Michelle Ordever
January 30, 2014 @ 10:58 am
They’re very easy to make, a little trial and error at the start as my husband found out when making them, but once he got the timings right he was knocking out brandy snaps like nobodies business!
Nicky Allen
January 25, 2014 @ 1:24 pm
Ooo yum, I didn’t realise they were so easy to make….gonna try these :0)
Michelle Ordever
January 27, 2014 @ 2:47 pm
Neither did I! They’re a nice crunch with ice-cream instead of a wafer :)
Rebecca Morgan
January 24, 2014 @ 11:43 am
Omg I just love brandy snaps! I never knew how easy they were to make either! I know what I’m doing this weekend :)
Michelle Ordever
January 24, 2014 @ 11:49 am
Me either – hubs made them on Christmas morning to take to his parents in the afternoon – that’s how easy and quick they are to make! x