When its Raining

What happened to our summer? It is raining again. Not that cold harsh rain we have in the winter months, but soft gentle rain, that prevents you from going into the garden, that prevents you from sitting outside reading a book, that just prevents you doing the things you had planned.
So when it's raining, I put on the oven, look through my recipe books and decide to have an afternoon of trying out new ideas or baking long forgotten dishes.
Yesterday was one of those days - it rained.
I found a recipe for Orange Shortbread Biscuits. The picture showed them cooked and wrapped in bags, trimmed with red ribbon and holly. What a wonderful idea, I can practice making them ready for my Christmas Cookery Club with the Juniors.
Orange Shortbread Biscuits
2 Satsumas
100g caster sugar
250g butter
350g plain flour
25g ground rice
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 160C/Gas 4
1. Peel the satsumas and process the peel with the sugar until the sugar turns
orange. (you can eat the fruit segments whilst the biscuits are baking)
2. Place the orange sugar into a mixing bowl with the butter and approx 300g of the
flour and ground rice.
3. Using your fingertips rub the flour into the margarine and sugar until you have
a stiff dough, you may need to add the rest of the flour.
4. Press the dough into a large tray making sure it is flat and even.
5. Cut the dough into approx 24 squares or fingers.
6. Bake for 30-35 mins until cooked and pale golden in colour (not too dark)
7. Leave to cool in the tray before carefully removing onto a wire rack.
8. They should fall apart easliy where they have been cut.
9. Sprinkle with a little more caster sugar.
10. Store in an airtight tin.

The Juniors will love making them and they can wrap them in bags with red ribbon and holly.
My kitchen smelt heavenly from biscuit making and by the time they were on the cooling rack the rain had stopped.