This week’s episode of The Great British Baking Show brings us all things biscuits. But these are British biscuits, not your classic Southern American buttery biscuit with gravy. British biscuits are something more like what Americans call a cookie.
For Biscuit Week, everyone is just a little bit nervous. Contestant Mike doesn’t even think he knows how to make a biscuit.
The Challenges
1. The Signature Challenge: 12 Viennese Sandwich Biscuits
This challenge is all about the buttery coating on the outside of the biscuits. According to Paul Hollywood, the inside of the biscuits should be crumbly and rich. Prue Leith said that the texture needed to be perfect before piping the dough into the correct biscuit shape, “and of course I want them to taste like all of heaven,” she added. Viennese Sandwich Biscuits, also known as Viennese Whirls are nicely structured biscuits, with a whirl shape. Sandwiched between the biscuits is a dollop of jam with a ring of piped cream. The judges looked for a melt-in-your-mouth texture for the biscuits.
This challenge saw many nerves about not finishing their creations and the bakers comparing themselves to each other’s decorations — some felt they just weren’t decorating their biscuits enough.
John created a Viennese Sandwich biscuit using Irish coffee, an Irish cream ganache, and a coffee praline center. His sandwiches turned out to have good, neat definition. The judges called them “cute,” “a bit like me” he added to laughs. Hollywood said that despite their “lovely” taste, they were a bit overdone so it “gives you quite a dry mouth rather than luxurious” feeling.
Jeff’s sandwich biscuits were coffee and hazelnut with a coffee buttercream filling. His biscuits went flat and lost definition, so they looked a bit clumsy. Moreover, the biscuit was underbaked. But, according to Leith, there was “serious coffee” in the flavoring.
Illiyin, who tests her food creations on her family, used orange and pistachio flavoring for her biscuits. Her biscuits turned out a bit flat and the pistachio was hard to taste, leaving some blandness.
Christiaan, using ingredients from the garden he shares with his partner, created taragon biscuits with blueberry and lavender jam. After tasting his flavors, Leith said, “I think you’re quite an alchemist, you know.” The biscuits were a bit tough but tasted amazing.
Georgie created rhubarb and custard biscuits for her Signature Challenge, but the rhubarb was already making her biscuits a bit weird. Unfortunately, Leith said that Georgie’s biscuits did not “look tremendously appetizing.” The judges also agreed that she needed less filling.
Nelly’s biscuits were baked to look like her dog, with hazelnut and chocolate ganache and raspberry jam. As she started baking at age 14 with gingerbread men, she was feeling relatively confident about the biscuit challenges. Her doggy biscuits were clever and cute but not very neat. The pecans, chocolate, and jam flavors all came through in the taste. And the biscuits were melt-in-your-mouth.
Sumayah, an artsy and crafty person, created cheese and blackberry swan-shaped biscuits, with rose, goats cheese and honey buttercream. However, she said, “I’m just trusting my parents cause they tasted it and they liked it” — despite using it for her signature creation, Sumayah hates goats cheese. Despite hating the cheese, the swans turned out very cute and tasty. “I really think it’s a little triumph. And they’re funny as well,” Leith said.
Mike, a bit of a theater-kid, created malted brown butter and raspberry biscuits. At the last minute, Mike went a bit haywire with his drizzled decoration on top so it didn’t look good. But, the biscuit was melt-in-your-mouth. Hollywood said that they were “a bit basic with the flavor but subtlety is king in this.”
Andy, who served in the army during the Balkan war, channeled his experiences and created peanut butter and jelly sandwich biscuits. His biscuits had good definition or uniformity. And the peanut butter with the cherry jam was delicious. “That Viennese is one of the best Viennese I’ve had for a long time,” Hollywood said.
Dylan, channeling childhood memories of eating biscuits in a tent in his yard, baked a “campfire” cookie, with toasted Swiss merengue buttercream and hazelnut praline. His biscuits were tender and lovely, with amazing definition, and the judges loved the chocolate dipping.
Gill’s biscuits are an ode to key lime pie, using lime curd and passionfruit buttercream for her biscuits. The sandwiches had good definition, good texture, great flavor, and were all very uniform. The judges did want more curd filling, though.
Hazel is a fan of tea and biscuits but she created a coffee and hazelnut biscuit with coffee buttercream. Early on, she realized she had too much butter and had to start again. In presenting her biscuits, Hazel explained all of the things that went wrong while she was baking, including an underbaked biscuit and a lack of icing sugar, leading to a lack of sweetness.
2. The Technical Challenge: 12 Mint-Cream Biscuits
For this challenge, the contestants were given a very basic recipe to follow. Leith, the “Baroness of Biscuits,” introduced this challenge and gave the hint that the temperature probe was there for a reason.
This biscuit features a 5mm shortbread biscuit, with a cream fondant mint center, and tempered chocolate coating. For some, the activity proved challenging because many contestants did not like mint. According to Noel Fielding, co-host, “Prue and Paul are expecting crumbly shortbread, silky peppermint cream, and an elegant, shiny, tempered chocolate finish.” Among other concerns, they worried about the amount of peppermint flavoring in the cream filling and the biscuits being overworked. It was this part of the episode when Jeff was continuing to feel unwell. He decided to leave the show from there.
With vague instructions left, the bakers used a range of baking times, from eight to twenty minutes. Many didn’t know how to temper chocolate, or could only remember vague instructions. Tempering chocolate means bringing the temperature up and down to create a shine — but without real instructions, the range of temperatures were from 28 degrees to 55 degrees Celcius. Doing something slightly off meant messing up the chocolate, so for some like Dylan, who had no idea how to temper chocolate, the coating ended up thick and uneven. “There’s no one to hide in this one, is there?” someone remarked in the background of a shot of Dylan’s messy biscuits.
As always, this technical challenge was tasted and judged blind. Here are the results:
- Mike
- John (according to the judges, these two were neck and neck)
- Sumayah
- Gill
- Hazel
- Christiaan
- Nelly
- Illiyin
- Georgie
- Andy
- Dylan, or as Paul called Dylan’s biscuits, “a disaster.”
“The thing I’ve learned about this tent is that everyone can have a good day or a bad day, regardless of how good of a baker you are,” Illiyin said.
With somewhat disappointing results to the technical, the bakers were facing a huge test in the next challenge.
3. The Showstopper Challenge: An Edible Puppet Theater
For the Biscuit Week Showstopper Challenge, the judges were looking for an edible puppet theater with edible puppets, made out of biscuits, all in just four hours. This challenge, according to Hollywood, required a lot of engineering and a robust biscuit, like a gingerbread. According to Leith, this challenge required a good glue. Her recommendation? Caramel. “It’s all about flair,” Hollywood added. The challenge also required a fair bit of patience, cooling, juggling in and out of the oven, and time management.
Andy depicted a day in the life on the job, and created a scene reflecting a runaway pig moment from his history: Porkshank Redemption, as Hollywood referred to it. His stage included a lemon-iced Shrewsbury biscuit, gingerbread stage, and ginger, sumac, and brandy snap curtains. During his assembly, he dropped one of the walls of the theater. The judges noticed the cracks and asked him about it. “It represents an old theater,” Andy responded, with a bit of a glint in his eye.
Christiaan’s moving background with four scenes, was a bit autobiographical, depicting a “biscuit boy who doesn’t fit in” but then finds his place in the magical white tent. The stage was made from coconut macaroon boards, bittercookie stars, speculoos mechanical theater, and grapefruit and saffron spritz curtains. While presenting his creation to the judges, Christiaan told the story using his puppet theater. The judges loved the detail and cuteness, and many of the components were great. When Hollywood tasted the curtains, Hollywood paused and gave Christiaan a handshake! Hollywood called this creation, “one of the best things I’ve ever seen in the tent.”
Georgie recreated a Welsh festival with a gingerbread theater, with chocolate, date, and walnut folk dancers. Unfortunately, due to some underbaked cookies, her theater began to collapse a bit. However, the judges did like her flavors.
John depicted a scene of his “favorite walk,” with his dog, Stanley, made out of a orange and cinnamon biscuits — the trees and other puppets were made out of this as well. The theater was made of a honey and chili gingerbread. Unfortunately, his orange and cinnamon biscuits were a bit tough but the gingerbread was very tasty.
Hazel built a “Punch and Judy” show, with orange and chocolate shortbread, and a cherry and almond shortbread beach. Though it was a bit wonky, it ultimately was very charming. But, both of her biscuits needed more time.
Dylan created a theater to tell a Japanese fable that his dad passed to him. The theater itself was made of roasted soy bean flour, with Hokusai-inspired, painted macarons, filled with yuzu, mint, whisky, and miso caramel, and sugar biscuit puppets. He struggled throughout the baking process, including dropping some of his biscuits and burning others. However, the judges watch as he retells the story. Leith said, “You are so good at flavor,” and Hollywood added that he was “a great designer of a story.”
Gill told the classic Gingerbread Man tale, using simple gingerbread and vanilla biscuits. The story is told through spinning the stage. The judges complimented her neatly piped decorations, perfectly baked gingerbread, and good flavors.
Mike, inspired by the livestock on his farm, created dancing animal puppets. He used biscotti, crystallized ginger, and florentine. As Mike was putting the gingerbread in the over he said, “Are there gingerbread gods? Can I pray to them?” The judges found that the tastes were quite lovely, with a bit of a chewy florentine.
Illiyin recreated a strawberry picking date she went on with her husband. There was strawberry shortbread with rooibos orange sugar biscuits, chocolate soil, and toasted coconut. While telling this story she shared how she and her husband met and how her husband said, “I’ve known since I was fifteen that I was going to marry you.” The judges appreciated the flavors on the orange sugar biscuit but the strawberry shortbread was underbaked and she was also missing the puppets of herself and her husband.
Nelly, in similar fashion, created a piece dedicated to her husband, her two children, and five unborn babies. There was a lemon iced forest background, with stained glass windows, and lemon royal icing. The judges loved the beauty and depth of the piece, with nice and tender shortbread and great flavor overall.
Sumayah created an enchanted garden with a lemon zest and poppyseed theater, and cardamon and cinnamon fairy and swans. The judges found that the biscuit on the back of the theater was too thick but loved that there was mobility to the theater and loved the artistry. Leith said, “She’s so delicate and exquisite with everything she does.”
Unfortunately, Hazel was sent home after this wrong. “I did expect it. All my bakes have gone wrong,” she said.
But Sumayah was awarded star baker for the week! Though she looked a bit shocked when it was announced, those around her assured her that she deserved it.
Next week is Bread Week, Paul Hollywood’s specialty. Before the credits, Nelly said the next week she needed, “to charm Mr. Paul Hollywood, charm him with [her] buns.”
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