Very thin ("paper thin") paste of 1 part butter to 8 parts flour with milk and salt, cut in 2 inch rounds and baked so as some of them puff up or blister.


Mereworth Biscuits.
Image: Alex Bray...


Original Receipt from Lady Sarah Lindsay's 'Choice Recipes' (1883) and 'English Food' by Jane Grigson (Grigson 1974)

1/2 lb Plain flour
1 oz Butter
1 pn Salt
Hot Milk

Rub the first three ingredients together. then mix to a dough with hot milk it should be firm but soft. Knead it well. Roll out small bits of the dough to paper thinness: it will look and feel like a piece of cloth. Cut into approximately 2" rounds with a plain scone cutter and bake at 425F mk 7, for about 5 minutes, until they are slightly browned and puffed up. Cool and store in an airtight box.

"This recipe makes a huge number of light bicuits, which taste delicious with butter alone, or with butter and a soft cheese. The thinner you roll them the better. Some will puff up like a ballon; others will have two or three bubbles."