These make a very short biscuit (no egg), related to shortbread, but closer to the French sablé. The basic recipe is for a lemon flavour version, but these are readily adaptable to other flavours, even savoury version with cheese and herbs. The recipe started with the Lemon Spelt Sablés from Annie Bell’s Baking Bible, from which I also took Canelés (and should be subtitled “how to bake using only a food processor”!
From David Lebovitz. I heard about Flo Braker from David Lebovitz' blog, and I’ve been baking a pick of her recipes. This one makes a slim, crunchy almond biscuit, shaped like some commercial ones you can get in the supermarkets.
My batch made about 70 biscuits, but Flo reckons on 80-90. This is a lot.
115g butter 300g demarara sugar (David cites turbinado for Americans) 1.5 tsp cinnamon 80 ml water 325g plain flour 0.
Digestive Biscuits From Bon Appetit.
Makes about 30 with a 5cm/2” cutter.
115g butter, cold, cubed 33g wheat germ 75g sugar 1 tsp baking powder 5g salt 167g whole wheat flour, and a little more for dusting 65g milk Set oven to 180C (160C fan).
Pulse dry ingredients (in a food processor!) plus butter (so all except the milk) to a crumbs texture; just a little moister than a powder.
Rachel Roddy's Biscotti Adapted from Rachel Roddy’s Biscotti.
Set oven to 180C.
Whisk 4 large eggs with 350g caster sugar until thick and creamy.
Add:
500g flour (the linked recipe asks for 400g, but that is very hard to handle) 150g toasted hazelnuts 2 tbs olive oil pinch of salt 0.5 tsp baking powder 60g sultanas zest of one large orange Mix and form into 2 x 20cm logs, then flatten into 10cm wide.
Shortbread Based on: Felicity Cloake’s Perfect Shortbread.
Quantities doubled to suit the baking tray; makes 20 - 24 fingers.
Set the oven to 150C. Line with greaseproof paper one of those half baking trays with a raised edge (1cm).
230g room temperature butter 110g caster sugar Beat together until smooth.  Sift and add:
260g plain flour 80g rice flour/fine semolina Good pinch of salt Bring together as a dough, the press or roll out into the baking tray.
Chocolate Chip Cookies This is the Nestlé recipe, as interpreted by www.cookingforengineers.com.
(280 - 360)g flour (the less flour, the softer the cookie) 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 220g butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 150g sugar 165g brown sugar 2 large eggs 340g chocolate chips optional - 1 cup of mixed chopped nuts Preheat oven to 190C (170C fan).
Mix flour, salt and baking powder.
Unashamedly stolen and adapted from www.cookingforengineers.com - this is the Almond and Orange Biscotti recipe.
200g sugar 2 large eggs 80g slivered almonds 2 tbs orange zest (zest of half an orange) 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 250g plain flour 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp almond extract Sift and mix flour, baking powder and salt; put to one side. Mix sugar and eggs, and beat until pale (take a couple of minutes with an electric hand mixer).
150 g unsalted butter 75 g light brown or demerara sugar 3 tbs golden syrup 250 g rolled oats 1 tsp ground ginger (optional) Melt butter and stir in sugar and syrup, then oats and ginger (if using).
Press into a 20cm square tin, or equivalent baking tray.
Bake for 20-25 mins at 180C/375F/gas mark 5 until golden at the edges. Cool for 15 mins, and slice.
You could vary the size of oats, and consider mixing a proportion of oatmeal instead of up to 50% of the oats.
Flakemeal biscuits, from Margaret Bates ‘Talking About Cakes’. I have never seen flakemeal available, but normal rolled oats or oatmeal produce excellent results.
220 g / 8 oz butter (2 sticks) 110 g / 4 oz sugar (4 tbs) 110 g / 4 oz plain flour (4 tbs) 275 g / 10 oz oats or oatmeal (3 cups) 1 tsp salt pinch baking soda Cream the butter and sugar.