Steenbergs Organic Extracts - Lemon & Orange Biscuits

Steenbergs Organic have introduced three new flavoured extracts to join their range of home-baking extracts and flower waters and they sent some to us here at The Madhouse to try out. We received Peppermint, Lemon and Orange, which join the highly acclaimed Almond Extract, which is perfect for marzipan and Bakewell tarts, and the UK and Europe's first organic Fairtrade Vanilla Extract, made from organic Madagascan vanilla.

Well, we're always up for a bit of baking but I have to admit, I couldn't think of what to make using the extracts. My initial instinct was to make peppermint creams with the peppermint extract and add the orange and lemon extracts to some butter cream or icing to make fruity cupcakes or maybe lemon drizzle cake. But a closer look at the labels revealed that these extracts are made with sunflower oil, rather than alcohol, which actually makes them more versatile because you could even use them for frying, in dishes such as duck à l'orange or lemony stiry fries. Hmmm. Time to head to the Steenbergs website for some inspiration.

Steenbergs have come up with some ideas that never would have crossed my mind. They suggest :

"Steenbergs organic Orange Extract is a lovely smelling extract that uses organic sunflower oil flavoured with organic orange oil.  A great complement to desserts like custards and ice cream, or in fruit pies or tarts, and why not try with fish to add a certain sophistication?

Steenbergs organic Lemon Extract has been created particularly for home baking but complements everything from desserts through to chicken especially together with herbs like rosemary and thyme.  Another sunflower based extract; this has a glorious lemon citrus aroma and flavour.

How about trying some home made mint choc chip ice-cream with the newly improved organic Peppermint Extract from Steenbergs? Sure to add a real zing to any home baking, this is the perfect complement to chocolate and is, of course, ideal for making your own peppermint creams."

I love the idea of using the lemon and orange extracts in savoury dishes with fish and poultry, but for today, I'd promised the kids that we'd do some baking so I headed to Steenbergs recipe section and found a simple recipe for Lemon Biscuits. I'll tell you about the biscuits in a separate blogpost but the extracts gave a really natural, delicate flavour and you don't need to use much - I put one tablespoon in cookie dough for making 12 cookies. The kids complained that it made their tongue zing but they still ate their way through the biscuits !

The extracts are really versatile ingredients with a natural, fresh taste and I can't wait to try out some other ways of using them. Let me know if you have any suggestions !

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £4.85 for 100ml

for more information : www.steenbergs.co.uk

Disclosure : I received three bottles of Steenbergs Organic extracts in order to write the review.

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