August 06, 2016
Hitting shops later this week is the awesome Official Doctor Who Cook Book, containing 40 timey-wimey, not mention tastey-wastey, recipes.
If you haven’t tried it yet, do check out the recipe for Zygon Pie we released previously here. Today, it’s the turn of everyone’s favourite robot dog, K-9!
Purchase The Official Doctor Who Cook Book here.
Included below you can find the recipe for KOOKIE K-9!
Built by Professor Marius, who couldn’t take his real dog with him into space, K-9 was a computer made of metal and plastic. But that doesn’t taste nearly as nice as gingerbread! This creation takes time and a little patience, but is worth the effort – particularly if you put a little battery-powered tealight to light up his eyes. Trace the templates on page 146–8 and cut out before you start. Once assembled, K-9 will keep, loosely covered with cling film, for two days before the boiled sweets start to soften.
SERVES 16
350g (12oz) plain flour, plus extrafor dusting2 tsp baking powder2 tsp ground ginger1 tsp ground mixed spice100g (3½oz) firm slightly saltedbutter, cut into small pieces150g (5oz) light muscovado sugar3 tbsp golden syrup1 medium egg1 medium egg yolk1 clear red boiled sweet
TO FINISH:
2 ready-made ginger loaf cakes200g (7oz) milk chocolate, broken into pieces3 marshmallows2 pieces of dried fruit slices25g (1oz) piece of red ready-to-roll icingIcing sugar, for dusting1 clear green boiled sweetTubes of black and green writing icing9 small sugar-coated sweets
YOU WILL NEED:
A paper piping bag or small polythene food bag and 2 x 20cm (8in) cake pop sticks (cut down to size with scissors if necessary)
1. Put the flour, baking powder, ginger and mixed spice in a food processor. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, syrup, egg and egg yolk and process to a dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a neat block. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes to firm up.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Line two baking sheets withbaking parchment. Roll out half the dough on a lightly floured surfaceto a 3mm (1/8in) thickness. Transfer to a baking sheet. Place one of thelargest templates over the dough and cut around with a knife. Cut outas many more templates as you can fit over the rest of the rolled dough.Lift away the excess dough and reserve. If any of the cut out piecesare very close to each other, separate them slightly, but make sure youdon’t distort the shapes. Roll out the remaining dough and cut out moreshapes, remembering that you’ll need two of some of the shapes asindicated on the templates. Re-roll the trimmings if necessary until you’vecut them all out. Using a skewer, make two large holes, each about 1cm(½in) across, into the ‘body top’ panel as shown on the template. ForK-9’s eyes, cut a rectangle out of the centre of the ‘head top eyes’ panelso you’re left with a small frame.
3. Bake all the sections of the gingerbread apart from the ‘head top eyes’panel for about 12–15 minutes until turning golden around the edges. Ifthe holes in the ‘body top’ have closed up, enlarge them with a skewerbefore the gingerbread cools. Leave on the baking sheets for 5 minutes,then transfer to a wire rack to cool. For the ‘head top eyes’ panel, bakethe frame, on baking parchment, for 5 minutes. Crush the red boiledsweet into several pieces and put in the centre of the frame. Returnto the oven for a further 5 minutes or until the sweet has meltedto fill the frame. Leave to set on the paper.
4. To assemble K-9, choose a flat board or plate for serving and stack the gingerbread cakes, one on top of another, on the centre. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and rest the bowl over a small pan of gently simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl is not in contact with the water. Turn off the heat and leave until the chocolate has melted. Alternatively, melt the chocolate in short spurtson medium power in the microwave. Spoon half the melted chocolate into a paper piping bag or the corner of a small polythene food bag and snip off the merest tip.
5. You’ll need to cut sloping sides off the top layer of ginger cake so the gingerbread pieces can rest against it for support. To get an idea of how much you’ll need to cut away, lean the side and end sections of K-9 against the gingerbread. Take sloping slices off the long sides of the ginger cake so the gingerbread pieces all meet down the sides with a rectangle at the top where the body top gingerbread will fit. (You might need an extra pair of hands to do this!) Lift the gingerbread away, spread a little melted chocolate from the bowl onto the sloping sides of theginger cake and reposition the gingerbread sides and ends. Pipe more chocolate along the joins and around the top edges. Position the body top. Chill for about 30 minutes so the chocolate firms up.
6. Meanwhile, work on a separate board and secure the head side and end pieces together as shown in the photograph. Do this by piping lines of chocolate where the sections join together. Again you might need an extra pair of hands here, or you can prop up the sections with small jars or cartons. Leave to set.
7. Push the cake pop sticks vertically down through the holes in the gingerbread. Push a marshmallow down over each stick so they rest on the gingerbread. Position the third marshmallow between the two sticks. This will help support the head. Continue assembling the head by adding the snout, eye and top sections. Pipe lines of chocolate across the eyes. Secure the fruit slices to the head with more chocolate for ears.
8. For the collar, roll out the red icing on a surface dusted with icing sugar to a long, thin strip. Cut out a 25 x 2cm (10 x ¾in) length and drape around the neck, pressing the ends together at the front. Secure the green boiled sweet over the ends of the collar with more chocolate. Pipe lines of writing icing over the collar to decorate. For the control panel, pipe a rectangle of chocolate on the top of the body and secure rows of coloured sweets. Pipe further rectangles of chocolate on the body sides. Once you’re sure the head has completely set, carefully rest it over the head support so it tilts forward. Store in a cool place.
COOK’S TIPThe melted chocolate will probably firm up before you’ve finished assembling the cake. If necessary, soften the chocolate in short spurts in the microwave.
The Official Doctor Who Cook Book is available from August 11, 2016 - buy here