Blessed be the bakers

The unbearable de-lightness of beating. To cream butter and sugar to mousse-like proportions is to dream of rewards within reach.

Today, they come in the form of 2-4-6 Biscuits: sugar-coated shortbread studded with lovely little bits of just-plucked rosemary. The title derives from their proportions: two ounces of sugar, four ounces of butter and six ounces of flour.

These are the handmade deeds of Alexa Johnston, a high priestess of home-baking and authority on all the joys it brings. She has made them because she is expecting a visitor - me - although I suspect she would always have something home-baked on hand, just in case someone dropped in.

"When someone bakes something for someone, it's a gesture of affection and love," says Johnston, author of Ladies, a Plate and A Second Helping, books dedicated to traditional New Zealand baking. Baking, says Johnston, "helps build communities, and cements families together".

The sweet and simple delights of this pursuit are shared by an ever-growing fan base (many of whom have a fan-bake oven). Baking is the new dining out. It's "in" to stay in and do it yourself . This is a win-win situation: it is as good to give as it is to receive.

It may have been the recession that won over more converts this time around, but baking will survive whatever economic vicissitudes prevail. Says Johnston: "Once people get a taste for it, and if they enjoy it, they'll stick with it."

What is different these days is the make up of devotees. It used to be that women were better bakers, while men were better chefs. Now both pursuits are taken up by a mix of both sexes, and all ages.

Johnston says cheffing is for people who perform under pressure. "There is an absolute time limit in the restaurant kitchen; there's an adrenalin rush, and I can understand that."

But that does not appeal to her, nor, would it seem, the legions of those who pick up a pinafore and forage in the pantry in anticipation of a great bake.

"Baking is more leisurely," says Johnston. The former principal curator at the Auckland Art Gallery (big budgets, lots of staff; all the high pressure stuff associated) would leave work and de-stress - not with a run or a session at the gym - but by baking a cake.

She sees the business as therapeutic. So do many of her fans. Consider the letter that arrives this morning. The author wants to "show solidarity for closet domesticity". Thanking Johnston for her latest book, she says it "preserves the thrill that can be obtained from doing things nicely ... the little bit of sheer luxury that can be enjoyed in the every day."

It doesn't have to cost a lot, either. Perhaps the biggest outlay required is your time. Says Johnston: "If you bake for someone, you are telling them you are spending some of your time on them. And time is the thing we are constantly told we don't have enough of."

Mary-Jane Mumford, sales director at Milly's Kitchen Shop in Ponsonby, agrees. Milly's is where you go to for anything even remotely connected with cakes and biscuits. It is chocka-block with all manner of baking paraphernalia: tins, cookie cutters, books, icing requirements.

"Baking is increasing and increasing and increasing," says Mumford, whose idea of a relaxing Sunday off is to spend the day in the kitchen making cakes for friends and family.

It is a pursuit that touches all ages and backgrounds, as evinced by the customers who call. Today there's an American woman who has driven from Wanganui to replenish her supplies. She's in the baking section of the shop and is as happy as, well, a barrelful of biscuits. In the office, there's a picture of a wedding cake - emailed by a bride who'd taken classes in cake decorating so she could make and ice her own. It's an impressive piece of work.

The newlywed was lucky to get in: cake-making classes run by Milly's are forever over-subscribed.

"There is a huge inner-soul bit to do with baking," says Mumford. "There's a science to it, and you do need to stick to the balance of ingredients, but it is a joyous thing to do."

You'll see them spreading the joy in the workplace. The latest take on the office tea room spread is for staffers to take turns to make the cake and bring it in for general consumption weekly . (No pressure, but who would want to get that gig straight after Brian in accounts brought in his beautifully executed buche de Noel?)

And the heat is really on when it comes to children's birthday cakes. "I say to mothers who come in to do their child's first birthday cakes, `they'll just love it. But from 4 to 10, the pressure [from the children] is really on'."

Add to that the other mothers who sit in judgment when you've brought your latest creation out. Oh, you can see them eyeing your naive installation up and then wondering how to best it.

In her book Feast, Nigella Lawson dedicates a section to chocolate cakes. Introducing it, she writes: "A feast is not just a licence to eat, but an invitation to celebrate life, and what it is to be truly alive. And there is something about chocolate cake, whether it is a proudly naked plain one or an elaborately constructed confection that issues this invitation most warmly," Lawson says.

As with any good recipe, you can almost smell the cake baking as you read it. What better incentive do you need than to get thee to a kitchen right now? Says Mumford: "Whether you're 14 or 84, being in the kitchen is just fabulous. It doesn't have to be expensive and it doesn't have to be difficult. You just need to find the time."

The 2-4-6 biscuit formula

A very easy and adaptable recipe often called refrigerator biscuits because the dough is firmed up in the fridge before slicing and baking, and it can also be frozen, well wrapped in paper and aluminium foil.

You can either thaw the whole roll of dough, or slice off a few frozen discs and cook them. Like many older recipes, it can be made with a range of flavours to add variety to the tins. One of my favourites, for rosemary biscuits, came from Margaret Paine, who is my sister Fiona's mother-in-law.

The basic formula:

2oz sugar (55g)
4oz butter (115g)
6oz flour (170g)
And one of the following flavourings:
1-2 tbsp fresh, finely chopped rosemary
or 2 tsp slightly crushed aniseeds
or 2 tbsp chopped, toasted almonds
or 2 tbsp chopped, toasted walnuts
or 2 tbsp chopped preserved ginger, 1 tsp powdered ginger, and brown sugar
or whatever else takes your fancy

Getting ready:

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and line a baking tray with baking paper, or grease it lightly.

Mixing and baking:

Combine the first three ingredients to form a dough, then knead in the flavouring of your choice.

Make the dough into a long roll by pressing it together firmly. Wrap it in waxed paper and chill for at least 20 minutes, overnight, or for up to 10 days.

A tip for those who like things complicated: you can make perfectly circular biscuits by taking a cardboard cylinder - the centre of a roll of baking paper works well - slitting it open and laying the plastic-wrapped roll of dough inside it. Hold the cardboard roll closed with a couple of rubber bands and put the parcel in the fridge.

When you are ready to bake and the oven is at the right temperature, unwrap the dough and slice it into discs about 5mm thick with a thin-bladed table knife. Set them out on the baking trays, leaving just a small space between the pieces.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container. Makes 36.

I am reliably informed that rosemary biscuits are a particularly good match with single malt whisky; two complementary resinous flavours, I suppose, but I definitely prefer them with tea.

* Reprinted with permission from Ladies A Plate by Alexa Johnston. Published by Penguin Group NZ, $45. Copyright Alexa Johnston, 2008. Available at booksellers nationwide, along with the follow-up, A Second Helping: More From Ladies A Plate.

Five top baking tips

* Be prepared. Pay attention to the recipe: read it through before you start and check that you have the right tin and all the ingredients.

* Be realistic. Start with simple expectations and an equally simple recipe. It doesn't have to be long and it doesn't have to be expensive to be a big hit.

* Ignore all the rules about not writing in books. Write down what happened when you tried a recipe. You'll want to remember - and it's a good history. (And remember: the best-loved cookbooks are the ones with dirty pages.)

* Don't give up on a recipe. If it doesn't work the first time, have another go.

* Enjoy yourself. Baking is not a necessity, it's about having fun.

(With thanks to Alexa Johnston).