Empirebiscuitsakacookiestononbrits Recipes

EMPIRE BISCUITS

Steps:

• Pre-heat your oven to 180°c (or 160°c for a fan assisted oven) and line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper.
• Cream your butter & sugar on a medium speed until light & fluffy.
• Add the egg and mix until combined then sift in the flour and mix to form a dough.
• Roll the dough on a floured surface to around 1cm thick. Using a round cutter, cut your biscuits & transfer to your baking tray.
• Bake for around 10 minutes until the edges of the biscuit are just golden.
• When still warm but cool enough to touch, add the jam to the under side of half your biscuits and pop the other half on top of these to sandwich together.
• When completely cool, make your icing by mixing icing sugar & gradually adding the boiling water until you're happy with the consistency - "gloopy" is a great way to describe it! Gently dip the top of your biscuits into the icing to cover and top with your decoration of choice!

HOW TO MAKE EMPIRE BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200 Celcius or 400 Fahrenheit, or 180C/350F for a fan oven.
• Start by beating the butter until it is softened just creamy, but not too fluffed up or airy. Then add the sugar and mix until just combined. You want the sugar to dissolve into the butter to a caster or fine sugar is best.
• Next, add the flour along with a beaten egg and mix carefully until the dough begins to form clumps. At this point, you can get your hands into it and bring the dough together.
• Tip onto a lightly floured surface and roll the dough out until it's around 5mm or about a 1/4 inch in thickness.
• You can use a cookie cutter like this one, or the rim of a glass to cut the dough into separate biscuits.Use a spatula or a pastry/dough scraper to move the biscuits onto the baking tray, lined with baking paper or a reusable liner.
• If you have time, chill for about 20 minutes in the fridge to help stop spreading.
• Bake for approximately 20 minutes. The biscuits will stay soft but will start to town slightly and that's when they're ready. Take them out of the oven and allow to cool.
• Match the biscuits into pairs. Spread jam over the top of the biscuit that will be the base, and press the biscuit for the top gently down onto it.
• Mix the icing/confectioners sugar with just enough milk or water to form a thick but runny consistency. We start with a couple of tablespoons and then slowly add more until it's ready. You can either spread the icing with a teaspoon/knife or use the dipping method. If you're using a spoon or knife then start with a small amount in the middle of the biscuit and slowly spread it out, leaving a gap before the edge of the biscuit in case of extra spread. Otherwise, dip the biscuit top side down into the icing to coat it, allow any excess to drip off, and then quickly flip over and pit back on a tray to allow it to harden. You want to try and avoid the icing running down the sides of the biscuit.
• Place half a glace/candied cherry in the centre of the biscuit. Allow the icing to harden and then eat!

EMPIRE BISCUITS (CLASSIC SCOTTISH ICED COOKIES WITH RASPBERRY JAM)

Steps:

• Mix the butter and sugar together until it forms a homogenous mixture. Add the egg and mix well. Next add the flour until it forms a crumbly consistency.
• Turn onto a floured surface and form into a smooth dough. Do not overwork the dough. Roll out quite thinly (about 1/8") and cut into rounds with a cookie cutter.
• Place on lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes (I turn them once through baking). Put on cooling rack. Then, when completely cool, choose a mate for each cookie.
• Coat the tops with confectioner's sugar mixed with milk or water (to a thick, but runny consistency as in the photo below).
• Top with a piece of candied cherry in the center, then sandwich together cookies with raspberry jam and enjoy with a cup of tea!

EMPIRE BISCUITS

Steps:

• For the shortbread cookies: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Have ready two 9-by-13-inch sheets of parchment paper.
• Mix together the butter, sugar and salt in a medium bowl with a rubber spatula until evenly combined. Stir in the flour until the dough forms a ball and you no longer see any streaks of flour; the dough may look slightly cracked, but this is fine.
• Place the dough in the center of one prepared parchment sheet, then top with the second prepared parchment sheet. Use your hands to press the dough into the same shape as the parchment. When the dough becomes thin enough, you can switch to a rolling pin to ensure the dough is rolled out evenly to about 1/4 inch thick. Remove the top parchment sheet and place it on a baking sheet.
• Cut the dough into 24 rounds with a 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter, biscuit cutter or the top of a glass. You can bring the scraps of dough together to form a ball and roll it again if needed. Place the cookie rounds on the parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes. Place the remaining sheet of parchment on a second baking sheet.
• Arrange 12 chilled rounds 1/2 inch apart on each parchment-lined baking sheet. Shortbread shouldn't get too much color when baking, so bake until the shortbread is just set and the edges begin to turn a pale golden brown, about 22 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the sugar glaze.
• For the sugar glaze: Whisk together the confectioners' sugar and milk in a small bowl until a thick and smooth glaze forms.
• To assemble, dip the top of 1 cooled cookie into the glaze. Lift the cookie just slightly above the glaze and let the excess drip off. Place glaze-side up on the wire rack and place half of a glazed cherry in the center before the glaze sets. Repeat with 11 of the cookies.
• Flip over the 12 remaining plain cookies. Evenly spread 1 teaspoon of the raspberry jam to the edges of each cookie.
• Place 1 glazed cookie on top of 1 jam-topped cookie. Repeat with the remaining cookies to make 12 sandwich cookies. Serve immediately or store between parchment paper in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.