MMMMM---- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
Title: Mary Berry's Easter Biscuits *
Categories: Cookies, Snacks
Yield: 12 Cookies
MMMMM--------------------------DOUGH---------------------------------
200 g Butter (8 oz); softened
150 g Caster sugar (6 oz)
2 lg Free-range egg yolks
400 g Plain flour (14 oz);
- plus extra for flouring
1 ts Mixed spice; level
1 ts Ground cinnamon; level
2 tb Milk; up to 4 tb
MMMMM---------------TRADITIONAL CURRANT BISCUITS---------------------
100 g Currants (4 oz)
Caster sugar; for sprinkling
MMMMM----------------------ICED BISCUITS-----------------------------
1 ts Lemon juice; up to 2 ts
250 g Icing sugar (9 oz)
2 tb Water; cold
Different coloured food
- colourings
* "biscuit" is British for what we Americans call "cookie"
Set the oven @ 180 C/355 F (160 C/320 F Fan) Gas 4.
Lightly grease two baking trays lined with baking parchment.
Measure the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat together until
light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk. Sieve in the flour and
spices and add enough milk to give a fairly soft dough. Bring
together, using your hands, to make a soft dough.
Halve the mixture and set half to one side.
For the traditional currant biscuits, add the currants to the
remaining half of the mixture and knead it lightly on a lightly
floured work surface. Roll out to a thickness of about 5 mm (1/4").
Cut into rounds using a circular cutter. Place on the prepared
baking trays. Sprinkle with caster sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Keep a careful eye
on the biscuits--it doesn't matter if you open the oven door to
check. Sprinkle with caster sugar and lift onto a wire rack to
cool. Store in an airtight container.
For the iced biscuits, knead the remaining half of the biscuit
dough mixture lightly on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out
to a thickness of 5 mm (1/4"). Cut out Easter biscuits using an
assortment of shaped cutters, such as bunnies, Easter eggs, chicks,
spring flowers.
Lightly grease two baking trays lined with baking parchment.
Place the biscuit shapes on the prepared baking trays and bake in
the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and
lift on to a wire rack to cool.
To make the icing, pass one teaspoon of lemon juice through a fine
sieve, to remove any pips or bits. Mix the icing sugar with the
lemon juice, and then add about 2 tb water, adding it little by
little until you have a relatively stiff but smooth icing. Add a
splash more sieved lemon juice if necessary.
Divide the icing into separate bowls and mix in food colourings of
your choice into the separate bowls of icing, until you achieve the
desired shade.
Spoon a little icing into a piping bag and pipe your decorations
onto the biscuits. For a smooth finish, you can pipe the outline of
your design in the firmer icing, then slacken it down a bit by
mixing in a little more water, giving the icing more of a runny
consistency, and use this to fill in the designs.
Recipe FROM:
https://maryberry.co.uk
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