Empire Biscuits Aka Cookies To Non Brits Food

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:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Gradually stir in the flour until well blended. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into rounds using a cookie cutter.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Sandwich one teaspoon of jam between two cookies. Repeat with remaining cookies. In a medium bowl, gradually stir the milk into the confectioners' sugar until the icing is of a spreadable consistency. Spread on top of the sandwiched cookies. Top each cookie with half of a cherry while the icing is still wet.

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.

EMPIRE BISCUITS (A/K/A "COOKIES" TO NON-BRITS)

Steps:

• Mix flour and sugar in a bowl, rub in the butter.
• Knead well to form a smooth paste.
• Roll out to about ¼-inch thickness and cut out round shapes with pastry cutters.
• Place on a greased baking tray.
• Cook in a slow 300°- 325° degree oven for about 30 minutes.
• Once cooled, sandwich 2 biscuits together with strawberry or raspberry jam.
• Decorate top with icing and half a cherry.

EMPIRE BISCUITS

Steps:

• Put the flour, butter, 85g of the icing sugar, the vanilla and egg yolks in a food processor and pulse in bursts until combined (alternatively, rub together the butter and flour with your fingertips and mix in the sugar, vanilla and egg yolks). Add ½ tbsp water if the mix feels a little dry. Tip the rough mixture onto a work surface and briefly knead until the dough has come together. Wrap and chill for 30 mins.
• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll the dough out to around 3mm thick. Cut 24 rounds from the dough with a 7cm cutter. Bring the remaining scraps of pastry together and reroll to make more biscuits. Line up the discs of dough on the baking sheets, then bake for 10-12 mins or until lightly golden brown around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
• Mix the remaining icing sugar with 2-3 tsp of water to make a very thick icing. Spoon or pipe the icing over the top of half of the biscuits, leaving a border around the edge of each one. Top with a small piece of glacé cherry in the centre, then leave to set for 30 mins. Spread the jam over the un-iced biscuits and sandwich together with the iced halves. Will keep for two days in an airtight tin.