Recipe from Biscuit published by Ebury Press, £14.99. Photo by Laura Edwards.
Makes about 18
Ingredients:
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 50g caster sugar
- 25g soft light brown sugar
- 2 tsp finely grated orange zest
- 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 1 egg yolk
- 100g plain white flour
- 50g plain wholemealflour
- 25g cornflour
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground mixed spice
- 40g currants
- 40g sultanas
- 20g mixed peel
- 3 tsp apricot jam
- 50g icing sugar
- 1 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice
- You will also need:
- 7 cm round metal cutter Disposable piping bag (optional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC/Mark 6 and line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Cream the butter, sugars and zests.
- Add the egg yolk and beat well. Sift together the flours, cornflour and spices and add to the butter and egg mixture along with the dried fruit and peel and the bran left in the sieve.
- Mix well to combine and form a dough. Put the dough between two sheets of cling film and gently roll out to a thickness of about 5 mm. Use a 7 cm cutter to stamp out 18 circles.
- Place them on the prepared trays, spacing them at least 2 cm apart, then bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, gently warm the apricot jam and 1 tablespoon water in a small pan.
- After 10 minutes, brush the top of the biscuits with the apricot glaze. Return them to the oven to bake for a further 5 minutes, or until golden.
- Allow to cool on their trays for 10 minutes, then use a palette knife to transfer them carefully to a wire rack. Once the biscuits are completely cold, mix together the icing sugar and orange juice.
- Spoon into a piping bag or freezer bag, snip off the corner to give a hole about 2mm wide, and pipe a cross on top of each biscuit. Leave to set.
This recipe and others can also be found on www.thehappyfoodie.co.uk.
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