SPICED ICED BISCUITS

These buttery biscuits have all the flavours of the Welsh fruit loaf Bara Brith – spices, tea-soaked dried fruit plus a touch of orange. Makes 24-26 For the biscuits

2 strong tea bags 150ml (5fl oz) boiling water 25g (1oz) mixed dried fruit 1tsp orange liqueur Finely grated zest of ½ a medium orange Finely grated zest of ½ a small unwaxed lemon 350g (12oz) self-raising flour ¼tsp ground mixed spice ¼tsp ground ginger ¼tsp ground cinnamon ¼tsp fine sea salt 125g (4½oz) caster sugar 230g (8oz) unsalted butter, chilled and diced About 1½tbsp buttermilk Sheep-shaped cutter (from cook shops or online)

For the icing

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar About 6tbsp milk A few drops of almond extract Pearlescent-white edible food colour paste (available online, optional) Black edible food colouring (from supermarkets) Squeezy bottle, piping bag and a writing nozzle (from cook shops or online) Put the tea bags in a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling water over. Leave to steep until the tea is very strong, then remove the bags (give them a squeeze). Stir in the dried fruit and liqueur, then set aside to soak until cold. Drain the fruit very well (discard the tea). Put the fruit and the zests into the bowl of a food processor and blitz to a thick paste (you can also do this by chopping the fruit and then grinding it with the zests using a mortar and pestle). Scrape the paste into a bowl and set aside.

Sift the flour with the mixed spice, ginger, cinnamon and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar, then add the diced butter and rub in with your fingers until it looks like fine crumbs. Add the fruit paste and rub in until

thoroughly distributed. Add the buttermilk and mix together with a round-bladed knife. As soon as the mixture starts to clump together, use your hands to bring it together into a dough. Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured worktop and roll out to about 4mm (¼in) thick. Dip the cutter in flour, then stamp out shapes. Arrange on 2 baking sheets lined with baking paper, setting the shapes slightly apart to allow for spreading. Gather up the trimmings, re-roll and cut more shapes. Prick the shapes with a fork, then chill while you heat the oven to 180°C/ fan 160°C/gas 4. Bake, in batches if necessary, for 13-15 minutes until lightly coloured – check after 10 minutes and rotate the trays, if necessary, so that the biscuits colour evenly. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and firm up on the trays for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

To decorate, sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add 4tbsp milk and the almond extract and mix with a wooden spoon to make a stiff but smooth white icing (if necessary add a little more milk, 1tsp at a time). Remove about 4tbsp of the icing and put into a small bowl to use for the curly wool on the fleece; put another 4tbsp into another small bowl, this will be coloured black for the head and feet. Cover both small bowls. If using the pearlescent-white food colouring, add a very little to the icing left in the mixing bowl and mix in along with enough milk to make a coating consistency. Transfer this icing to the squeezy bottle and use to cover the biscuits.

Leave to set for an hour. Colour one of the small portions of icing

with the black food colouring – you want a smooth consistency, so add more icing sugar or milk as needed. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with the writing nozzle and use to pipe the heads and legs/feet. Transfer the white icing from the last bowl to the other piping bag (wash the nozzle if necessary), then use to pipe the curly features of the fleece and the eyes. Leave to set. Store in an airtight container and eat within 4 days.