Sweetheart biscuits
Makes 8 biscuit sandwich es ◆ Prep time 20 minutes + 1 hour for mix to set
These sweetheart biscuits are my take on a Kiwi favourite – the Shrewsbury. You can try adding citrus zest in place of the cinnamon and sandwich them together with apricot jam instead. Be as creative as you want with the shapes you cut –stars for Christmas, hearts for Valentine’s Day and eggs for Easter. They’re a great biscuit for giving to friends, loved ones and work colleagues.
◆ 225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
◆ ½ cup (110g) caster sugar
◆ 1½ cups +1 Tbsp (200g) plain flour
◆ 1 cup (110g) ground almonds
◆ ½ tsp ground cinnamon
◆ Pinch of salt
To Decorate
◆ 100g jam of your choice
◆ Icing sugar, for dusting
1 Combine the butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, cinnamon and salt in a food processor, and blend until the mixture combines and forms a ball. If you don’t have a processor, cream the butter and sugar, then add sifted dry ingredients and beat well until combined and the mixture has formed a ball.
2 Wrap the ball in cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for an hour or, even better, overnight. When you are ready to bake your biscuits, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan bake). Line two baking trays with baking paper.
3 Cut the dough in half and knead one half until it is soft enough to roll out.
4 Roll out the softened half on a lightly floured surface until about 5mm thick (remember you are sandwiching two biscuits together so you don’t want them to be too thick to start with).
5 Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes of your choice and carefully lift onto the baking trays using a knife, spacing them 5cm apart.
6 Repeat the process with the second ball of dough. When the second quantity of shapes are on the tray, use a smallersized cutter to cut and remove shapes in the centre of the biscuits.
7 Bake in the middle of the oven for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden.
8 Remove from the oven and cool on the baking trays for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
9 When the biscuits are cool, spread the bottom biscuit with 1 tblsp jam, then sandwich together with one of the cut- out biscuits. Dust lightly with icing sugar to serve. These biscuits are best eaten on the day they are assembled. If you do want to make them in advance, un- iced biscuits will keep for 3- 4 days in an airtight container at room temperature.