SPICED GEMS
INGREDIENTS
These biscuits are based on tiny Iced Gem biscuits I remember buying from the shops as a child, which were just very sweet and had pretty much no taste. For my version, I have tried to add a number of ingredients make each little biscuit full of flavour. I decided to use a spice for each as a base, then think of complimentary elemnts that I could add. Cinnamon became spiced carrot cake, cardamom became a smaller version of the Cardamom Pistachio Biscuits with a lemon flavour icing and chilli, I paired with chocolate.
BISCUITS:
50g SALTED BUTTER
ICING:
100g ROYAL ICING SUGAR
1-2 tbsp WATER
FOOD COLOURING
(RED, ORANGE, GREEN)
SUBSTITUTES & ALTERNATIVES:
- For vegan biscuits use dairy-free margarine or coconut oil instead of butter
- There are so many possible flavour combinations with these biscuits
75g PLAIN FLOUR
25g SUGAR
GROUND CARDAMOM
LEMON JUICE
GROUND PISTACHIO
GRATED CARROT
MIXED SPICE
VANILLA EXTRACT
CHILLI (FINELY CHOPPED)
MELTED CHOCOLATE OR
COCOA POWDER
FLAVOURING:
STEP-BY-STEP
1. Preheat oven to 190C / 170 C fan/ gas mark 5. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper, non-stick mat or just grease lightly with butter.
2. In a medium sized bowl, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy in texture.
3. Sift in the flour and mix with a wooden spoon to form a soft dough.
4. Split the dough between 3 small bowls, add the flavouring to each and mix together. (If the carrot flavour biscuits are too soft you may need to add some more flour to the mixture).
5. For each flavour, roll out the dough and cut out small circles using a tiny cutter or the end of an icing tip.
6. Place the circles onto the prepared tray with about 1-2 cm gap between them.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until slightly golden.
8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes on the tray or transfer to wire rack.
9. Meanwhile, place the icing sugar into a medium sized bowl and add water a little bit at a time, until it makes a thick, glossy texture which holds its shape well.
10. Divide the icing sugar between 3 small bowls and add the flavouring and food colouring to each.
11. Prepare an icing bag with a small star tip.
12. Cut 3 squares of baking parchment, around 15x15 cm, roll each into a cone shape and fill with the icing.
13. Take the first icing cone, (e.g. yellow lemon) cut off the tip of the cone, then place in the prepared icing bag.
14. Ice a small swirl onto each biscuit of the matching flavour (e.g. cardamom and pistachio).
14. Repeat steps 13 and 14 for the other two flavours. Serve and enjoy!
Can be stored in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks