This week, with Remembrance Day coming up, Roy decided he wanted to try out the ‘Belgian Biscuits’ in his old biscuit cookbook. He had been curious about the name and when he found out more, the history fascinated him. Originally, the Belgian Biscuit was called the Linzer Biscuit, German Biscuit or Deutsch Biscuit but when World War One broke out, that name wasn’t popular with the allies so it was quickly renamed. Some people called it the Empire Biscuit but others named it the Belgian Biscuit as it had some similarities to the Belgian Bun. Traditionally it would have raspberry jam as the filling and white icing on the top, but Roy tried his out with a simple lemon icing filling and thought it was one of the nicest biscuits he’d ever tried! So this week, Roy Puts A Lemony Spin On Belgian Biscuits.
You Will Need:
- 120 grams of self raising flour
- 120 grams of cornflour
- 120 grams of butter
- 120 grams of sugar
- 1 and ½ tablespoons of milk
- 1 dessertspoon of treacle. Roy used real treacle, but you can use golden syrup if you prefer, though the flavour will not be as strong
- 1 egg
- ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon
- ½ a teaspoon of nutmeg
- A pinch of salt
- Lemon icing. Roy used lemon oil in his icing, but if you don’t have any, use lemon juice and a little grated rind to get a good, strong lemon flavour
Note: You may need more of the flour and cornflour – Roy found that the day he made them the dough was too difficult to work without some extra. Make sure you add equal parts flour and cornflour though to keep the proportions right. Roy added about 2 tablespoons of each.
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and line biscuit trays with baking paper
- Cream together the butter and sugar
- Add the egg, milk and treacle and beat them in
- Stir together the flour, cornflour, salt and spices and add to the wet ingredients
- Mix until you have a soft dough. If your dough is too sticky, add extra flour and cornflour in equal quantities until the texture is right
- The original recipe calls for you to roll the dough out thinly and cut out shapes, but Roy decided due to the heat of the day when he made them to just roll them into small balls and flatten them with his hand. They will not spread so you can put 12 to a tray.
- Bake the biscuits for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are golden and cooked
- Allow to cool slightly on the trays and then transfer to a cooling rack
- When the biscuits are completely cold, sandwich two biscuits together with lemon icing and put aside to allow the icing to set.
- Store in an airtight container and enjoy!