Serves: n/a (Makes around 30 biscuits)
Approx cost: €2
Approx calories (per biscuit): 210
Approx preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes
I have great memories of easter from when I was a kid – egg hunts in the garden (can’t wait to do that with my own kids some day), vast quantities of hot cross buns, easter biscuits and of course simnel cake. Over time I really started to dislike simnel cake (seriously… Brits are so unimaginative when it comes to cakes for special occasions – it’s just a giant clod of rich, dark fruit cake for every single event – weddings, easter, christmas, etc) but living in France now I really miss my mother’s biscuits so here’s the recipe, with a few variations because I like my cookies with a good amount of spice!
Ingredients
– 350g Plain Flour + extra for rolling
– 170g Butter
– 170g Caster Sugar + extra for dusting
– 120g Currants or Raisins
– 2 eggs
– 1 tsp Baking Powder
– ~2 tsps Ground Nutmeg
– 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
– 0.5 tsp Ground Ginger
You’ll also need
– A set of Cookie Cutters
– A Baking Sheet
– A Rolling Pin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to around 180 degrees Celsius and start off by mixing the flour, sugar and spices in a bowl. Add in the butter and chop into small pieces using a knife. Rub into the flour using your hands, being sure to squish out all the butter lumps and mix well with the flour. The flour should resemble damp sand or breadcrumbs at the end.
- Add in the fruit and eggs and mix well to form a dough, before turning out onto a well-floured surface.
- Split the dough into two, and using a Rolling Pin, roll out, a piece at a time, carefully flipping the dough when necessary to ensure it doesn’t stick to the surface. Roll it out to a thickness of about 3-4mm and then use a Cookie Cutter to cut cookie shapes out of the dough. Transfer the cookies carefully to a non-stick Baking Sheet, or a greased regular sheet.
- Cook in the pre-heated oven for about 15-17 minutes, or until just starting to brown on top. Remove from the oven and shake extra caster sugar over them while still hot (or wait until cool and sift icing sugar over the top) and then enjoy!
