Traditional Easter biscuits are lightly spiced, with currants and a sugar topping. Every recipe has its own twist - these have lemon juice and zest for a light zing.
Set the oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan/ gas mark 4/ 350°F
Grease the baking trays if you aren’t using a liner
Grate the lemon rind. Juice the lemon
½ lemon,
For the biscuits:
Put all the ingredients for the biscuits, apart from the currants, in the bowl of your mixer or processor and mix well to combine.
100 g butter, 90 g caster sugar, 200 g plain/all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon mixed spice, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 large egg yolk
Scrape down and mix again.You will have a ball of dough of a soft consistency
Add the currants and mix in by hand
75 g currants
Gather the dough into a ball and squish onto your rolling surface.If you're using a magic liner or silicone sheet you don't need to dust with flour. Otherwise, you do
Roll the dough to about ½ cm thick and cut out rounds with the cutter, transferring to the prepared baking sheet. Gather the dough together and roll and cut again until it's all used up.The dough is quite resilient and doesn't mind a few rollings out
Gather the dough together and roll and cut again until it's all used up.The dough is quite resilient and doesn't mind a few rollings out
Bake for about 10-12 minutes
Remove from the oven and brush each biscuit, very lightly, with the lightly beaten egg whiteSprinkle with a little caster sugar and return to the oven for 4-5 minutes or until pale golden brown.For best results do one biscuit at a time, i.e. egg white and sugar
1 egg white, Caster sugar
Cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes then lift onto a wire rack until completely cool
Video
Notes
To make by hand
Beat the butter and sugar together (butter needs to be at room temperature); Add the egg yolk, lemon juice and zest and beat in; Mix flour and spice(s) together; Combine flour etc with the mixture; Stir in the currants.
Storing
Store Easter biscuits in an airtight container. They will keep for 1-2 weeks.