Easter themed biscuit recipe

Last month I was lucky enough to be invited to an Easter Baking workshop at the new Good Housekeeping Institute in Soho.

The evening saw me making eggs-ellent biscuits and hot cross buns in anticipation of the Easter bank holiday weekend, which remarkably I didn't find too difficult.

Here's their recipe for foolproof biscuits: hop to it!

1hr plus cooling time, cooking time 12 min, makes approx. 10 biscuits

Ingredients

75g (3oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease
100g (3.5oz) caster sugar
40g (1.5oz) condensed milk
I medium egg, beaten
Finely grated zest of ½ orange or lemon
½ tsp baking powder
200g (7oz) plain flour, plus extra to dust

For the icing
100g (3.5oz) icing sugar
Food colouring pastes

Method

Put the butter, sugar and condensed milk into a large bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. Next, beat in the egg a little at a time, then add the zest, followed by the baking powder, flour and a pinch of salt. Bring together with your hands, then wrap in cling film and chill for 30mins



Lightly grease two large baking sheets with butter. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to 5mm thick. Stamp out Easter trimmings, re-rolling the trimmings

Arrange the biscuits on the prepared sheets. If you later want to thread a ribbon through the top, make a 5mm hole in each biscuit with a skewer. Chill for 15 mins

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees fan) mark 4. Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden. Loosen with a palette knife, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.



For the icing, sift icing sugar into a bowl and add just enough water to make a thick spreadable paste. Divide among small bowls and add colouring to each as needed. Pipe or spread over the biscuits and leave to set. If you like, you can thread ribbons through the biscuits and hang them up.