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| Recipe Archive > Cakes & Biscuits > |
 Whitworths Christmas Star Biscuits
(Makes 25)
A standard biscuit paste will rise a little unevenly as it bakes and will not give you perfectly shaped biscuits like the ones pictured. For these I have used a rich French pastry dough with added spices and lemon zest, which keeps its shape particularly well as the biscuits bake.
For a festive finish I like to add a smooth frosty white icing and tiny silver balls to the surface of the freshly baked biscuits which are fun enough to pop into children’s goodie bags to take home with them after a christmas party. Otherwise make a little hole at the top of each of the shaped uncooked biscuits with a skewer, and when they are baked and decorated they can be laced with thin ribbons and tied to the christmas tree.
Equipment & Ingredients
| For the rich biscuit paste: |
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125g/41/2oz Whitworths caster sugar |
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2 tsps vanilla bean paste, (look out for it in the best large supermarkets) or pure vanilla extract |
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Finely grated rind of 1/2 large unwaxed lemon |
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½ tsp fresh mixed spice |
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2 egg yolks (from medium sized eggs) |
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250g/9oz Whitworths icing sugar, sifted |
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2 tsp fresh lemon juice, ( or more if you like a sharper lemony icing like I do ) |
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Tiny edible silver balls |
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Method
Stage1:
Sift the flour onto a board or marble slab. Make an open well in the centre and into it place the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, lemon zest , spice and egg yolks.
Draw the fingers of one hand together and, lightly and quickly work the ingredients in the well with a bird - like pecking motion until the mixture resembles scrambled eggs. Gradually draw in the flour and, using the same finger movement, quickly combine the remaining ingredients to form a crumb like mixture. Gather together and lightly press the moist crumbs into a soft ball.
Stage 2:
Lightly knead the dough by pushing it away from you with the heel of your hand and drawing it back 4-5 times until the pastry is smooth, this may be easier to do this by cutting the dough into two sections and kneading them separately. Wrap in a plastic bag and chill in the fridge for 1 hr.
Stage 3:
Roll out the dough onto a flour dusted board until it is 4mm thick, then using a 7cm star shaped biscuit cutter stamp out the biscuits . Transfer them onto a lightly greased baking sheet with a palette knife and chill for 20 minutes in the fridge.
Stage 4:
Cook in a preheated oven at 160°C / 325°F / gas mark 3, for 9-10 minutes until the biscuits start to look pale golden around the edges. Leave to cool a little then transfer them to a wire rack.
Stage 5:
Prepare the icing. Lightly beat the egg white in a large mixing bowl , add the lemon juice then gradually add the icing sugar beating well between each addition until you have a very smooth shiny paste. Paint the icing carefully over the surface of the biscuits and while the icing is still liquid dot over the silver balls.
Tip
Another idea for the Christmas party goodie bag . Any leftover icing can be made into a stiff paste with extra sifted icing sugar , flavoured with mint essence, then rolled out into a ½ inch thickness and stamped out with a small shaped cutter for mint fondant sweets.
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