Hello hungry peoples,
This is a variation of an Empire or Belgium Biscuit which is popular in Europe. Jam, icing and shortbread….oh my! This is indeed one of my favourite things. Sadly the only way I can buy it commercially is to get the smiley face biscuits common in bakeries around Australia. These are sad affairs. Stale shortbread, with a paupers dab of jam and way too much icing that makes your teeth crack. Of course I am forced to make my own! Luckily shortbread is robust enough to freeze so you don’t need to eat them all in one batch. I forgo the traditional preserved cherry on top because I think they are gross but if they float your boat go nuts!
Empire Biscuits
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Yield: 12
Calories per serving: 644
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1/2 cup vanilla caster sugar
- 250 g chilled butter
- 2 tsp vanilla paste
- 1/2 cup raspberry/strawberry jam
Icing
- 4 cups (1 kg) icing sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
Tools: biscuit cutter
Cooking Directions
- Preheat oven to 180 °C.
- Put the chilled 250 g butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup vanilla sugar in a food processor and run until incorporated. If you don’t have vanilla sugar plain ol’ castor sugar will work just fine. I just really love vanilla and like to boast the flavour where I can.
- Knead the dough until it comes together and roll out to a 5 mm thickness. Use the biscuit cutter to cut rounds out. Continue until you have used all of the dough up.
- Put the cut round onto a baking tray covered with baking paper and bake for 10-15 minutes (until cooked and golden). Allow to cool for 20 minutes.
- Combine the 4 cups of icing sugar with 1/2 cup of milk. You can also add a little more vanilla paste.
- Join the biscuits using some of the jam and dip the biscuits into the icing. Let the biscuits set and then dig in!
![](https://www.karenreallylikesfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/empire_biscuit_1-300x200.jpg)
p.s. You can make your own vanilla sugar simply by placing a few vanilla beans in with a few cups of sugar.
Difficulty: Easy
Love the simplicity!
Oh, these look luscious. I love how smooth the icing is.
Lovely, and so satisfying to make your own version of a favourite food.