RECIPE: GLUTEN-FREE EMPIRE BISCUITS WITH JELLY TOTS/CHERRIES

admin — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 14:04:07 +0000

GLUTEN-FREE EMPIRE BISCUITS

Empire biscuits are wonderfully short and buttery biscuits sandwiched together with jam, topped with an icing glaze and finished with either glacé cherries or jelly tots.

This is my gluten-free empire biscuits recipe, which can be rustled up in under an hour. The dough doesn't require any chilling and the biscuits bake in under 15 minutes. So the longest part of the baking process is probably waiting for them to cool before you fill them with jam and top them with icing!

Bake Yourself Happy at Home® with a batch of these wonderfully light, crisp, melt-in-the-mouth and totally moreish empire biscuits

Keyword Bake Yourself Happy at Home, biscuits, empire biscuits, gluten-free baking, gluten-free biscuit recipes, gluten-free biscuits, gluten-free empire biscuits, gluten-free recipes

Prep Time 35

Cook Time 15

Servings biscuits

Ingredients

250 g salted butter
130 g caster sugar
1 large egg
500 g Magical Gluten-Free Plain Flour Blend
160 g icing sugar
15-20 ml boiling water
8(ish) tsp jam (choose your favourite but avoid ones with chunks of fruit in)
18 glacé cherries or jelly tots

Instructions

Heat your oven to 180c / 160c fan.
Line your baking trays with baking parchment (you will need three or four, depending on the size of your trays).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This will take around 3-5 minutes if you are using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer.
Add the egg and beat again until fully combined and your mixture is smooth and glossy.
Add in the flour and mix on low speed to start with and then turn your mixer up to medium high and beat the mixture until a dough forms.
Split the dough into three batches. Roll the first batch of dough between two sheets of clingfilm to a thickness of around 5mm (use the yellow rolling pin spacers if you have them).
Stamp out rounds of dough with a 7cm round pastry/biscuit cutter. Carefully transfer the biscuits to your lined baking trays.
Repeat this process until you have used all your dough. You should get 36 rounds out of the dough.
Bake your biscuits in the oven for 12 minutes until the edges are turning slightly golden (the rest of the biscuit will still be pale).
Remove from the oven and cool the biscuits on the trays for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. They will still feel soft when you transfer them to the rack, but don't panic – they will firm up as they cool.
Once your biscuits are cold, spread a thin layer of jam (I used strawberry) over the bottom of 18 biscuits. Top these with the remaining biscuits.
Sift your icing sugar into a bowl and slowly add boiling water – no more than a teaspoon at a time. Stir the water into the icing until you have a thick glaze. If you are old enough to remember Marvin glue, this is the consistency you are aiming for. If this means nothing to you, go for a gloopy, wall-paper paste consistency.
Spread a teaspoon of icing over the top of each biscuit, stopping around 1/2cm from the edge. Top each biscuit with either a glacé cherry or a jelly tot.
Pop the kettle on, put your feet up and enjoy!
xx Millie, Marcus, Milo, Maddy and Me xx

WHAT ARE EMPIRE BISCUITS?

Empire biscuits also go by the name of imperial biscuits, German biscuits, Belgian biscuits, double shortbread biscuits and even more besides! Confusing, eh? So I’ll just stick to calling them empire biscuits.

An empire biscuit is basically two wonderfully short and buttery biscuit rounds sandwiched together with jam, topped with an icing sugar and water glaze and decorated (traditionally) with either glacé cherries or Jelly Tots. But really you can decorate them with whatever tickles your fancy.

GLUTEN-FREE EMPIRE BISCUITS – DOABLE?

You bet they are! In fact, I will be as bold to say that this kind of recipe plays to our advantage. Why so? Because kneading dough made with wheat flour activates the gluten network and overworking it can make for a tough biscuit. No gluten? No tough biscuit! Just light, crisp, melt-in-the-mouth and totally moreish gluten-free empire biscuits. Boom

My gluten-free empire biscuits recipe is nice and simple and can be made in just under an hour. The dough requires no chill time as the biscuits bake without spreading/losing their shape. It is best to make them in a stand mixer or using an electric hand mixer if you have one, as you want to get the butter and sugar mixture really light and fluffy, which will take around three to five minutes. You can make them by hand, but it will require a *lot* of elbow grease. If you do make them by hand, be sure to use very soft butter to give yourself a fighting chance!

The recipe makes 36 biscuits in total – 18 empire biscuits, once sandwiched and decorated. If you don’t want to bake them all in one go, you can divide the dough in two and freeze half for another time.

Happy baking!

P.S. Why not check out my other gluten-free recipes for cakes, cookies and cupcakes