Christmas Baking with Corbyn - Empire Biscuits

After having the pleasure of watching Corbyn perform in his school's Nativity Play (he was a sheep with one line!), I also got to pick him up from school the next day for an overnight stay!

I must admit it is a bit daunting to watch this little man grow up before our very eyes, but it is also a wonderful privilege to be able to spend so much time with him.  After moving so far away from my family, I know how precious this time is.  But to hear how he had his whole schedule planned with precision was a surprise!  Corbyn wanted to bake, of course, watch a movie we just bought as a result of Christmas shopping on the way home and he also wanted to play Zoo Tycoon.  This was all accomplished with enough time for a lovely bedtime story!

Corbyn originally requested baking chocolate muffins but then grabbed his "My Baking Journal" and found the Empire Biscuits recipe instead.  Once I told him they were his grandfather's favourites, it became a mission for Corbyn to make these for a Christmas gift for his GaGa!

I must admit, these biscuits are one of my favourites also.  However, I never expected them to be so easy to make, requiring very little in the way of ingredients too.  My only complaint about  the way the recipe is written is that it didn't say how many biscuits to expect.  I got 8 altogether, And I had to guess how big 1cm is!  Today I put a ruler on my cookbook shelf so I can refer to that next time!

When baking with Corbyn, it is always fast and furious, so there are not equivalents or US measurements.  I apologize for that.  But we did have fun baking!



Recipe with no photos or notes follows at the end.

Empire Biscuits

Ingredients:

170g Butter
  55g Caster Sugar
225g Plain Flour
Strawberry Jam

1.  Preheat oven to 150C and grease two baking tins.

2.  Cream the butter and sugar together.

3.  Gradually mix in the flour until the mixture forms a stiff dough.

4.  Roll out the dough to 1cm thick and use a round cutter to make an even number of biscuits.  My round cutter seemed too big, so we used a wine glass!

5.  Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.

6.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

7.  Once cool, stick together two biscuits using a dollop of jam.

Ice with Glace Icing:

125g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1 Tablespoon warm water

1.  Sift sugar into bowl.  Slowly add water until the icing becomes thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

2.  Add more water if needed - one drop at a time.

Empire Biscuits often have gum drops on top but I don't like them, so we put M&M's on them.

Joke taken from the "My Baking Journal" - 

"What do elves make sandwiches with?

Shortbread!"

Empire Biscuits

Ingredients:

170g Butter
  55g Caster Sugar
225g Plain Flour
Strawberry Jam

1.  Preheat oven to 150C and grease two baking tins.

2.  Cream the butter and sugar together.

3.  Gradually mix in the flour until the mixture forms a stiff dough.

4.  Roll out the dough to 1cm thick and use a round cutter to make an even number of biscuits.

5.  Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.

6.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

7.  Once cool, stick together two biscuits using a dollop of jam.

Ice with Glace Icing:

125g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1 Tablespoon warm water

1.  Sift sugar into bowl.  Slowly add water until the icing becomes thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

2.  Add more water if needed - one drop at a time.


Empire Biscuits often have gum drops on top but I don't like them, so we put M&M's on them.