When raiding the kitchen tins as a child, I always remember seeking out Mum’s German biscuits. Maybe it was inhaling the sweet buttery aroma as I opened the tin, or the tempting cherry on top (or both!), but these jammy, melt-in-your-mouth treats “have been, and always shall be, my friend” (yes, I saw Star Trek). Originally called ‘Deutsch biscuits,’ their name changed to the more British sounding ‘Empire biscuit’ with the onset of the First World War. Only in my motherland of Northern Ireland did they escape the culinary name cull and are still known as German biscuits to this day. I’d recommend good quality strawberry jam for the filling (Amelia’s works particularly well), and if you feel like an additional luxury, make buttercream icing for the topping (as pictured). Simply beat together 50 grams softened butter with 100 grams icing sugar, adding a spoonful of milk to loosen the mix.
German Biscuits (makes six biscuit sandwiches)
For the shortbread:
• 110 g butter, softened to room temperature
• 55 g white sugar
• 125 g plain flour
• 35 g rice flour
For the filling and topping:
• 1 jar Amelia’s strawberry jam
• 75 g icing sugar
• Boiling water
• 6 cocktail cherries, stems attached
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a couple of flat oven trays with baking paper.
2. Add butter and sugar to a mixing bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until combined, light and fluffy.
3. Sift the two flours into the butter-sugar mix and stir gently until it’s a light, dough-like consistency. Remove from bowl and, using your hands, softly shape into a ball.
4. After sprinkling some flour onto your worktop and rolling pin, roll dough out until it is around 1 centimeter thick. Using an 8-centimeter cutter, cut the biscuit shapes out of the rolled dough, then carefully move them to the baking tray.
5.Place trays in the oven for around 20 minutes, making sure the biscuits don’t start to turn brown. Once cooked, transfer immediately to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
6. Take a biscuit and turn it upside down so you have a flat surface. Add a generous spoonful of strawberry jam, followed by another biscuit to create a shortbread jam sandwich.
7. Put icing sugar in a bowl and mix with a spoonful of boiling water. Continue to slowly add water until you have a thick sugar paste (if it goes runny, add a little more icing sugar). Add a scoop of the paste to the top of each shortbread sandwich, followed by a cherry-on-top finish.
// The British Kitchen is a Shanghai-based company selling tasty and honestly made British goods for an affordable price. Questions, or recipe requests? Visit http://thebritishkitchen.com
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