This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at St. Andrews chapter.
This week I’ve given you a classic, and one of the most basic recipes out there. A monkey could literally make these blindfolded. I’m sure most of you will have all these ingredients in your cupboards already, and they’re super quick to make, so will satisfy your cravings for sugary, crunchy goodness in just half an hour, without you even having to leave the house. Ideal.
You can eat them plain and dunk them in a cup of tea, or have some fun getting creative with a plethora of colourful decorations.
Ingredients:
- 100g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1 egg beaten
- 275g plain flour
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 400g icing sugar
- 304 tbsp water
- A couple of drops of food colouring (opitional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
- Gradually beat in the egg and vanilla, until fully combined.
- Stir in the flour and bring together into a dough with your hand.
- Lightly flour a cleaned work surface and a rolling pin (students: a wine bottle or other cylindrical item will do the trick), and roll the dough out to about 1cm thick.
- Cut the biscuits with a knife or biscuit cutter (in any shape you like) and place on the baking tray – these don’t spread too much, so don’t worry if they’re close together.
- Bake the biscuits for 8-10 mins, until pale golden-brown.
- Remove from the oven, but leave on the tray to harden for 5 mins.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the water. Mix with a metal spoon until there are no lumps of sugar. Add the food colouring if using and mix.
- When the biscuits are cooled, spread the icing on top so that it makes an even layer.
- Decorate with whatever you like: sprinkles, chocolate buttons, silver balls, you name it. (Note: children LOVE doing this. My 7 year-old cousin helped me decorate those pictured – she’s a artistic genius in my opinion).