For Easter, I wanted to create a variation on my Christmas Jumbles recipe, because we aren’t already eating enough sweet goodies over the weekend…
These tasty biscuits are nice and soft and flavoured with spices reminiscent of hot cross buns and a bit of cocoa. I dipped them in melted chocolate and piped on contrasting decorations to make easter egg and hot cross bun desgins. I think they look pretty cute for the short amount of time I spent decorating them. They were a big hit at work and I plan to make another batch before the weekend is out!
Please forgive the lack of methd photos and the not so great photos of the finished product – I made these quite late on a work night. My soundtrack for this recipe was equal parts Disney, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones- I’ve been reading an interesting biography about the Stones and thus they have been on high rotation!
You’ll need:
For the biscuits-
- 60g butter
- 1/2 cup (110g) firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (270g) golden syrup
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/2 cup (75g) self raising flour
- 2 1/2 cups (375g) plain flour
- 1/.2 teaspoon bicarb (baking) soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp all spice
- 4 tsfffp cocoa or cacao powder
For the topping-
- 200g dark chocolate melts
- 200g white chocolate melts
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Food colouring, if you like
- Food shimmer
Method-
1. Combine the butter, dark brown sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until smooth.
2. Add hot mixture to a large bowl and cool for 10 minutes. Add egg to cooled mixture and stir until combined.
3. Add half of the sifted dry ingredients and stir until combined, and repeat. Taste dough and add more cocoa or spice if desired.
4. Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, with floured hands, until it loses its stickiness (about 5 minutes).
5. Wrap dough in cling-wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 180°C and grease & flour two oven trays.
7. Remove chilled dough from the fridge and roll out to about 0.5cm thickness and cut out your shapes, with a lightly floured biscuit cutter and placing onto trays. To get my easter egg shape, I cut out circles and then used my fingers to make them longer and more egg-like.
8. Bake for around 15 minutes, keeping an eye on them and turning or swapping shelves if necessary, and remove when just golden brown and fragrant. Cool on trays for 5-10 minutes and then place on wire racks to cool completely.
9. Place chocolate in wide, shallow glass or stoneware bowls. Heat in bursts of 30 seconds at medium heat in microwave, stirring at each interval until melted. Add a tablespoon of oil to each and stir to combine.
10. Carefully dip the top of each cooled biscuit into one of the melted chocolates and place on a sheet of baking paper to cool.
11. Using a piping bag or a ziplock bag with a corner cut off, pipe contrasting or coloured chocolate onto your dipped biscuit top and dust with shimmer if desired.
12. These biscuits are a delicious Easter treat and will keep for at least a week in a container, or in cellophane bags for gifting.
p.s. If you like my lovely vintage ironstone bowl, take a look at acreativelifestyle on Etsy, it’s curated by a lady in Tasmania and features a great collection of kitchen and homewares at really great prices.
becma bakes 