Belgian biscuits

With warming spices, a jam filling and simple icing, these biscuits are a lovely morning or afternoon tea treat.

This recipe was originally published on the Taste of Harmony website.

Preparation time: 45 minutes. Cooking time: 15 minutes. Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

Biscuit

• 1 ½ cups brown sugar
• 250g butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 ½ tsp mixed spice
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• 2 ¾ cups plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ⅓ cup raspberry jam

Coloured sugar

• ¼ cup white sugar
• Red food colouring

Icing

• 1 cup pure icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp butter, melted

Method

1. Place sugar, butter and egg into a food processor. Process until well combined. Add mixed spice, cinnamon, 1 ¾ cups of flour and the baking powder. Pulse until combined. Add remaining flour. Pulse until mixture comes together to form a dough. Remove to bench.
2. Divide dough in half. Shape into 2 x 10cm (diameter) discs. Wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 4 baking trays with baking paper.
4. Roll each pastry disc out between 2 sheets of baking paper to 5mm thick. Using a 6cm cutter, cut out biscuits. Press remaining dough together and roll out again, continuing until you have 16 biscuits. Place biscuits onto prepared trays.
5. Bake 2 trays at a time for 10 to 15 minutes or until light golden. Stand for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
6. Spread half the biscuits with jam. Sandwich with remaining biscuits.
7. To make the coloured sugar, place sugar into a snap-lock bag. Add 1–2 drops of red food colouring. Rub bag between your hands until sugar and colouring are well combined. Store in an airtight jar.
8. To make the icing, sift icing sugar into a small bowl. Add milk and butter. Stir until mixture is well combined and a spreadable consistency. If too stiff, add a little more milk.
9. Spread the icing over the top biscuit and sprinkle with the coloured sugar. Enjoy!