These biscuits are the ideal treat for Halloween. The ground cinnamon and mixed spices give the biscuits flavour and warmth – they are delicious with a cup of tea during these chilly autumn days. The spider-web design looks great and is very simple to do too.
Ingredients
For the dough:
75g caster sugar
100g softened butter
1 large egg yolk
200g plain flour
1 level tsp mixed spice
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 tbsp. milk
For the icing:
Approx. 200g icing sugar
A few tbsp water
Black food colouring
1 cocktail stick
A piping bag/food bag
Method
- Preheat oven to 180⁰C and lightly grease two baking trays.
- Measure the softened butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg yolk.
- Slowly add the flour and spices, bringing the ingredients together with your hands.
- Once the mix has formed to a dough, place on a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly. Roll out to a thickness of roughly 5 mm.
- Cut into rounds using a cutter and place on the baking trays.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes, or until they feel firm and are light golden brown.
- Place on a wire rack to cool.
- For the icing, measure out the icing sugar in a bowl and add a few tbsp. of water and mix well until you have slightly runny, thick icing.
- Separate the icing into two bowls. In one bowl add a few drops of black food colouring and mix.
- Spoon the plain white icing onto each biscuit and smooth to the edges to create a neat circle.
- Place the black icing into a piping bag and use a very thin nozzle. Alternatively, if you do not have a piping bag, spoon the icing into a food bag and cut a small hole in one corner. You can also buy readymade black writing icing in a tube.
- To make a spider web pattern, pipe the black icing over the white in a thin spiral from the middle of the biscuit outwards. Then, using one end of a cocktail stick, drag it from the middle of the spiral to the outer edge in a line. Repeat in a clockwise direction to make about 6 lines.
- Once the icing has dried, store the biscuits in an airtight container.
