Baking Day Biscuits

Please forgive the amount of pink in the above image. The baking day biscuits are slightly almond-y, and have a nice soft texture without crumbling everywhere, and will keep for a few days, unless you eat them all first. These biscuits are based on a Nigella Lawson recipe which she describes as good for entertaining young children on rainy days, but to be honest I think she underestimated how entertaining biscuit-making truly is, for immature people of all ages. As you can see, despite the many, many gadgets in our house, we do not have any biscuit cutters, but this recipe is surprisingly easy to roll out and cut freehand. Nigella's recipe uses slightly different proportions, but I found it too soft, so adjustments had to be made. This recipe makes a million biscuits. Well, at least 40, which is more than even the most sugar-crazed fiend can eat (this theory was tested using my willing assistant, and even she paled after 4 or 5 biscuits). Baking days aren't to be hurried, and neither is this recipe. It takes time to make the perfect biscuit - time, and plenty of icing.


Biscuits


175g soft butter (or a mixture of half butter, half margarine, which makes it easier to cream together with the sugar)
200g brown sugar
2 eggs
 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
375g plain flour (plus more for rolling out the biscuits)
50g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


Icing
around 300g icing sugar
pink (or other, non-gender normative colour) food colouring
the tiniest bit of water


Cream together softened butter and the brown sugar in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until creamy, then add the eggs and almond extract, and mix together. In another mixing bowl, mix the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter and egg mixture a little at a time, mixing it in thoroughly. The mixture will get tougher and tougher to mix, until you finally give up and it looks like a smooth biscuity mixture.


Roll out a sheet of baking paper, and split the mixture into two piles, then wrap each up in the baking paper. Pop it in the freezer for about half an hour to rest, while you have a spot of lunch and gossip.


Turn the oven on, at around 180C. Dust your counter-top or chopping board with flour, and coat a rolling pin with flour as well, so the biscuit dough doesn't stick. Take your dough out of the freezer, and grab a reasonable sized lump of dough to roll out. The dough is surprisingly easy to work with, and doesn't break up too much. Roll out to about half a centimetre thick, then start cutting! Use a small knife to cut out whatever shapes take your fancy, or if you're feeling lazy just use cookie cutters. Our biscuit shape ideas ranged from the relatively simple (hearts! letters! crowns!) to the ridiculous (brontosaurus! little dogs! cats!)


Pop the biscuits onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, and bake for 5-8 minutes - they cook very quickly. Leave to cool.


Icing time! We used three different shades of icing - white (no food colouring), light pink (the tiniest drop of pink food colouring), and a grotesque bright pink (a fair bit of colouring). Mix icing with various amounts of icing in separate bowls, then add the smallest splash of cold water possible. It always takes a lot less water than you think, so go slowly. Once the icing is mixed, but not too runny, scrap into sandwich bags and squeeze down into one of the bottom corners. Seal up the bag, and snip off the corner. You now have a piping bag!


Decorate your biscuits as needed. Obviously brontosauruses will need little boots and a collar, but I will leave the specific pattern up to you. Try not to eat them all at once, children.