Saturday, February 11, 2012

My Funny Valentine Biscuits

On February 14th in our house, the emphasis is never on romance as both of our mums were born on Valentine's Day, so it's usually all about them.  Eventually we'll exchange cards and even a little gift but it's never a huge palaver because mammies are far more important.


These biscuits are very special but also very easy to make.  I used a variation of the sour cream icing from Sarah's Celebration Cake but made it very romantic by using white chocolate and a mixed red berry puree so it's very pretty in pink.  The buttery biscuits are spiked with lemon and lime zest for an extra burst of citrus.  If you want, you can replace 50g of the flour with cocoa powder for a chocolate hit - the contrast of the deep brown biscuit against the pale pink icing would be really pretty.



My Funny Valentine Biscuits


125g very soft Butter
125g Caster Sugar
1 Egg Yolk
250g Plain Flour
1.5tsp Baking Powder
Grated zest of a small Lemon & a Lime

Preheat your oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4 and line two baking sheets with baking paper.


Whisk the butter & sugar together until light and fluffy.


Add the egg yolk, citrus zest, flour & baking powder and mix well until the mixture is soft and crumbly.

 

Bring the mixture together to form a dough (don't worry, this will happen), and knead lightly on a floured surface.  Roll the dough to a thickness of 5mm and cut into shapes.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.



These will keep for a week in an airtight container, giving you plenty of time to make the icing & decorate to your heart's content...


White Chocolate & Mixed Berry Icing

75g Butter
175g White Chocolate
50g Mixed Berries, pureed & sieved
300g Icing Sugar
1 tbsp Golden Syrup
125ml Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Extract



Melt the butter and chocolate, either over a bain marie or in the microwave (gently... you don't want to burn the chocolate) and let it cool for 20 minutes.  




Add the berry puree, golden syrup, vanilla and sour cream to the melted chocolate and whisk well. Sieve in the icing sugar and mix until it's all beautifully combined. Allow to cool completely before icing the biscuits.



8 comments:

  1. These are beautiful!

    Think I'll give the cocoa version a shot for the lads for Tuesday. Not for me, nope. *poker face*

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    Replies
    1. So, Sue, how many have you baked & eaten so far all by yourself? Fess up...

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  2. These are so gorgeous Aoife. I'm going to try the icing for either biscuits or buns. It's lovely that you have two very important birthday celebrations on the same day. Enjoy!

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  3. Thanks Sue & Nessa. The icing sets hard if you stick it in the fridge, but I wouldn't leave the biscuits there too long because they'd go soggy (such a conundrum!)

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  4. Hi Aoife, you are one of my 5 winners of the Liebster Blog Award. Details are on my blog at http://yummynom.blogspot.com/ - Sarah

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  5. Hi Babaduck. These look amazing. Going to bake them tomorrow. When is your cookbook coming out? ;-)
    Jenknee

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  6. Jenknee, that's such a lovely comment... thanks!

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