Gluten-Free Valentines Iced Biscuits

 

If you are wondering what to get your other half for Valentine’s Day, then let me remind you that the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach.

These biscuits can be decorated in advance and delivered like little love notes, or bake the biscuits and decorate together for a date-day idea. Decorating these biscuits is also great fun for kids, so get everyone involved!

I’ve found the best recipe for really fool-proof biscuits comes from Biscuiteers.com, so I’ve adapted their recipe here.

 

Ingredients:

350g Dove’s Farm plain flour

100g Dove’s Farm Self-Raising flour

(you can use alternative flours, but ensure your mix contains xantham gum. If not, add half a teaspoon.)

125g butter

125g granulated sugar

125g golden syrup

1 egg, beaten

½ teaspoon of vanilla essence

 

Method:

In a bowl, mix the flour and sugar. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the mixture until it forms a breadcrumb-like texture.

Add in the egg, golden syrup and vanilla essence and mix using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the dough hook attachment until it forms a firm dough.

Split the dough into two balls. One at a time, place the ball between two sheets of baking parchment and roll out gently until about ½ inch thick. Place the rolled out dough onto a baking tray and chill in the fridge for 30minutes.

Take the dough out of the fridge and cut out your shapes using your cutter. Gently peel away the excess dough and re-roll before cutting more shapes.

Once all your shapes have been cut, place in a preheated oven (Gas 3, 170 degrees) for about 16 minutes – shorter for soft biscuits, longer for hard. Biscuits should be lightly golden.

Let the biscuits cool until you’re ready to ice.

 

Royal Icing:

For writing icing, whisk 450g royal icing sugar with 75ml of cold water until it forms a paste. Add food colouring of choice – a little goes a long way! Spoon into piping bags or squeeze bottles with thin nibs.

For flooding icing (good for large areas), mix 450g icing with 80ml of water and food colouring of choice, and add a little water until it reaches your desired consistency. Pour into a piping bag or a squeeze bottle.

 

To Decorate:

Outline your design using the thicker icing, making sure to join up any lines to create a wall. Fill using the flooding icing. Pipe any designs using the thicker icing – it should be much thicker and therefore will not spread. Alternatively, pipe writing onto plain biscuits, or use two flood colours on top of each other and swirl together using toothpicks for a funky effect.

Once decorated, place biscuits in a cool oven for 30 mins (set oven to the lowest setting, or heat up then turn off). This will set the icing.

Serve!

 

Thanks to Emma from the Make It Shabby team for this recipe.

 

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