Homemade Valentines Biscuits

Make your own valentines biscuits

Ingredients:

200g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
50g dark brown sugar
100g salted butter, cubed
50g black treacle
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170oC
2. Sift flour, baking powder and all the spices into a bowl
3. Add sugar and mix well
4. Add butter and using your fingertips rub the butter until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
5. Make a well in the centre and add in the treacle
6. Mix the mixture to form a soft dough and the colour is even throughout the mixture
7. Lightly dust the surface with a little flour and roll out the mixture with a rolling pin making sure it's all even before you use your chosen biscuit cutter.
8. Put the cut out biscuits onto a baking tray covered lined with baking paper. Make sure you don't put them too close together.
9. Cook for 12-16 minutes until have darkened slightly.
10. Remove trays from the oven and transfer the whole sheet of parchment to a cooling rack.
11. Allow to cool fully before you decorate.
Decorate your biscuits:
I used white fondant icing cut using the same cookie cutter to give a nice matt white background on white I then used coloured royal icing to decorate. I use a little of the white royal icing to attach the fondant icing to the biscuit. To make the royal icing I beat together one larg egg white with 1 tsp of lemon juice and about 250g of icing sugar until the icing is stiff and a good piping consistency.The colouring I used is in a paste form rather than a liquid as I find it gives a more concise colour.  I then place the ising in an icing bag which has a small plain tip and then get decorating! Allow to dry completely.
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