Empire Biscuits – Today’s recipe is a very nostalgic one, as my maternal grandmother used to bake these regularly for the biscuit tin.
A Vintage Recipe from 1928
Today’s recipe for Empire Biscuits is a very nostalgic one, as my maternal grandmother used to bake these regularly for the biscuit tin.
I was reminded of these forerunners of the modern day Jammie Dodgers on a recent trip to Northumberland, where I saw them for sale in Greggs in Alnwick.
Sadly, when I went back to buy one, they had all sold out, so I made it my mission to bake a batch when I got home!
I searched high and low in my old cookbooks for a recipe, but it was in a vintage magazine that I finally found a recipe for these jammy biscuits.
I also found another recipe online by James Morton, The Hebridean Baker, whom I follow and admire very much – his recipe was almost the same as the one I found in a copy of Woman’s Companion from 1928.
It’s a very simple recipe, but can be fiddly to sandwich the two biscuits together with the jam, and get the icing JUST right, so that it stays in one place on top of the biscuits (cookies) without dripping.
James suggests using gummy sweets to decorate the top, but I prefer the vintage recipe that uses Glacé cherries,, which I remember my granny using wheh she baked these.
Looking into the history of these biscuits, it appears that although they are hugely popular in Scotland, and the North East of England, they are probably derived from Linzer Biscuits.
Linzer biscuits, or cookies as they are called in North America, are shortbread style biscuits, sandwiched togther with jam, with a cut out shape on the top biscuit.
Empire Biscuits were originally called German Biscuits and Deutsch Biscuits, but the name was changed after WW1 in the UK due to anti German sentiment after the war.
This jammy shortbread biscuit has many other names now too, and is often called Double Biscuit, and Belgium Biscuit in New Zealand because it has white icing and a cherry on top, like Belgium Buns.
Whatever the name, they are delectable biscuits that would grace any tea time table, and they would be perfect for elevenses and for the Sunday tea tray. I hope you enjoy them if you make them, Karen
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Notes and Tips
- Some vintage recipes I found suggest adding cornflour or rice flour to the plain flour. The ratios seem to be 1 ounce to 8 ounces of flour – so 7 ounces of plain flour and 1 ounce of cornflour or rice flour. This makes the biscuits shorter.
- Strawberry jam can be used in place of raspberry jam. Use a good commerical jam or homemade jam.
Ingredients
- BISCUITS:
- 8 ounces plain flour (225g)
- 6 ounces butter (170g)
- 2 ounces icing sugar (60g)
- Seedless raspberry jam
- ICING:
- 8 ounces icing sugar (225g)
- water
- 6 x glace cherries, halved
- BISCUIT/COOKIE CUTTERS:
- 2″ (5cm) fluted/flower cutter
More Biscuit Recipes
- Mincemeat & Marzipan Biscuits (Cookies)
- Traditional Easter Biscuits
- Be-Ro Melting Moments (Biscuits/Cookies)
- Traditional Soul Cakes
- Red Nose Bunnies (Biscuits/Cookies) Recipe
- Traditional Scottish Shortbread Petticoat Tails
More Vintage Recipes
- “Nutty Slack” Vintage Chocolate Biscuit Cake
- Vintage Tea Room English Madeleines
- A Vintage Recipe: Queen Cakes for Mothering Sunday
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Recipe for Empire Biscuits
Empire Biscuits
Today's recipe for Empire Biscuits is a very nostalgic one, as my maternal grandmother used to bake these regularly for the biscuit tin.
I was reminded of these forerunners of the modern day Jammie Dodgers on a recent trip to Northumberland, where I saw them for sale in Greggs in Alnwick.
Sadly, when I went back to buy one, they had all sold out, so I made it my mission to bake a batch when I got home!
I searched high and low in my old cookbooks for a recipe, but it was in a vintage magazine that I finally found a recipe for these jammy biscuits.
I also found another recipe online by James Morton, The Hebridean Baker, whom I follow and admire very much - his recipe was almost the same as the one I found in a copy of Woman's Companion from 1928.
It's a very simple recipe, but can be fiddly to sandwich the two biscuits together with the jam, and get the icing JUST right, so that it stays in one place on top of the biscuits (cookies) without dripping.
James suggests using gummy sweets to decorate the top, but I prefer the vintage recipe that uses Glacé cherries,, which I remember my granny using wheh she baked these.
Looking into the history of these biscuits, it appears that although they are hugely popular in Scotland, and the North East of England, they are probably derived from Linzer Biscuits.
Linzer biscuits, or cookies as they are called in North America, are shortbread style biscuits, sandwiched togther with jam, with a cut out shape on the top biscuit.
Empire Biscuits were originally called German Biscuits and Deutsch Biscuits, but the name was changed after WW1 in the UK due to anti German sentiment after the war.
This jammy shortbread biscuit has many other names now too, and is often called Double Biscuit, and Belgium Biscuits in New Zealand because it has white icing and a cherry on top, like Belgium Buns.
Whatever the name, they are delectable biscuits that would grace any tea time table, and they would be perfect for elevenses and for the Sunday tea tray. I hope you enjoy them if you make them, Karen
Ingredients
- BISCUITS:
- 8 ounces plain flour (225g)
- 6 ounces butter (170g)
- 2 ounces icing sugar (60g)
- Seedless raspberry jam
- ICING:
- 8 ounces icing sugar (225g)
- water
- 6 x glace cherries, halved
- BISCUIT/COOKIE CUTTERS:
- 2" (5cm) fluted/flower cutter
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas mark 4 and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
- Mix the flour and icing sugar together in a bowl, then rub in the butter.
- Knead well to form a smooth dough, then divide into two pieces and form each piece into a ball. Wrap them both in cling film and chill for about half an hour.
- Remove the dough, and then scatter a little plain flour over a board or clean work surface; roll out one ball of pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin.
- Using a flower or fluted cutter, cut out 24 biscuits.
- Lightly knead the trimmings together and roll them out again. Once the shapes have all been cut out, then carefully place the biscuits/cookies on a baking sheet, making sure you keep them slightly apart as they spread when baking.
- Continue cutting out the shapes with the second ball of dough.
- Bake the biscuits for 20 to 25 minutes or until firm and just a light golden brown.
- Remove them from the oven and place them on a cooling rack to cool completely – being careful when you take them off the baking tray as they are fragile and they can crack.
- Place a heaped teaspoon of jam onto the centre of each biscuit.
- Sandwich all the biscuits together with the jam.
- ICING: Mix the icing sugar with a little water, until you have a stiff icing that isn't too runny.
- Spoon or pipe the icing over the sandwiched biscuits and add a glace cherry straight away, so it will stick.
- Store in an airtight tin for up to 3 days - these are better when eaten with 24 hours, as they go soft and break easily after that.
Notes
Some vintage recipes I found suggest adding cornflour or rice flour to the plain flour. The ratios seem to be 1 ounce to 8 ounces of flour - so 7 ounces of plain flour and 1 ounce of cornflour or rice flour. This makes the biscuits shorter.
Strawberry jam can be used in place of raspberry jam. Use a good commerical jam or homemade jam.
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 265Total Fat 11gSaturated Fat 7gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 31mgSodium 91mgCarbohydrates 39gFiber 1gSugar 24gProtein 2g
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