Animal 'Rainy Day' Biscuits

Ingredients:

175g soft unsalted butter

200g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

¼ teaspoon almond extract

350g plain flour (plus a little extra if needed)

50g ground almonds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

To make the royal icing (icing that sets hard)

450g royal icing sugar (this is made by Tate and Lyle and contains the powdered egg white already however if you can’t get hold of this follow this link for a reliable recipe)

70ml cold water

5ml lemon juice

Gel food colouring in a variety of colours.

1.       Preheat the oven to 180°c/ gas mark 4. Line 2 non-stick baking sheets with baking parchment.

2.       Cream the butter and sugar together until its smooth and mousy, then beat in the eggs and almond extract.

3.       Combine the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt then add these dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture and combine gently to form dough. If the dough looks too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour. Try to not add too much or the dough will be tough. When formed into a ball of dough cut in half and put it in the fridge for at least one hour. Overnight is better.

4.       Sprinkle the work surface with flour, place a disc of dough (not taking out the other half until you have finished with the first). Put some flour on your rolling pin to stop the sticking. Roll out the thickness to about one centimetre (I like to make them a little thick because they stay fresh and moist for longer. I like a little softness in my biscuits as opposed to crisp bite!

5.       Cut into shapes, place on the baking try and bake for around 14 minutes. They should be slightly golden around the edges but still quite pale. Cool on the rack- they will cook more in cooling.

6.       To make the icing mix the water with the lemon juice then add to the icing sugar mix with a hand whisk for 6 minutes, by hand this will take longer, around 15 minutes. The icing should hold soft peaks for the perfect consistency.

7.       Then...as Nigella says who am I to interfere with the artist within you? These animal cookies were iced using royal icing to make a black outline. I let this icing dry overnight then with the same royal icing mixture flood the middle with the colour and design you wish.