Sunday, 3rd January –  who never dreamt of nice little golden butter biscuits… It was back at junior high school, during German classes just before Christmas, first experience of a German recipe: Butterplätzchen. I have never been satisfied of the results. They never looked like the ones that you could find on Christmas markets. Now here we are. I have some time this afternoon. For a fun decoration, you can do a white icing. Personally I prefer them without (in terms of taste); as they get quickly too sweet. Up to you.

INGREDIENTS

Biscuits 

• 150g flour
• 75g butter (at room temperature)
• 70g sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt
• 50g candied orange pieces

Snow White Icing

• 200g icing sugar
• 1 egg white

PREPARATION

Biscuits

Material: big bowl, baking tray, baking paper, rolling pin OR empty glass bottle, cutters, flat knife, mixer OR plenty of patience, plastic wrap

1. Start by cutting in very little pieces the candied oranges by either using your mixer, or with a knife.
2. In a big bowl, put together the flour, sugar, salt and reduced candied oranges. Add the butter that you cut in litte pieces and work the dough with your hands.
3. You will need to do sand, so you bring the dough between the palms of your hands and rub, rub, rub. Repeat this movement as much as needed (i.e. until the butter has been well embeded).
4. Add the egg at the end and quickly integrate it. This is the part where you start to have the hands really sticky. Do not work the dough too much to keep the sandy texture in the biscuits once baked. Form a ball. At this stage all the dough might be on your hands and you don’t know how this comes into a nice ball. Rub your hands, and you will manage it.
5. Put the ball in a plastic wrap and place it somewhere fresh if possible for 45 minutes.
6. Preheat your oven at 180°C. Place baking paper on the baking tray.
7. Put a lot of flour on your working surface, rolling pin and hands. Take the dough out of the wrap and spread it in a circle 0.5cm high. The depth is important to have crunchy biscuits. If you do them too flat they will be too hard. Use the cutters to form biscuits. Use a flat knife to put the cookies on the baking tray. Bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes. They are baked once they are coloured on the top. Check regularly as they can burn very quickly.
8. Let them cool for a moment and apply the icing by dipping the surface of the biscuits in the icing bowl, let drop the surplus and put on a plate / baking rack.

 Snow White Icing

Material: small bowl, spoon

1. Mix very energetically the icing sugar with the egg white using a spoon, until you get a creamy texture and no lumps.

The Sweet Sunday Baker Tips & Tricks 

1. I have more flour outside the bowl than insire (personal experience): use a bigger bowl next time
2. My dough really stucks to my fingers: add a little bit of flour
3. My icing is really pasty: add a little bit of water and whisk very energetically