Pumpkin Empire Biscuits

A Halloween twist on traditional Scottish Empire Biscuits, made with two sweet shortbread-style biscuits sandwiched with chocolate spread, topped with simple orange water icing and finished with little fondant pumpkin faces.

Author: Amy Beth Reid

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Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Scottish

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 10

Decorating Time: 30

Total Time: 1 10

Servings: biscuits

INGREDIENTS

Metric (UK) | Cups (US)

150 g Block Margarine or Butter (at room temperature)
80 g Caster Sugar
1 Free-range Egg (beaten; at room temperature; see Egg Size note below)
300 g Plain Flour (plus extra for dusting)
10-12 tsp Chocolate Spread (such as Nutella)

For Decorating

150 g Icing Sugar
Boiling Water (a few teaspoonfuls)
Orange Food Colouring (gel food colouring preferable)
Black Fondant Icing (for the pumpkin faces)

EQUIPMENT

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 160°C for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 4 or 350°F) and line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together your butter/margarine and sugar until light and fluffy in both colour and texture. Add the egg and mix until combined.
80 g Caster Sugar; 150 g Block Margarine or Butter; 1 Free-range Egg
Sift the flour into the mixture and mix to form a somewhat stiff dough - you may need to use your hands to bring it together.
300 g Plain Flour
Gently knead the dough on a well-floured work surface before rolling it to around 5mm (¼ inch) thick. Using a circular or pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter (or a round cutter), cut your biscuits and transfer them to your prepared baking tray.
Bake in your preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes until the edges of the biscuit are just golden.
When still warm but cool enough to touch, add a teaspoon of the chocolate spread to the underside of half your biscuits, then top with the other half to sandwich them together. Leave to cool completely on a wire cooling rack before decorating.
10-12 tsp Chocolate Spread

For Decorating:

Before icing your biscuits, prepare your pumpkin faces. Roll a small amount of black fondant icing to a couple of millimetres thick. Using pumpkin face cutters or a small knife, cut a variety of pumpkin-style faces. Set aside.
Black Fondant Icing
In a small bowl, add the icing sugar and gradually add small amounts of boiling water until you have a thick, somewhat still-pourable consistency - "gloopy" is a great way to describe it! Add a few drops of orange food colouring (or equal amounts of red and yellow) until your icing is the desired shade of orange.
150 g Icing Sugar; Boiling Water; Orange Food Colouring
Carefully dip the tops of your biscuits into the icing to coat, allowing any excess to drip off before flipping upright again. (Alternatively, you can spread the icing on top, but this won't allow as even a finish.) While the icing is still wet, add your pumpkin faces on top. Allow them to set for a couple of hours before enjoying!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion, but these, unfortunately, won't always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.

RECIPE NOTES:

Egg Size: When it comes to eggs, I always buy mixed-weight free-range eggs. If you're unsure which eggs to use, I recommend medium eggs in the UK, which are roughly equivalent to large eggs in the US. That's what this recipe has been tested with.

Dough: The biscuit dough can seem quite crumbly after adding the flour. Use your hands to gently bring it together before rolling. If your kitchen is particularly warm, you can chill the dough for 30 minutes before rolling and cutting - just wrap it in cling film (plastic wrap) before placing it in the fridge.

Filling: I recommend using chocolate spread, such as Nutella. But you can also use Biscoff spread or jam, if preferred.

Food Colouring: Use orange food colouring for the icing, or mix a little red and yellow food colouring together to create orange. I like using gel food colouring because it has good colour payoff and doesn't add any extra moisture to your icing.

Decoration: I recommend using black fondant icing to make the pumpkin faces. Alternatively, allow the orange icing to set completely, then paint the faces on with black food colouring.

SHOW NUTRITION INFO: HIDE NUTRITION INFO:

Nutrition information is provided as a guide and is based on automatic calculations. Actual values may vary depending on the ingredients and brands used, how the recipe is prepared, and individual portion or serving sizes.