Overview
Classic Belgian Biscuits
By Amy // Posted Dec 11, 2021 // Category Cookies
Belgian biscuits are a popular New Zealand and Australian biscuit which became popular after World War I. They’re essentially spiced biscuits that are filled with raspberry jam and then topped with a creamy vanilla icing.
These cookies need a lot of love and time to make. But, with one bite I suddenly realised why they were so popular.
I really loved the warm spices in the biscuit that is accompanied by some delicate sweetness that comes from the raspberry jam. This all comes together splendidly with milky vanilla icing.
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tips
1. Ingredients
The butter and egg need to be at room temperature. I usually cube the butter and then leave it out with the egg on the counter for a few hours before baking. I used pink food colouring as I thought the colour contrast looked better with pink. With red food colouring it still becomes pink, but a darker pink. You also need a little extra flour when rolling out the biscuit dough.
2. Equipment
To make the biscuits, you need a large mixing bowl, spatula, stand mixer or hand mixer, and some glad wrap. When shaping the biscuits, you need a rolling pin and a circular crinkled (4-5cm) cookie cutter. You also need some baking paper and some baking trays. To make the coloured sugar and the icing, you need two smaller mixing bowls, teaspoons and a whisk.
3. Variations to the spices used
I used only cinnamon and mixed spice when making the biscuit dough. However, you could also use 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of ginger, 1 tsp of mixed spice for a more intense spiced cookie. You can also decrease the brown sugar to 1/2 cup to make it less sweet.
4. How do I use the coloured sugar?
5. Bake over two days or a whole afternoon
As delicious as the biscuits are, I found that it took quite a long time to make the biscuits. It took me around 3 hours to make everything, although this includes time spent on the dough chilling in the fridge, cooling after baked and washing up in between. To make it easier, I would recommend baking in two stages. The first would be making the cookies. You can leave the cookie dough in the fridge until it’s ready to use the next day. Just remember, you’d need to leave the dough at room temperature for around an hour to let it soften. Then the next stage would be to bake, then ice the cookies. Two days or a long afternoon spent baking I think would be best.
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Beat the sugar and butter at a medium speed using a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Continue beating until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until well combined.
Add the mixed spice, cinnamon, baking powder and a third of the of flour to the sugar and butter mixture and beat until combined. Fold in the remaining flour until the ingredients just come together. Wrap the biscuit dough in some glad wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5 minutes before the biscuit dough is ready, preheat the oven to 180C (355F). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Flour a clean surface and flour your rolling pin. Place the dough on the floured surface and roll out until you a sheet of dough around 3-4mm thick. Using a circular crinkle cookie cutter, cut out the cookies. Gather the remaining scrap dough and roll out the dough again, ensuring you flour the surface and the rolling pin. Continue cutting and rerolling until you have cut out all the cookies from the dough. You should have around 38-40 cookie cutouts.
Place the cookies on the lined baking tray, leaving a 2cm gap between each cookie. Bake for around 10 minutes or until the edges start to brown slightly. Let the cookies cool slightly before transferring to a cooling rack.
Place the white sugar in a small bowl and add one drop of pink/red food colouring. (I used pink) Mix the sugar around using a teaspoon until all of the sugar turns pink and no clumps of food colouring remain.
Place the icing sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt into a medium sized bowl and whisk until well combined. If it is too stiff, add just a little bit more milk. If it is too watery, add more icing sugar. You need a spreadable and slightly thick consistency.
Place raspberry jam, around 1/2 teaspoon, on the bottom side of one biscuit. Place another biscuit, bottom side, on the raspberry jam so that you are sandwiching the biscuit with the jam in the middle. Spread a thin layer of icing over the top of the biscuit. Sandwich each cookie and ice each cookie before sprinkling the sugar on top.
Place the cookies in an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days or place in the fridge for up to a week.
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the sugar and butter at a medium speed using a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Continue beating until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until well combined.
Add the mixed spice, cinnamon, baking powder and a third of the of flour to the sugar and butter mixture and beat until combined. Fold in the remaining flour until the ingredients just come together. Wrap the biscuit dough in some glad wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5 minutes before the biscuit dough is ready, preheat the oven to 180C (355F). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Flour a clean surface and flour your rolling pin. Place the dough on the floured surface and roll out until you a sheet of dough around 3-4mm thick. Using a circular crinkle cookie cutter, cut out the cookies. Gather the remaining scrap dough and roll out the dough again, ensuring you flour the surface and the rolling pin. Continue cutting and rerolling until you have cut out all the cookies from the dough. You should have around 38-40 cookie cutouts.
Place the cookies on the lined baking tray, leaving a 2cm gap between each cookie. Bake for around 10 minutes or until the edges start to brown slightly. Let the cookies cool slightly before transferring to a cooling rack.
Place the white sugar in a small bowl and add one drop of pink/red food colouring. (I used pink) Mix the sugar around using a teaspoon until all of the sugar turns pink and no clumps of food colouring remain.
Place the icing sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt into a medium sized bowl and whisk until well combined. If it is too stiff, add just a little bit more milk. If it is too watery, add more icing sugar. You need a spreadable and slightly thick consistency.
Place raspberry jam, around 1/2 teaspoon, on the bottom side of one biscuit. Place another biscuit, bottom side, on the raspberry jam so that you are sandwiching the biscuit with the jam in the middle. Spread a thin layer of icing over the top of the biscuit. Sandwich each cookie and ice each cookie before sprinkling the sugar on top.
Place the cookies in an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days or place in the fridge for up to a week.
Servings 19
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories 157
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 5.7g9%
- Saturated Fat 3.5g18%
- Cholesterol 23mg8%
- Sodium 51mg3%
- Potassium 62mg2%
- Total Carbohydrate 26.1g9%
- Dietary Fiber 0.3g2%
- Sugars 17.8g
- Protein 1.3g3%
- Calcium 2%
- Iron 3%
- Vitamin D 22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
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