Earl Grey Sandwich Biscuits

Earl Grey Sandich Biscuits

It was biscuit week on the Great British Bake Off two weeks ago, so to keep up with the Bake Off Bake Along that can only mean one thing; a kitchen full of biscuits. I’ve actually not had much time to get this done. I’ve had an exceptionally busy few weeks, with important family commitments, going to the filming of Bake Off Extra Slice, watching Progress Wrestling and Alexandra Palace and planning, then going on, a last minute getaway to Madrid & Barcelona. This means that I was up early on a Tuesday morning piping buttercream onto biscuits in my pyjamas. It was all going well until I realised the fridge had been on a high setting and the buttercream was too hard to pipe, leading to a stress while I tried to juggle photographing food and getting ready to work. It may also mean that I have to skip bread week and jump straight to caramel week!

Earl Grey Sandich Biscuits

The issue with baking with tea often comes down to how well you’ve made the tea flavours come through. Often it’s too subtle and just doesn’t quite work. These biscuits have enough earl grey in them to provide a strong flavour without it being overpowering. This may of course depend on the type of earl grey you use. I used twinings tea bags. The candied peel could very easily be substituted for standard lemon or orange zest. Both would add a fresh citrusy punch which would marry up with the floral notes of the earl grey without overpowering.

Earl Grey Sandich Biscuits

This recipe is originally found in Ruby Tandoh’s ‘Flavour’.

Early Grey Sandwich Biscuits
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 14-16 biscuits
Ingredients
  • **For the biscuits**
  • 100g unsalted butter, softened
  • 125g caster sugar
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 150g plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 3 earl grey tea bags
  • 50g candied peel, chopped (or the zet of a lemon)
  • **For the buttercream**
  • 100g unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 earl grey tea bags
  • 200g icing sugar
  • 2 teaspoons milk
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan assisted) and line a couple of baking sheets with grease proof paper.
  2. Beat the butter with the sugar, until smooth and light. Stir in the egg yolks.
  3. Mix the flour with the bicarb and tear in the earl grey.
  4. Combine the dry mixture with the butter mixture and mix together until combined.
  5. Stir through the peel (or zest).
  6. Roll the dough into teapspoon sized balls and space well apart on the lined baking trays.
  7. Press down on each until they are about 1cm thick.
  8. Bake for 10 minutes, then leave to cool completely on the trays.
  9. For the buttercream, beat together the butter with the contents of the earl grey tea bags.
  10. Sift in the icing sugar, start beating and pour in the milk. Beat until smooth.
  11. Spoon or pipe the buttercream onto the biscuits, sandwiching them together and pressing gently. You want them to hold together but not to crush the biscuit.
  12. Best served on the day you've made them as the buttercream will make them go a little soggy.
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe:  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.