This is another fun Halloween project we’d planned for 2010 Halloween:
Halloween Hazelnut Butter Biscuit

What exactly is the difference between biscuits and cookies.

Frankly speaking, imho, they’re the same

I’d like to think that cookies are small and you can finish it in one bite

Meanwhile biscuits should be bigger, shortbread-like, just like the cream crackers, gingerbread and so on. They are dough based and you can shape them with cookie cutters.

Well, these are just my opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own definition!

If you refer to the Wiki, you will see among the Commonwealth countries, they’re practically the same, except for the above mentioned differences. Though in Scotland, biscuits means plain bun.

However, in north America, biscuits are meant for small, soft and flaky leavened bread/quick bread, scone-like, or in the case of cheese biscuits, they mean crackers.

Therefore, at times, it’s difficult to get a stiff dough biscuit recipe(molded cookies/rolled cookies) online.

If you google biscuits/cookies recipes, it’s likely you’ll get a scone recipe or the soft dough cookies recipe.

Unless you key in the right term like molded cookies/rolled cookies.

Anyway, I got this rolled cookies recipe from this ‘Biscuit’ cook book by Seashore.

Since Halloween is just a week away. We decided to try some Halloween decorated butter biscuits for the kids.

Again I tweaked the recipe a little to suit my preference and what I have in my kitchen store.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Chilling Time: 30 minutes
Baking Time: 20 minutes
Make 25 Halloween Biscuits in various shapes

Ingredients A:

125g soft unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Grade A egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
20g caster sugar, ground in food processor (optional)
55g soft brown sugar, ground in food processor (optional)
pinch of salt

Ingredients B:

100g self-raising flour, extra for dusting
50g wholemeal flour
1/16 tsp baking powder
40g milk powder
20g corn flour
50g ground hazelnut
Combine and sift the ingredients with a medium size sieve, in a separate mixing bowl

Ingredients C, for royal icing:

250g sifted icing sugar, *50g extra for standby (sifted).
6 1/2 tsp meringue powder
2-3 tbsp warm water
food colouring, orange
*Royal Icing made from meringue powder or dried pasteurized egg whites is safe to consume. However royal icing using egg whites is only meant for decoration, not safe to consume.

Ingredients D:

Melted semi-sweetened chocolate chip, Van Houten
chocolate chips for decoration (Halloween ghosts’ eyes)

How-to:

1. Cream the butter and sugar till fluffy and light. You may want to grind the sugar in the food processor, as the finer the sugar, the finer the texture of your biscuits.

Of course, you can skip the food processor and just replace the sugar with 75g icing sugar. I didn’t use icing sugar, because I like soft brown sugar. It’s less sweet and more fragrant.

Or you may leave the sugar as they are. But the biscuit will have a slightly rougher texture.

In this case, I used wholemeal flour and I skipped the food processor, as the wholemeal flour will give the biscuit a rough texture.

However if you are using only plain flour, you may choose to ground the sugar to give the biscuit a finer texture.

3. Fold in the sifted ingredients B till it becomes a dough.

4. Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge, so the dough will be hard and easier to shape.

5. Preheat your oven to 175C and line your baking tray with non-stick parchment paper.

6. After removing the dough from the fridge, roll it out in a floured working surface and cut them into the shape you want.

6. Arrange the shaped dough onto the lined baking trays and bake for 20 minutes at 175 C, till light brown.

7. Remove from oven and leave to cool on the wire rack.

Royal Icing

8. Whisk icing sugar and meringue powder together. Just well mixed.

9. Add in the warm water and whisk to combine. About 7 to 10 minutes. If too dry and stiff, you can add more lukewarm water by the teaspoon. When the royal icing is ready, it should look thick, stiff, and shiny.

12. To get the consistency you want, you need to add water (by the teaspoon), if the mixture is still too stiff.

Or add more sifted icing sugar if the mixture is too runny.

*That’s why I always sift extra 50g icing sugar in a separate bowl, just in case the final mixture gets too thin and runny.

13. Divide the royal icing into 2 portions and mix in your food colourings respectively for Halloween ghosts and pumpkin decorations.

Remember to cover your royal icing with a damp cloth, when it’s not used, so that it will not crust.

Recipe tweaked by: SC
Original Recipe from Jom Masak ‘Biscuit’ Cookbook by Seashore