From simnel cake to hot cross buns, there are a plethora of Easter recipes to try at this time of year.
One traditional recipe to try which incorporates currants, citrus and a delicious sugary crunch is Easter biscuits.
Traditionally given to guests on Easter Sunday, these biscuits are soft, pleasantly sweet, and believed to originate from the West Country.
These biscuits are made using flour, butter, egg yolk, currants and sugar but some recipes also include Cassia oil.
Mary Berry describes her Easter biscuits as “buttery lemon biscuits” which are “easy to make and take very little time.”
How to make Mary Berry’s Easter biscuits
Ingredients:
100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened
75g/2¾oz caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
One free-range egg, separated
One small unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest only
200g/7oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50g/1¾oz currants
One to two tbsp milk
Method:
1. Firstly, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 and line three baking trays with baking paper.
2. Next, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Then, add the egg yolk and lemon zest. Sift in the flour and combine before stirring in the currants and milk to form a soft dough.
3. Knead the dough on a floured surface and roll out the dough until 5mm thick using a rolling pin or equivalent. Cut out 24 rounds using a fluted cutter and transfer them to a baking tray using a palette knife. Bake them for eight minutes.
4. Beat the egg white.
5. Remove the biscuits from the oven and brush the tops of them with the beaten egg white. Sprinkle over the caster sugar and put them back in the oven for five minutes.
When they’re ready, they should be a pale golden brown and completely cooked through. Once cooked, allow the biscuits to cool on the trays for a few minutes then carefully put them on a wire rack to cool down completely.
