Traditional Easter Biscuits

I love making classic recipes, especially when they are highly requested, and these traditional easter biscuits are definitely one of them. They were traditionally given as little gifts during easter time, but they are now just a wonderful bake to make.

These biscuits are buttery, lightly spiced, and packed full of currants which is scrumptious. With an addition of lemon zest for lightness, they are incredibly moreish. They also make a nice change from the chocolate heavy recipes I usually post, so I am sure you will adore them. 

I would say personally that these are basically a biscuit version of a Simnel cake, of a hot cross bun, and a shortbread style biscuit all rolled up into one bake. With influence from how my gran used to make them (I love finding notes in old cookery books), they have a lovely short texture from how they are made, and have the spice level that brings warmth. 

Ingredient swaps & tips 

• Butter – For a correct texture of biscuit, and to prevent the biscuit spreading, using block unsalted butter for best results. Margarine/baking spread may make the dough too soft
• Sugar – I use caster sugar for the texture and flavour, other sugars can work but it may change texture due to larger sugar granules 
• Spices and flavours – I use mixed spice, a readily available spice in the uk, but you can make your own. It contains a mix of cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, cloves and ginger, so you can also just switch to a combination if you prefer 
• Flour – plain flour is important as you don’t want to use any raising agent 
• Currants – I just use currants in my traditional easter biscuits, but often you can use mixed peel as well. I would substitute out 25g of currants for peel. You can also use other dried fruits, but the classic choice is currants. I use lemon zest for the citrus in place of the mixed peel. 
• Milk – I would always recommend using full-fat dairy products in bakes, but any milk really works. It’s used to enrich the dough, and also bind it. 

Making a biscuit dough

These biscuits are incredibly easy to make by hand, and you do not need a mixer to make them. It does take a bit of work with the hands and arms, but it’s worth it. I would recommend making sure that the butter is fridge cold, as it makes rubbing the ingredients together by your fingertips a lot easier.

Obviously, if you need help with a mixer, that is totally okay – just make sure to not overwork the dough. You can use a food processor to blitz the butter into the dry ingredients to speed this up, and add in the milk to mix the dough together, but I would still add the currants by hand so that they aren’t broken down. 

The more you work the dough, the warmer it gets, which is why after making the dough it’s recommended to chill the dough for at least 30 minutes to firm the butter up again. When rolling out the dough to cut, you need to re-roll it a few times to use it up, so if the dough does warm up too much, you can also chill the biscuits before baking if you are worried 

Can you change the shape?

I use a round fluted biscuit cutter which is 8cm in diameter because I wanted the classic shape of these biscuits, but generally any shaped biscuit cutter does work. I prefer to use metal biscuit cutters as I find they are better to cut through the currants if they need to

If using any smaller sized biscuit cutters, you can reduce the baking time by 1-2 minutes, depending on size. Keep an eye on the biscuits as they bake because ovens also vary in heat strength and style, so you want them to lightly golden, but still be ever so slightly soft when they come out of the oven as all biscuits continue to bake and set whilst cooling 

FAQs 

• Can I top mine with sugar? Yes of course, a sprinkle of caster sugar just before they bake works well if you want the crunch of sweetness 
• Can I use a mixer to make the dough? You can, but make sure to not over-mix it. I prefer to rub the ingredients by hand to prevent any chance of this as it can cause the biscuits to spread 
• Can I prep these in advance? Yes, you can make the dough, roll them out and shape and put them in the fridge for up to 48 hours. You can then bake from chilled
• What can I use instead of milk? You can use water – or if it’s an allergy, you can use a vegan milk instead. I would always suggest full-fat versions of dairy in recipes 
• Can I swap to self raising flour? No, you don’t want the raising agent as it’ll change the texture of the biscuits 

Traditional Easter Biscuits

Easy to bake traditional easter biscuits with a light spice, lemon and currants dotted throughout, perfect with a cup of tea or a homemade gift 

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Category: Biscuits, Cookies

Type: Easter

Keyword: Biscuits, Easter

Prep Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes

Cooling: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 2 hours hours 12 minutes minutes

Servings: 18 biscuits

Author: Jane's Patisserie

Ingredients

• 165 g unsalted butter (cold and cubed)
• 85 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp mixed spice (see blog post)
• Zest of 1 lemon (finely grated)
• 275 g plain flour
• 100 g currants
• 2-3 tbsp milk

Grams - Ounces

Instructions

• Add the butter, in cold small cubes, with the sugar, mixed spice, lemon and plain flour into a large bowl
• Rub the mixture together with your fingertips until it forms breadcrumbs
• Add the currants and mix through
• Add the milk, a little at a time, knead well until it comes together - make sure to not add too much too quickly as a wet dough may spread
• Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes 
• Preheat the oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line 2-3 large trays with parchment paper
• Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface 
• Roll out the dough out until about 0.5cm thick 
• Cut out biscuits, using a 8cm cutter, and keep re-rolling until the dough is used up 
• Add to lined trays and then bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden
• Cool on the trays for 15 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack 

Notes

• These will last for 5-7+ days, at room temperature 
• These can freeze for 3+ months 
• I used this biscuit cutter, but any from a set like this works perfectly as well 

Storage and freezing 

These biscuits will last for 5-7 days, but probably even longer if you want. Never usually in my house, as they are eaten much quicker than that. I would use a cake box, old cake tin, or biscuit tub for storage. 

If you would like to freeze the biscuits, they will freeze for 3+ months. I would freeze them in an airtight container or freeze bag, with small amounts of parchment paper in between the layers to prevent any sticking.