There was a hint of spring in the air yesterday and it called for a bit of Easter baking – some Spring Biscuits to celebrate those first warm rays, the blossom unfolding, the lambs gambolling and all that sap rising!
I had such fun making these for when the kids got home, I’m no expert icer as you can see but a little bit of basic splurging, scraping and dotting did the trick and I’m very pleased with them! I love this little set of chicks and the little sibling trying to keep up with them – just like my lot!
And here are two of them having a little chat – I think the one on the right is saying ‘Will you get a wriggle on? You look ridiculous with your feet sticking out like that!’
Meanwhile, over head, a butterfly is meandering on by.
And, in the field, a lamb is getting acquainted with the local bunny population.
I adapted the recipe for Nigella Lawson’s Butter Cut Out Biscuits which always reliably hold their shape – you really don’t want a spreading bunny or a featureless lamb emerging from the oven! I wanted lemon biscuits so I replaced vanilla extract with lemon extract for a zingy, springy bake.
This quantity makes a lot of biscuits – you can use half the dough and freeze the rest for another day if you don’t want biscuits coming out of your ears! If you have too many biscuits to fit on your trays, bake them in batches.
Easter Baking - Spring Biscuits
Ingredients
- 175 g unsalted butter , softened
- 200 g golden caster sugar
- 2 free range eggs
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 400 g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 200 g icing sugar
- 2 tbsps freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Vegetarian food colourings (I used yellow, orange and red)
- 5 chocolate drops
You will also need
- Baking Sheets
- Rolling Pin
- Biscuit cutters
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C and grease two baking sheets
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
- Carefully beat in the eggs and lemon extract, a little at a time, beating well between additions
- Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt
- Pull the dough together with your hands to make a ball - if it is very sticky add a little more flour but go easy
- Divide the dough into two and shape into discs
- Wrap in plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for an hour
- Roll the dough out on a flour dusted board until it is about 1/2cm thick
- Cut out your biscuit shapes, place on your prepared baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown - don't let those little lamb toes burn!
- Leave to cool completely on a wire rack
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon juice, you want a thick paste which will stay on the biscuits but is enough to spread into all those tricky bits. If you need to add more liquid do so very slowly, drop by drop.
- Divide your icing into 4 bowls (you'll need more white than the other colours), add food colouring sparingly until you achieve the tone you like - I'm a pastels girl.
- I iced with the white icing first and let it set before adding other colours.
- The features were added using a cocktail stick and a little bit of melted chocolate.
I was rather pleased that my Spring flowers looked a bit like fried eggs!
For more Easter Baking and some simple crafts you might like this post too! 
These are adorable Chris, and what a lovely whimsical post – I can absolutely see they are all chatting to each other! Lovely biscuits.
Thank you! I heard them chattering away together in the tin later on – lovely little biscuits 😉
I love these! They are soooo cute! The little scenes are adorable.
Thank you, I’ve always thought it was important to play with your food 😀
Oh my, they are so cute! My kids would love these! 🙂
They appeal to kids of all ages – my teens were pleased to see them when they got in from school!
Oh – just the sort of thing my kiddoes would love to make.
Thanks Bintu – A good thing to do together over the Easter break maybe?!
Oh how absolutely super cute Chris. These biscuits really do say spring – hooray. I so love this time of year and actually having a whole week without rain has made such a difference. Love your fried egg flowers.
The fried egg flowers came about by accident, I thought I was making daisies and then – hey presto – eggs! I love this time of year too – let’s hope for some spring sunshine over the bank holiday weekend!
These look fab! I love the fried eggs!
Total accident Sarah, they were meant to be daisies but they obviously didn’t want to be – cheeky devils!
Love them! Wish I’d seen them before I did my BabyCentre post. These would have fitted perfectly.
I wish you had too! I love them to pieces – I have more dough in the fridge because you just can’t have too many Easter Bunnies and Spring Lambs can you?!
Your little Spring tableau makes me feel like a child again. I love those little characters and I know that my grandchildren would love them too.
I have to admit that a lot of what I do is for the child in me just as much as for those around me! I love a shaped biscuit!