Go Back
+ servings
close up of a german biscuit filled with raspberry jam
Print Recipe
5 from 4 votes

Empire Biscuits Recipe

Amazing Empire biscuits, aka German biscuits or Imperial cookies, filled with raspberry jam, iced, and topped with cherries.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time8 minutes
Total Time38 minutes
Course: Cookies
Cuisine: British
Servings: 12
Calories: 287kcal
Author: Adina

Ingredients

  • Shortbread dough:
  • 250 g all-purpose flour 8.8 oz/ 2 cups
  • 125 g granulated sugar 4.4 oz/ ⅔ cup
  • 150 g unsalted butter 5.3 oz/ ⅔ cup, room temperature
  • 1 egg
  • pinch of salt
  • Filling and topping:
  • 12 teaspoons raspberry jam
  • 150 g icing sugar 5.3 oz/ 1 ½ cups
  • about 2 tablespoons lemon juice or water
  • 6 or 12 candied cherries depending on size (Note 2)

Instructions

Shortbread dough:

  • Dough: Place flour, sugar, a pinch of salt, soft cubed butter, and egg in a bowl and mix well for 1-2 minutes. Form a disc, wrap in cling film/plastic foil and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit (180 C/ 350 F fan oven).
  • Cut cookies: Divide the dough into two parts. Roll one half on a lightly floured surface about ½ cm/0.2 inch thick. Cut the cookies with a round cutter (or a glass) of about 6 cm/ 2.4 inches diameter. Place on the prepared baking trays.
  • Bake for about 7-8 minutes until very lightly golden. Let rest on the trays for 5 minutes, transfer carefully to wire racks to cool completely.
  • Repeat: While the first batch of cookies is baking, roll and form the second batch, and so on. Knead the leftover dough shortly, roll again, and cut as many cookies as possible; an even number of cookies would be best.

Decorate:

  • Fill: Place half of the cookies, bottom-side up, on the working surface. Spread 1 teaspoon jam on each of them.
  • Ice biscuits: Mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to form a thick paste that will not run down the cookies' sides. Spread some icing on each of the remaining biscuits (those without jam).
  • Assemble: Press the iced cookies on top of those with jam.
  • Decorate: Drain the cherries if they have a lot of syrup on them. Cut in half if they are large. Decorate each biscuit with a cherry or halved cherry.
  • Allow the icing to set before serving.

Notes

  1. Tip: Use a digital kitchen scale to measure the ingredients when baking, it guarantees for best results.
  2. Large cherries should be halved. Glace or maraschino cherries can be used instead.

Nutrition

Serving: 1biscuit | Calories: 287kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 23mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g