Mother’s Day Biscuit Card

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan180°, 400°F, Gas 6.

Lightly grease 2 baking trays.

Cream the butter and Tate & Lyle Golden Caster Sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg yolk.

Next, sieve in the flour, add the lemon rind and mix well. Add the milk to make a fairly soft dough.

Knead the mixture on a lightly floured surface and roll out to a thickness of 5mm (¼“). Using the flower cutter stamp out about 40 rounds and place on the baking trays, spaced apart.

Bake for 7-9 minutes until golden, swapping the trays round halfway through. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing, put the water in a bowl, sift over the Tate & Lyle Royal Icing Sugar and mix with a wooden spoon until thick, smooth and the consistency of toothpaste.

You will need about one-third of the icing for piping and the rest for flooding the biscuits. Divide the icing between 3 small bowls and colour with your chosen colours, using a toothpick to add a tiny amount, then mix well to achieve your desired colour.

For the icing for flooding, add a few drops of water at a time to 1 of the bowls, stirring until the mixture is smooth and just pourable, just a bit thicker than double cream.

The 2 bowls of icing for piping should be thick enough to hold its shape. Check by dragging a flat-bladed knife through the surface of the icing and count to 10. If the icing surface becomes smooth in anywhere between 5-10 seconds it is ready. If not, the icing is too thick, so add a splash of water. More sifted icing sugar can be added if it becomes too runny. Divide this icing between 2 piping bags. Cover any unused icing with cling film placed directly on the surface.

Snip a tiny piece off the tip of the piping bags with a pair of scissors. Pipe an outline border with your chosen colour 1cm (½”) above the biscuit, lifting the bag away from the biscuit so that the icing falls onto the surface. This makes it easier to control the piping. Let the icing dry for 10 minutes.

Next, fill in the middle of the biscuits with the flooding icing using a teaspoon and a zig-zag motion. Gently shake the biscuit to help settle the icing. Pop any air bubbles with a pin or toothpick right away otherwise it will pop on its own and leave a hole. Wait for 30 minutes or so until the icing has firmed up, then decorate the middle of the flower biscuit using a contrasting colour.

Place the decorated biscuits on a baking tray and dry out in the oven 140°C/Fan120°, 275°F, Gas 1 for about 15 minutes, slightly longer if you are making larger biscuits. Cool on a wire rack.

To attach the flower biscuit to the card, pipe a little icing over the outline of the back of the biscuit and lightly place it on the card to ‘glue’ it in position. Leave to dry flat for a few hours.