What’s better than an Empire Biscuit? A giant Empire Biscuit of course! Soft, Buttery shortbread sandwiched together with jam and topped with a sweet icing glaze, this is an easy and fun recipe that no-one will be able to resist.
Empire biscuits are something I tend to bake often. Everyone I know seems to love them – and no wonder.
Soft, tender buttery shortbread sandwiched together with jam, topped with icing and depending on your preference, crowned with a glace cherry or a jelly tot. Or joob joobs, as I remember them being called many years ago. If you aren’t Scottish you probably won’t be familiar with the name!
I’m not sure what was going through my mind when I decided to try this recipe, but I’m very glad I did. It’s become a firm favourite in my family. It’s a fun recipe to make with the kids on a rainy afternoon and I think it’s pretty safe to say you probably have all the ingredients in the cupboard.
And if the little ones want to go mad with the decorations, let them – you don’t have to be as conservative as me with my single cherry! Use whatever sweets or decoration you have in the cupboard if you like. Either way it will still be delicious!
how to make a giant empire biscuit
(INGREDIENT AMOUNTS AND DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ARE IN THE RECIPE CARD AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- Cream soft butter and caster (superfine) sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Slowly add plain (all-purpose) flour to the creamed mixture, stopping when you have a soft and pliable dough.
- Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface and pat into a round. Place the dough on a scale to weigh it, then place equal amounts of dough into two greased and based lined 20cm round cake tins.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until light golden around the edges. The biscuits will seem a little soft in the middle, but will firm up on cooling.
- When the biscuits are completely cold, spread one half with strawberry or raspberry jam.
- Make up some icing sugar with enough cool water to make a thick but pourable icing.
- Place the other biscuit half on top and spread the icing over the top, using a small palette knife to spread it right to the edges.
- Adorn your giant Empire Biscuit with a glace cherry or jelly sweet. Or you could totally abandon tradition and decorate it however you see fit!
- When my boys were little they loved covering the whole thing in whatever sweets/sprinkles we had in the house!
- All that’s left to do now is leave the biscuit for a while to let the icing set before putting the kettle on and enjoying with a cup of tea. Bliss!
want to see more biscuits and cookies?
Melting Moments/Cornflake Biscuits
White chocolate and macadamia nut cookies
White chocolate and cranberry cookies
Double Chocolate Malteser Cookies
Leftover Easter chocolate cookies
Creme egg chocolate brownie cookies
Easy iced gingerbread biscuits
Did you make this giant Empire biscuit? I would love to see it! Tag me in your photos on Instagram #sweetsavouryblog
Giant Empire Biscuit
What's better than an Empire Biscuit? A giant Empire Biscuit of course! Soft, Buttery shortbread sandwiched together with jam and topped with a sweet icing glaze, this is an easy and fun recipe that no-one will be able to resist.
Ingredients
- 250g soft salted butter (see notes below)Â
- 100g Caster (super fine) Sugar
- 320g plain flour
- About half a jar of strawberry or raspberry jam (jelly) for the filling
- 100g Icing (Confectioner's) Sugar, SiftedÂ
- 1/2-1 tablespoons water
- A glace cherry or jelly sweet for the middle
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/350F. Grease and base line 2x20cm cake tins.
- Cream the butter and icing sugar together until very light and fluffy. Mix in the flour until it forms a soft dough (if you're using a stand mixer place a tea towel over it - otherwise you'll have a flour explosion!)
- Divide the dough into two equal portions (I like to weigh it to make sure I have equal portions) and press into the cake tins, using a spoon or just your hands to smooth it as best as you can.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until very light golden (start checking after 20 minutes - the biscuit will turn golden brown very quickly)
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool completely.
- When the biscuits are cold, sandwich together with the jam. Mix the icing sugar with enough cold water to make a thick but pourable icing. Spread over the top of the biscuit and top with a cherry or large jelly sweet. Leave the icing to set before enjoying with a cup of tea!
Notes
I always use salted butter for cookies and biscuits, but you can use unsalted if you prefer. If you use unsalted butter, stir 1/4 teaspoon of fine salt into the flour.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 15 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 201Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 108mgCarbohydrates: 17gNet Carbohydrates: 0gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gSugar Alcohols: 0gProtein: 2g
Thank you so much for this. I used thus recipe for a birthday treat. It was enjoyed by all-thanks for putting this recipe up 🙂
You’re very welcome Frances, I’m delighted you enjoyed it! Thank you for the feedback ?
Hi I’m thinking it’s the butter and caster sugar that gets creamed? I just want to clarify as I’m intending to make this for my friends birthday at the weekend. Thanks in advance Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth, yes the butter and the caster sugar is creamed together. Sorry about the typo!