Shrewsbury Biscuits

Shrewsbury biscuits are crisp lemony biscuits that are perfect with a cup of tea, coffee or just as a snack on their own.

They are really easy to make and keep their shape when baking, even without chilling the dough, so they are perfect to make with the kids in different shapes too.

These biscuits are also perfect for dunking into your favourite desserts too!

Enjoy!

These biscuits date back to the 1600's and take their name from the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire.

They were originally made as Shrewsbury cakes and could be made as a large cake rather than biscuits.

Today, these biscuits are apparently very popular in India! I can really see why because they are really crisp, buttery and simple.

What I really love is that this is a biscuit mixture that doesn't require the dough to be chilled. This means that it only takes 15 minutes to prepare them and 15 minutes to cook.

And the best bit? The dough doesn't spread, so you can get more on the baking tray and use different cutters for different times of the year and they will always keep their shape.

Jump to:

• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 Instructions
• ⏲️ Baking time
• 🥗 Serve with
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Storage
• FAQs
• More baking recipes
• 📋 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

🥘 Ingredients

• Butter - unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter then leave the extra salt out.
• Sugar - caster or superfine sugar, golden or white.
• Eggs -large and free range egg yolks.
• Flour - plain or all purpose flour.
• Lemon - zest of a lemon
• Salt

💭 Top Tip

• If you are not going to use the juice of the lemon in the next few days just put it in the freezer and defrost when you need it. I use mine to pop into the cavity of a chicken before cooking to keep it moist and make the most delicious gravy!

🍽 Equipment

• Large bowl
• Wooden spoon
• Baking trays
• Rolling pin
• Baking parchment

🔪 Instructions

Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined, pale and soft.

Beat in the egg yolks thoroughly, one at a time.

💭 Top Tip

• It's easier to separate eggs if you keep them in the refrigerator for about an hour beforehand.

Add the flour and lemon zest to the bowl.

Stir to combine the mixture.

Use your hands to bring the mixture together into a ball in the bowl.

Sprinkle a little flour on a work surface and knead the dough briefly.

Roll out the dough to half a centimetre or a quarter of an inch thick.

Use a cutter around 7.5 centimetres or 3 inch.

Depending on the size of the cutter there will be approximately 16 biscuits.

⏲️ Baking time

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/160 FAN/Gas 4 and bake the biscuits for 15 minutes until golden.

Leave the biscuits to cool on the trays for a couple of minutes then transfer to a rack to cool.

🥗 Serve with

• Crème brûlée
• Chocolate Mousse
• Baileys Sabayon

Substitutions

• Butter - use baking spread or margarine but the flavour of the biscuits will not be as good.

Variations

• Fruit - replace the lemon or add 25g /1 oz of currants or other dried fruit.
• Traditional - add 25 g/ 1 oz caraway seeds with the flour
• Christmas - leave the biscuits plain or with lemon and use Christmas cutters instead then decorate.
• Lemon - use grated zest of an orange or lime for a change
• Spice -swap the lemon for a teaspoon of mixed spice and a teaspoon of cinnamon.
• Orange and Cinnamon - this combination and picture came from reader Brenda - just use the zest of an orange and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Storage

These biscuits will keep crisp for at least a week in an airtight container.

FAQs

More baking recipes

📋 Recipe

Food Safety

• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
• Wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using gas.

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