Empire Biscuits (Classic Scottish Iced Cookies with Raspberry Jam)
Empire Biscuits are simply classic Scottish bakery fare. Two shortbread type biscuits are sandwiched together, topped with icing and a candied cherry.
I grew up with these Empire biscuits (cookies) like children in the US grow up with chocolate chip cookies.
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I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful they are, but my three year old niece recently turned down homemade chocolate chip cookies for an Empire biscuit. Not once, but twice, so that should tell you something!
Remember the candied cherry recipe I shared recently? This is the reason I shared it: a classic Empire biscuit has a bit of glacé cherry (or half of one) in the center.
What are Empire Biscuits?
Apparently, they are a copy of Austrian Linzer cookies/biscuits. Edited Nov. ’19 – I was just in Linz last month and all the Linzer cookies truly reminded me of Empire biscuits! That’s because I knew of Empire biscuits before learning about the original Linzer cookies.
Why are they Called Empire Biscuits?
I never knew why they were called Empire biscuits, and simply accepted it. However, as we get older, our curiosity gets to us. I did a little digging and realized that the name was changed when WWII broke out; they were renamed “Empire Biscuits” – Wikipedia. If you don’t understand why they changed the name, it’s because the UK was at war with Germany and they didn’t want any association to their rival country with a beloved Scottish biscuit!
My snow cookies are based on Empire biscuits and have won two contests, so I’m not just saying they’re really good, they’re really good!
Can I freeze Empire biscuits?
Empire biscuits freeze exceptionally well, but do so before jamming them together, and icing them. You want to defrost them first, then assemble and decorate, and they’ll be just perfect!
NOTES: This recipe includes an egg, but you can easily make them more as traditional shortbread with egg free cookie recipe. You can use either a straight or serrated biscuit/cookie cutter.
Classic Empire Biscuits Recipe
slightly adapted from Lofty Peak makes 20 sandwich biscuits
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Ingredients
- butter
- sugar
- egg
- flour
- confectioner’s sugar
- candied cherries
- raspberry jam
Directions
Preheat oven to 400˚F (200˚C)
Mix the butter and sugar together until it forms a homogenous mixture. Add the egg and mix well. Next add the flour until it forms a crumbly consistency.
Turn onto a floured surface and form into a smooth dough. Do not overwork the dough. Roll out quite thinly (about 1/8″) and cut into rounds with a cookie cutter.
Place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes (I turn them once through baking). Put on cooling rack. Then, when completely cool, choose a mate for each cookie.
Coat the tops with confectioner’s sugar mixed with milk or water (to a thick, but runny consistency as in the photo below).
Top with a piece of candied cherry in the center, then sandwich together cookies with raspberry jam and enjoy with a cup of tea! When completely set, keep in an airtight container. Most households in the UK have a biscuit tin.
Magical!
Empire Biscuits (Classic Scottish Iced Cookies with Raspberry Jam)
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter
- ⅓ cups sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 20 candied cherries to decorate
- 13 oz raspberry jam as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃)
- Mix the butter and sugar together until it forms a homogenous mixture. Add the egg and mix well. Next add the flour until it forms a crumbly consistency.
- Turn onto a floured surface and form into a smooth dough. Do not overwork the dough. Roll out quite thinly (about 1/8") and cut into rounds with a cookie cutter.
- Place on lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes (I turn them once through baking). Put on cooling rack. Then, when completely cool, choose a mate for each cookie.
- Coat the tops with confectioner's sugar mixed with milk or water (to a thick, but runny consistency as in the photo below).
- Top with a piece of candied cherry in the center, then sandwich together cookies with raspberry jam and enjoy with a cup of tea!
Notes
- The number of biscuits the recipe will make depends on the size of the cutter you use.
Nutrition
For another classic Scottish biscuit, you can’t beat shortbread!
More Scottish biscuits to try~
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Hey Christina I was just wondering when u mix the butter and sugar what do u mean mix until homogenous mixture
A uniform mixture, Charlene. Just until it comes together evenly. Enjoy!
These look divine! I have celiac disease so would like to try a gluten free version. Can you recommend a gluten free flour blend that you think would work well?
Hi Andy, I am not well-versed in gluten free baking, so all I can say is that I like the Trader Joe’s gf baking flour, but I haven’t tried it for these biscuits. Let me know what you think if you give them a try! CC
Well, I started off the New Year by making them gluten free using King Arthur’s gf flour, with good result. I used Amarana Toschi Italian Black Cherries. I might try again with the Trader Joe’s flour … or I might leave well enough alone. Thank you for the recipe and have a great year in 2022
Until this year I had not heard of Imperial cookies. I know what rock did I crawl out from under??? I heard so many of my co-workers say they love them. So I of course had to give them I try. I am not a big fan of an icing sugar glaze and I use raspberry jelly in my sugar cookie sandwich cookies, so wanted a different flavor in these cookies (hope this is not offensive to the die hards of Imperial cookies). I filled my cookies with blue berry jam and did a lemon glaze on the top. AMAZING!!!! Love these little devils. Will defiantly making another batch before Christmas.
Ah, I think you need to try the original, Barb! :)
I most definitely will. Thanks
Awesome!
Icing is not bright white. Also how to stop maraschino from blessing red into icing
You can use white food coloring to get it white-white.
My confectioner’s glaze is white upon mixing, then it turns clear. Am I using too much milk or could there be another reason for this?
Not enough sugar, or too much milk, it definitely shouldn’t be clear as that’s more like a glaze. Good luck, Vivian!
Hi Christina..can you please clarify for me..mix sugar and butter..just until smooth..not fluffy?…and when you say rub..are you meaning..eventually using your hands to het it into a dough?
Margherita
Hi Margherita, I now see why you’re confused as the first directions were poorly written. I’ve edited them and hopefully that will help. The original recipe instructs the baker not to cream the butter and sugar, but I have made these in a stand mixer several times with good results, so they are not as delicate as inferred. I think the most important thing is not to overwork the mixture/dough. When it comes together, stop. Let me know how they turn out :)
These have always been my favorite treat from bakeries. So at the request of my children I tried your recipe. Perfect! Thanks so much from Canada.
That’s so great to hear, Rebecca! So happy you enjoyed them!
What am I doing wrong? Tried twice with melted butter and then again with room temp butter and still the mixture is dry and crumbly and will not roll out flat.
So sorry I missed this, Louise! First of all, melted butter is not part of the recipe, so not sure why you’re melting it, it surely won’t turn out with melted butter. However, room temperature butter should have worked unless it was a hot day. Are you weighing the ingredients? Did you add the egg? I don’t understand how it can be dry and crumbly with the egg.
If you are using cups to measure the flour, it is possible that the four is being compressed too much so you are getting more flour than is called for. Maybe try spooning the flour into the cup rather than scooping it from the bag with the cup. Just a thought.
Better yet, use a scale for accurate measurement every single time.