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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Are the cookies themselves, without topping and unassembled, freezable?
100%, Denise. They freeze really well!
I think the measurements for dry ingredients may be off (I used your measure for cups), because the dough needed a significant amount of additional milk to even be workable. Dough was too dry with measurements as is.
Sorry Jannet, but it’s the cup measuring that is off. Cups are unreliable which is why I ALWAYS recommend using a scale. This recipe has been used by thousands of people over decades and is solid. Please invest $10 in a scale and you’ll see what I mean. Milk will make these biscuits tough, so your result is not as it should be.
Flour is measured successfully in cups in almost every recipe on this side of the Atlantic. I’m surprised that cup measurements would be so unreliable in this case that it causes the recipe to fail.
Hi Brad, while “successfully” is subjective, I do agree that the cup measurements for these biscuits shouldn’t make the recipe fail, but there is a significant difference between flour in cups and when weighed. Without being there to see what Jannet did, I cannot say why she needed to add milk.
What I can say is this recipe has over 300 reviews averaging 4.8/5 stars, and the biscuits you see in the photos here are made using this exact recipe. I have made them countless times and they always turn out perfectly. This recipe has also won an LA Times cookie contest and won another Christmas cookie magazine contest and was featured in the magazine. Trust me, it’s not the recipe. Wish I could be more helpful, but my best advice is to always use a scale. There’s a reason pastry chefs don’t use cups.
I’m in Scotland (so very familiar with how these should look, feel and taste) and always weigh using the grams version of this recipe – they are stunning and perfectly buttery and crumbly. A drier dough could be due to the butter being too cold / not worked enough with the sugar? Or add less flour, stop when you think the dough seems “right” as the water content of butter can be really variable and I find that affects lots of my baking. ‘just a thought to try and help. x
Thanks, Lizanne. I agree on the butter, too, thank you!
Serious issue in baking and can only be resolved using a scale. We could argue an out, sifting, fluffing, dipping or spooning flour into a container. Or, we could easily use a $10 digital scale (which could be off by 2-3 GRAMS). But that’s a far cry from one cup of APflour being something between 110 and 155 grams depending upon method of “scooping “.
Agreed Jeffrey, which is why I don’t understand the massive aversion to using a scale.
Hi, is this salted or unsalted butter? Thanks!
Salted plain, or if you use unsalted add a nice pinch of salt, Bryn. Let me know what you think!
If you sell a Recipe book with your great items. I would like info on your Recipe Book.
I have had a British Shop for a few years. Now I just bake for my customers.
Thank you,
Looking forward in baking Empire Buscuits.
Aw, that’s lovely, Irene. I will be publishing an ebook soon, but no plans for a full on cookbook at this time. Thank you, though!
Hello, Christina. I have a question about the cookie yield. Your recipe says it yields 20 cookies. Do you mean it yields 20 cookies all assembled or 20 cookies respectively without the assembly? Please let me know, thanks!
40 singles, 20 sandwiched biscuits, since the actual recipe is for two together. Also, it’s written in the main post. You can often find answers to your questions in the long version of the recipe with lots of tips, etc.
Hi, Christina. I am new to your site and excited to try your recipes.
I have a question regarding your flour weight.
I always bake by weight for almost all of my ingredients.
With this recipe, you have 1 cup of flour weighing 151.33 grams. Your easy Scottish shortbread has one cup weighing 123.63 grams.
I have never baked a recipe with 1 cup of flour weighing 151.33 grams. Is this weight correct?
Thanks
Hi Leslie, the weight is correct, but you’re right on the cups being a bit off. I have edited the recipe to add ½ c of flour. Thanks for your eagle eye! Let me know how you like these!
This is a lovely recipe but at 8 min. my cookies were all burnt. I had divided my dough and was rolling the second batch and the first all burnt