BISCUITS WATER RECIPES

Steps:

• Lightly grease 2 baking sheets, or line with parchment paper-(I use parchment) Dough: Whisk together the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into small cubes, and work it into the dry ingredients using your fingers, a mixer or a fork, mixing until the dough in unevenly crumbly.
• Drizzle with the orange juice and water,mixing until dough holds together and it doesn't seem all dry or crumbly-you've added enough liquid.
• Divide the dough in 1/2, and shape each 1/2 into a small rectangles ;pressing each of the 4 sides against the work surface to smooth any rough edges.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Remove 1 piece of dough from the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350^. Place dough on a lightly floured parchment paper surface. Roll it into a rectangle 10x 14-inches, about a little less than 1/8 -inch thick; the THINNER the better. Ragged edges are OK. The thinner you can roll them without tearing the better!
• Brush dough lightly with some of the beaten egg, then spread 1/2 the surface with 3/4 cup of the raisins, pressing them in carefully. Fold dough over raisins and flatten dough again with rolling pin. to about 6x15-inches. Some raisins might pop though- that's OK. Slide dough off parchment paper onto the prepared cookie sheet. Brush dough with some of the beaten egg ,(if using the coarse sugar,sprinkle on now).
• Using a roiling pizza wheel or bench knife, carefully cut the rectangle of dough inti 3 strips,lengthwise. Then crosswise into 5 pieces.No need to separate they will break apart when you finish baking them. But you can separate them if you wish.Both ways work well. Because they don't expand much.Using a fork poke holes all over the top of the dough.
• Repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 18 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on rack. If you do not need the cookie pan you can cool them on the pan. I baked them apart this time- but like them left together with perforations then baked.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Lightly grease two baking trays lined with baking paper.
• Measure the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk. Sieve in the flour and spices and add enough milk to make a fairly soft dough. Bring together, using your hands, to make a soft dough.
• Halve the mixture and set half to one side.
• For the traditional currant biscuits, add the currants to half of the mixture and knead lightly on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to a thickness of about 5mm/¼in. Cut into rounds using a circular cutter. Place on the prepared baking trays. Sprinkle with caster sugar.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Keep a careful eye on the biscuits – it doesn’t matter if you open the oven door to check. Sprinkle with more caster sugar and lift onto a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.
• For the iced biscuits, knead the remaining half of the biscuit dough lightly on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to a thickness of 5mm/¼in. Cut out Easter biscuits using an assortment of shaped cutters, such as bunnies, Easter eggs, chicks or spring flowers.
• Lightly grease two baking trays lined with baking paper.
• Place the biscuit shapes on the prepared baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for 10–15 minutes. Remove from the oven and lift onto a wire rack to cool.
• To make the icing, pass one teaspoon of lemon juice through a fine sieve, to remove any pips or bits. Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice and then add about two tablespoons of cold water, adding it little by little until you have a relatively stiff but smooth icing. Add a splash more sieved lemon juice if necessary.
• Divide the icing into separate bowls and mix in food colourings of your choice into the separate bowls of icing, until you achieve the desired shade.
• Spoon a little icing into a piping bag and pipe your decorations onto the biscuits. For a smooth finish, you can pipe the outline of your design in the firmer icing, then slacken it down a bit by mixing in a little more water, giving the icing more of a runny consistency, and use this to fill in the designs.