If you haven’t spotted it yet, this month we’ve teamed up with Bottlegreen, purveyors of fine cordial and soft drinks, to bring you a fantastic competition.

The lovely folks at Bottlegreen also sent us some cordials to try, and we thought what better way to use them than in a biscuit recipe! Perfect for summer garden parties, and even better eaten with a gin and elderflower cocktail in hand! (another great way to use Bottlegreen cordials.. )

You’ll need –

200g Plain Flour

100g salted butter, diced

50g caster sugar

1 medium egg, lightly whisked

2tbsps Bottlegreen Elderflower Cordial

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Then just follow these simple steps….

• Preheat the oven to 170c/350f/gas mark 4 before you begin making your biscuits.
• Sift the flour in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and mix well.
• Add the butter. Using just the tips of your fingers, rub together the ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• When the butter is evenly mixed in, make a well at the centre and add the Bottlegreen Elderflower cordial, the egg and the lemon rind.
• Mix well, drawing in any of the flour left at the sides of the bowl and stop as soon as a ball has formed.
• Place the dough onto your clean worktop. Divide into two and squash the dough into two even-sized flat discs. Cover and chill until ready to use, or roll out immediately.
• Place the dough on a sheet of parchment and begin by gently squashing the dough down with a rolling pin or your hands. Cover with a second sheet of parchment and then use the rolling pin to roll out properly.
• The top sheet of paper may crinkle from time to time, just peel it off and smooth it down gently before starting to roll again.
• Gently roll the dough until it is 5mm thick all over, then transfer the whole sheet of rolled dough still sandwiched between its sheets of parchment to a baking tray and place in the fridge to chill for at least 20 – 30 minutes before cutting.
• Beautiful biscuit cutters are available at Biscuiteers.com, or you can choose to make your own. To do this, identify the shapes you want to trace (teapots and teacups work really well!) and lay a sheet of parchment on top, carefully tracing around the shape.  Remember that you can ice on much more detail than needs to be reflected in the shape of the biscuit. Carefully cut the templates out with scissors. You can also find some of our favourite templates in the Biscuiteers Book of Iced Biscuits.
• Assemble your collection of cutters or templates and start to cut. To use the dough efficiently cut the biscuits out as close together as possible. Lift each biscuit onto the parchment covered baking tray and make sure they are not too close together as the dough will spread a little on baking. Any trimmings can be re-rolled a couple of times.
• Evenly space the trays in the oven and cook for 14-18 minutes, depending on your oven.
• When the biscuits are evenly cooked and just beginning to turn a golden colour remove the trays from the oven and transfer the whole sheet of parchment to a cooling rack. Do this carefully as the biscuits will be quite fragile and hot!

Now for some icing tips straight from the Biscuiteers bakery team –

1.  To start, cut your piping bag straight across to achieve a clean icing line.

2. Always use a clean piping bag, so that your icing colours stay lovely.

3. We use two basic types of royal icing at Biscuiteers – a thick, smooth paste for piping details and edging, and a runnier glossy mixture for flooding larger areas.

4. Practice your icing techniques on a parchment sheet before starting on your biscuits.

5. Using the piping icing (should be smooth and thick, a bit like the texture of toothpaste) and ice around the biscuit edges to create a ‘wall’ for the runny icing.

6. Once the edges are dry, use a runny royal icing to flood the biscuit.

7. When filling areas with runny icing, use a sharp cocktail stick to burst any bubbles. This will help achieve a smooth and luxurious finish.

8. We love vibrant coloured stripes and spots, which are quite easy to achieve. Once the flood icing is completely dry, use the thick line icing to carefully add the detail on top.

9. If you want the detail to sink into the flood icing, much like our polka dot hearts, add this whilst the flood icing is still wet.

10. Stock up on lots of baubles and sugar glitter to finish off your biscuits with some pizazz! Do remember though that sugar glitter will stick better to super wet icing (it dries pretty fast!)