:fill(white)/https://www.biscuiteers.com/static/cms/media/IMG_1224.jpg)
We're a little 'love letter' crazy at Biscuiteers. In a world lead by emails, texts and WhatsApps, the ultimate romantic gesture has to be receiving a special letter in the post, addressed to yours truly and sealed with a loving kiss.
But if you can't quite muster a Shakespearean sonnet, we've got the next best thing; Pistachio 'Love letter' biscuits, a perfect token that delivers the message, without having to wait for the postman!
:fill(white)/https://www.biscuiteers.com/static/cms/media/IMG_1221-1024x682.jpg)
ingredients
- - 167g Salted butter
- - 167g Caster sugar
- - 167g Golden Syrup
- - 2 eggs
- - 1 drop Pistachio extract
- - 50g Pistachios (chopped)
- - 470g Plain flour
- - 127g Self raising flour
serves:20
difficulty:medium
1 hour
* Preheat the oven to 126°C
* In a large bowl combine the butter, sugar, golden syrup, eggs, pistachio extract and the finely chopped pistachios and mix on a slow speed until all the ingredients are combined. When the ingredients are mixed together, increase the speed of your hand held mixer so that all the lumps disappear.
* Sift in both the flours and mix together until the mixture forms a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
* 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.
* Use a rectangular shaped cutter to cut the dough into 20 letter shapes, if you cant find a cutter you can always try free hand but using a sharp knife (different sizes will look very authentic). Place on parchment paper.
* Bake in the middle of the oven for 26 minutes or until the biscuits are slightly golden in colour.
* When the biscuits are evenly cooked 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!
* Cool totally before starting to ice
Now the fun begins! Follow these simple steps to ice your Love Letters...
1. To start, cut your piping bag straight across to achieve a clean icing line. Always use a clean piping bag, so that your icing colours stay lovely and clean.
2. 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.
3. Using the piping icing (it should be smooth and thick, a bit like the texture of toothpaste) and ice around the rectangle edges to create a ‘wall’ for the runny icing.
4. Once the edges are dry (about 10 minutes in room temperature) use a runny royal icing to flood the biscuit in white icing.
5. When filling areas with runny icing, use a sharp cocktail stick to burst any bubbles. This will help achieve a smooth and luxurious finish. Pop the biscuits in your oven for 45 minutes on the lowest temperature to dry the runny icing.
6. Once the flood icing is completely dry, use the thick line icing to carefully add the detail on top. Using blue and red line icing, ice lines around the edge of the letters to create the 'air-mail' look.
7. If you want the detail to sink into the flood icing, much like our polka dot effect, add this whilst the flood icing is still wet.
8. Now, all you need to think of is a very sweet message- and voila, Valentine's day treats organised! We've hand picked our favourite love quotes, because as Carl Sandburg once said, 'poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits' but what about writing your own love message, the time of your dinner date, or just those thee little words that mean so much?
Happy Baking!
