Super yummy, very easy Christmas biscuit recipe - NurtureStore (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to an excellent biscuit? ›

Use Cold Butter for Biscuits

For flaky layers, use cold butter. When you cut in the butter, you have coarse crumbs of butter coated with flour. When the biscuit bakes, the butter will melt, releasing steam and creating pockets of air. This makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside.

Overworking the dough will not only create a tough biscuit instead of a tender biscuit, but can also result in a flatter biscuit. The more you play with the dough, the warmer the dough becomes. If the fat becomes too warm it will melt into the flour and they won't rise as tall.

Lebkuchen is a traditional German Christmas recipe. These spice-laden star biscuits are full of festive flavours and undeniably moreish. Take a look at our Christmas gingerbread men, inspired by The Nutcracker.

White wheat in general is around 9-12% protein, while the hard reds are 11-15%. As far as brands of flour, White Lily “all-purpose” flour has been my go-to for biscuit making. It's a soft red winter wheat, and the low protein and low gluten content keep biscuits from becoming too dense.

But if you chill your pan of biscuits in the fridge before baking, not only will the gluten relax (yielding more tender biscuits), the butter will harden up. And the longer it takes the butter to melt as the biscuits bake, the more chance they have to rise high and maintain their shape. So, chill... and chill.

Keep the oven hot.

When baking buttery treats like biscuits, the key is to bake them at a temperature where the water in the butter turns quickly to steam. This steam is a big part of how the biscuits achieve their height, as it evaporates up and out.

Brush the biscuits with butter after baking

“If you want the most luscious biscuits ever, brush the tops with melted butter after they come out of the oven,” says James. Brushing the butter on after baking ensures that the butter soaks into the baked biscuit so you get that great buttery flavor in every bite.

What's the Difference Between Buttermilk Biscuits and Regular Biscuits? As the names might suggest, regular biscuits do not contain buttermilk, while these do. Regular biscuits are typically prepared with milk or water instead. Buttermilk adds a nice tang to the biscuit flavor and helps them rise better.

'Hard tack' was, however, the most well-known term for the ship's biscuit. The ingredients were stone ground flour, water and salt, which were mixed into a stiff dough, baked in a hot oven for 30 minutes and then left to harden and dry.

What biscuits are popular in Germany at Christmas? ›

Lebkuchen are traditional German Christmas cookies. Whether you make traditional circles or cut into stars and hearts, friends and family will love these Christmas biscuits. You can decorate them in so many ways as well.

A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk.

Freshly baked, made from scratch biscuit with blueberries mixed in and topped with sweet icing.

The butter version rises the highest — look at those flaky layers! The shortening biscuit is slightly shorter and a bit drier, too. Butter contains a bit of water, which helps create steam and gives baked goods a boost.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD BISCUITS

A good biscuit is symmetrical in shape, has vertical sides, a level and fairly smooth top, and is covered with a tender, golden brown crust. The inside is light, fluffy, flaky, creamy white, free from yellow or brown spots, and the small 'holes are evenly distributed.

Use a sift to mix your dry ingredients.

Sift together all your dry ingredients instead of simply mixing. This will smooth out your lumps and you'll have a much more consistent bake. Some people will also freeze their dry ingredients to keep the dough as cold as possible. Again, cold dough is what makes a flaky biscuit.

Buttermilk adds a tangy flavor to the biscuits and makes them slightly more tender. No food processor: Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl, and use your hands or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until crumbly.

Parle G: the King of Biscuits.