My mother, Gertrude Di Ciacca, is an unsung heroine. She raised eight pretty badly behaved children, ran two busy cafes, a catering business and still coped remarkably with the joys and demands of an Italian husband. One day I’ll write about her.
She is a brilliant cook and has a talent for baking; delicate Italian pastries and classic Scottish baking. She was a great teacher as well. In order to get help she cleverly encouraged us all to develop a skill in the kitchen.
This way we all competed to cook, the boys as well as the girls.
Still going strong, she never visits any of our homes without a tray of these delicious iced shortbread biscuits, a large tray full of never fewer than 40 or 50. We have been known to fight over them!
The secret of baking these is to cook them in a cool oven and give them time to crisp up and dry out a little.
Once cooled, store the biscuits in a sealed tin or cookie jar and ice them just when ready to eat.
Get your kids or grandchildren to make these with you. It’s a great way to get them having an interest in the kitchen and they’ll soon be making them for you themselves.
Thanks, Mummy! Happy Mother’s Day.
The shortbread biscuits
200g soft unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
240g plain flour
100g cornflour
Pinch of salt
Method
Preheat the oven to
170C/Gas 3. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
This helps make the shortbread texture crisp.
Sift the other ingredients into the mixture and beat until it forms a dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
Lightly flour a work surface and roll the dough out to be 2-3cm thick.
Cut out biscuit rounds. I use a plastic milk top but use any cookie cutter you want.
Lay the biscuits on greased baking trays and bake in the middle and low shelves of the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, checking that they don’t
over-brown.
Leave to cool then then transfer to cooling racks. This recipe makes about 48 biscuits. You can store them in a sealed tin for one to two months.
To ice the biscuits
400g icing sugar
4 tablespoons cold water
Raspberry or strawberry jam
Red glace cherries
Method
Sieve the icing sugar and mix in the water to make a thick icing.
Spread some jam on each biscuit and cover with a second biscuit.
Use a pallet knife dipped in hot water to smooth a thick layer of icing sugar on each pair of biscuits.
Top with a red glace cherry.
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