Spiced acorn biscuits

Bake simple biscuits using a little acorn flour to add a hint of nuttiness and a slightly more robust texture – ideal for dunking in your tea

  • Prep:20 mins
    Cook:10 mins
    Plus chilling and cooling
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 138
  • fat 8g
  • saturates 5g
  • carbs 14g
  • sugars 4g
  • fibre 1g
  • protein 2g
  • salt 0g

Ingredients

  • 200g unsalted butter, cubed
  • 275-300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 25-50g acorn flour
  • 100g golden caster sugar
  • 1 egg, plus 1 yolk
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp mixed spice or cinnamon
  • white icingor melted chocolate, to decorate

Tip

Using acorn flour

The flour amounts vary here depending on how dark you want your biscuits – acorn flour varies in colour depending on what kind of acorn it’s made from, so if you have a very dark batch, you might want to add more plain flour.

Novelty cookie cutters

You can buy squirrel cookie cutters online from White Stuff or Meri Meri.

Sourcing acorns

You can buy acorn flour online. Don’t be tempted to forage your own acorns in England – oak trees in some areas are suffering from an infestation of toxic hairy caterpillars that can cause skin and eye irritation and breathing difficulties on contact.

Method

  1. Rub the butter into the flours using your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar, the egg and yolk, vanilla, mixed spice or cinnamon and bring together to form a dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface and stamp out 6cm round biscuits (or any shape you like). Re-roll the trimmings and repeat. Arrange on parchment-lined trays and chill for 30 mins. 

  2. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Bake the biscuits for 10 mins, then leave to cool. Decorate with icing, or dip one side in chocolate and leave to set.

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