British baker and author Flora Shedden puts a spicy twist on traditional Christmas biscuits with this recipe for star anise shortbread stars.
She said if you are not a fan of the liquorice undertones in star anise, please feel free to substitute it with one-and-a-half teaspoons of ground cinnamon, ginger or, a personal favourite – grated nutmeg.
Her recipes makes 25 to 30 biscuits, depending on the size of your star cutter. Flora uses a 5cm star shape but they do come in different sizes.
INGREDIENTS
5-7 star anise (if they are large, only use 5)125g unsalted butter100g light brown sugar50g golden syrup300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
For the icing200g icing sugarMilk
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
In a spice grinder, blitz the star anise to a very fine powder. If you don’t have a spice grinder, bash them using a pestle and mortar, but make sure you sift the powder to remove any pieces that remain woody.
To make the biscuits, melt the butter, sugar and syrup together in a large saucepan over a low heat – do not allow the mixture to boil. Stir in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground star anise. Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until a dough forms.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll it out to a thickness of 5mm-7mm. Cut out small star shapes using a 5cm star-shaped cookie cutter. Transfer the shapes to the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for nine to 12 minutes or until golden. Leave the biscuits to cool on the baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
For the icing, mix the sugar together with a few drops of milk – you are looking for a fairly thick mixture
Transfer one third of the icing to a piping bag fitted with a fine round nozzle. Pipe a border around the edge of each star biscuit. Allow the icing to set for five minutes, then return any excess icing to the bowl.
Now add a few more drops of milk to create a slightly runnier icing that will flood the centre of the biscuits – the border will contain the flood icing.
Using a teaspoon, spread a little of the runny icing in the middle of a star biscuit. A cocktail stick is a handy tool at this stage to encourage the icing to run right up to the border in the corners.
Once the entire star is covered, repeat with the remaining biscuits. (It is important that your outline is properly dried before you start using the flood icing, or you will have a messy finish.)
Allow the icing to dry out completely. Store the shortbreads in an airtight container for up to one week.
Recipe from Gatherings by Flora Shedden, published by Mitchell Beazley