Belgian Biscuits are a lovely treat to make for someone special. Perfectly spiced biscuits filled with jam & topped with raspberry icing.
These sweet little spiced raspberry biscuits are my personal favourite! I love the crispy, spiced cookies with tart jam inside and sweet icing on top. Belgian Biscuits are lovely to make for a special occasion or give to someone.
The key ingredients in the biscuits are the spices - ground ginger, mixed spice and ground cloves. These spices contrast so well with the sweet pink icing and jam.
For another nostalgic baking recipe, be sure to check my Shortbread out.
How to make Belgian Biscuits:
Biscuits: Preheat the oven to 180°C fan bake. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar, add egg and mix well.
Sift in the, spices, flour and baking powder, stir to form the dough. Wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
On a floured bench roll out to 3mm thick, cut into circles with a round cookie cutter - any size you like. You could also roll the dough into a log using cling wrap and then freeze and cut off thin slices.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and cool on a wire rack.
Icing: In a bowl, dissolve the jelly crystals in the boiling water. Sift in the icing sugar and mix well. Assemble by putting a teaspoon of jam in between 2 biscuits, then adding a dollop of icing to the top.
For more nostalgic baking ideas, check out my lovely recipes for Classic Apple Crumble, Sticky Date Puddings, Passionfruit Yoyos and my super popular Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing.
Common questions and tips for Belgian Biscuits:
How long do these biscuits keep for? These biscuits will keep well for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the pantry.
Why do I need to cool the dough? The dough is quite wet. Cooling it in the fridge allows it to firm up before you roll it out.
TIPS
- If the icing starts to harden while you are still using it, pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds.
- Feel free to sprinkle extra jelly crystals on top before the icing sets.
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Belgian Biscuits
Perfectly spiced biscuits filled with tart jam and iced with raspberry icing.
Ingredients
- 125g butter, softened
- ½ cup brown sugar (100g)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 1 large egg
- 2 cup plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 150g raspberry jam to fill
Icing
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 2 Tbsp raspberry jelly crystals
- 1 Tbsp boiling water
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 180° fan bake
- Biscuits: Cream the butter and brown sugar with hand beaters or in the bowl of a mixer. Add egg and mix well.
- Sift in the spices, flour and baking powder and stir to form the dough. Wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes
- On a floured bench roll the dough out to 3mm thick. Cut into circles with a round cookie cutter - any size you like. (You can also roll the dough into a log using cling wrap and freeze. This make it is easy to cut in to thin slices.)
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and cool on a wire rack.
- Icing: In a bowl dissolve the jelly crystals in the boiling water, sift in the icing sugar and mix well.
- Assemble by putting a teaspoon of jam in between 2 biscuits, then add a dollop of icing on the tops.
Notes
- If the icing starts to go hard while you are using it, pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds.
- Cooling the dough before rolling it prevents it from breaking apart.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 133Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 93mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 1g
Nutritional values are approximate. Please use your own calculations if you require a special diet.
R.K says
Is the yields 24 biscuits individual which becomes 12 constructed or does it make 48 which becomes 24 constructed?
VJ cooks says
24 constructed biscuits, so 48 individual biscuits. This of course depends on how large your cookie dough roll is to start with, and how thickly you slice them.
Samantha says
Do you think a dairy free version of these would work with perhaps margarine instead of butter? Thanks
VJ cooks says
Butter is such a critical element in these cookies, sorry! You could absolutely try it, I just haven't ever done that myself.
Rose says
Did you know that these biscuits used to be called German Biscuits?
Both of my grandmothers had hand written recipe books with the preWW1 names of these favourites. They were sometiimes made with very clean dripping. So, so yummy.
VJ cooks says
I did not! Thanks for sharing.
Tash says
Do you think these could be made with gluten free flour?
VJ cooks says
I haven't tried these with gluten free flour sorry. Honestly though, gluten free baking can be hit and miss and it's so disappointing when it fails. I would probably search for a gf specific recipe for these biscuits, sorry!
Kelly Watson says
My dough was not wet at all but quite crumbly - I noticed in your pics you have 2 eggs should I have used 2?
Thanks heaps tasty as
VJ cooks says
Hi Kelly, thanks for your feedback. The recipe card is correct - 1 egg. Apologies about the misleading photos - they should be showing one egg and I've since removed them. The texture of the dough can be affected by the size of the egg and how firmly packed your cup of flour is. If the dough is too crumbly, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water to get a better consistency.
Lesley says
Li only got 9 biscuits out of this recipe mind they were fairly thick
Olivia says
I was thinking of these biscuits as they always remind me of my Nana, she is almost 98 and we will be visiting her in Napier in July! If I can I will make a batch before we see her. Alternatively, do you know of a bakery in Taupō that sells them?
Maxine Robson says
Can you please confirm if the recipie should include baking powder or baking soda as the notes before and the photo are not the same
VJ cooks says
Apologies Maxine. I've double checked with Grace and it is definitely baking powder as per the photos. I have amended the recipe card to state this. Thanks for your comment.
Skye says
Hi there, what’s the best way to store them once constructed? In the fridge?
Thanks,
Skye
VJ cooks says
Hi Skye, it's most important to store your biscuits in an airtight container. You can choose to keep that in the pantry or the fridge depending on the season/temperature of your house.
Carolyn says
Hi Grace and team. I am definitely going to make these delicious sounding biscuits only I purchased some cassia last week, it is known as the bakers spice so it should go well along with your lovely spices and it is so good that this is a NZ recipe corner, saves calculating. I was also interested to read from another blogger that these had another name in WW2, I love stories like that. Well here goes Belgians coming up. You are one clever young lady Miss Grace lol