Lemon and Lime biscuits

After the complicated bake that was the Battenberg, I felt the need for simple baking. I love trying new and exciting things, but sometimes something simple and quick but tasty is what is needed. I had been confined to the sofa for a few days with a nasty bug and was watching old Bake Offs. It was biscuit week for one of them and one of the contestants made lemon biscuits. I knew I had lemons and limes in the kitchen so decided to use both to make a nice citrusy biscuit. Forty minutes later and these very faint for me biscuits were ready.

These go really well with a nice cuppa, so treat yourself to one...or two..or three... well you get the idea!

Makes 24-28

The recipe can be doubled to make more biscuits, or you can make them bigger or smaller by using different sized round cutters. I used a 4cm plain cutter which gave a nice two mouthful bite. And a good excuse to eat more of them!

Ingredients

200g plain flour

100g unsalted butter softened

100g caster sugar

½ medium egg, beaten

zest of a lemon finely grated

zest of a lime finely grated

icing sugar for dusting

Method

1.     Pre-heat the oven to 180/ Gas Mark 4 and cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper or one of those non-stick re-usable tray liners

2.     Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a free-standing mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one or use a hand mixer (the latter can be a bit messier if you don’t use a large mixing bowl!) to cream them together until they are light and fluffy

3.     Add in the zest of the lemon and lime and gently pour in the egg, still mixing gently, until it is all incorporated

4.     Add the flour and continue to slowly beat until the flour is all mixed in.

5.     Use your hands to bring the mixture together to make a smooth dough

6.     Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for around 15 minutes

7.     Roll out the biscuit dough to around 5mm depth

8.     Cut out the biscuits into rounds or any other shapes you would like and place them on the baking tray and shake over some icing sugar

9.     Place in the oven and bake for 8-12 minutes or until they are starting to go golden brown round the edges. You might need to turn the tray round or even rearrange the biscuits half way through to make sure they bake evenly

10.  Remove from the oven and allow them to firm up on the tray for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with more icing sugar to finish off