Empire Biscuits
Empire Biscuits are one of those nostalgic British classics that we absolutely love making plant-based because honestly, nobody can tell the difference. Two buttery, melt-in-the-mouth shortbread rounds sandwiched together with sweet jam, topped with a thick layer of icing and a little cherry on top. They look impressive, they taste incredible, and they make any afternoon tea feel like a proper occasion. Trust us, once you make a batch of these you will not be able to stop at one.
Before You Start
- Preheat oven to 180°C
- 2x baking sheets lined with parchment paper
- Mixing bowl
- Rolling pin
- Biscuit cutter (round, approximately 5cm)
- Cooling rack
- Small bowl for icing
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp raspberry jam
- 3 tbsp warm water
- 240g plant-based butter - at room temperature
- 120g caster sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 250g icing sugar
- 360g plain flour
Method
For the dough
- Put the dairy-free butter and caster sugar into a mixing bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon
- Sift the flour into the bowl
- Add 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract and fold everything together until you have a nice soft dough
Cut out the biscuits
- Tip the dough on to the floured work surface and roll it out to 5mm thick
- Cut out as many biscuits as you can
- Collect the scraps and re-roll them to use up all the dough
- Arrange on the lined baking sheet
- Put the sheets in the oven and bake for 12–15 minutes, until the biscuits are turning golden in colour
- Take the sheets out of the oven
- Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack and leave to cool to room temperature
Finish and serve
- Carefully spread 1⁄2 teaspoon raspberry jam on to half the biscuits
- Sandwich with the remaining biscuits, pressing down gently to glue them together
Make the icing
- Put the icing sugar, remaining vanilla extract and warm water into a small bowl and mix until you have a thick icing
- Spread an equal amount of icing over each biscuit
- Refrigerate for 10 minutes to firm up and serve
Alternative recipe
- If you would prefer to make shortbread fingers, follow the recipe for Empire Biscuits to make the dough
- Roll it out to 1cm thick, then cut into fingers 7cm long and 2.5cm wide
- Gather any scraps and re-roll to make more fingers
- Transfer to a lined baking sheet
- Gently prick each finger with a fork for decoration and sprinkle with a little caster sugar
- Put the baking sheet in the oven for 15–20 minutes, until the shortbread fingers are light golden brown
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack
- Leave to cool before serving
Tips & Variations
- Get the butter right: Make sure your dairy-free butter is at room temperature before you start. Cold butter won't cream properly with the sugar and you'll end up with a crumbly, uneven dough.
- Don't overwork the dough: Once the flour goes in, fold gently and stop as soon as it comes together. Overworking it will make the biscuits tough rather than that lovely soft, crumbly shortbread texture we're after.
- Let them cool fully: We know it's tempting but don't ice the biscuits until they are completely cold. Warm biscuits will melt the icing and it'll slide right off. Patience pays off here, we promise.
Why This Works
The trick here is getting the dough to the right thickness, around 5mm, so the biscuits stay soft and tender rather than snapping like crackers. Dairy-free butter works brilliantly in shortbread because the fat content is so similar to regular butter, so you get that same rich, crumbly texture without any compromise. The vanilla in the dough is subtle but it really lifts the whole thing.