Every year, I bake delicious handmade biscuits and give a pack to my relatives and friends as a gift. I feel that this is a nice way to wish them a prosperous (and delicious!) New Year 🙂 Nowadays, they are well renowned as “Irene Fortune Biscuits”!

I follow the recipe of my Grandma to make 3 types of biscuits making two different doughs: A shortcrust pastry (“pasta frolla” & marmalade biscuits) and vanilla crescents dough (“Vanillekipferl”). Then, I decorate them with almonds, walnuts, chocolate chips and so on… but you can also make them plain if you prefer!

Making biscuits with my recipe is easy and fun so you can do it with your child’s if you like!

So, let’s begin!

Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients:

• 300g Flour
• 200g cold Butter, cut in knobs
• 100g Powdered Sugar
• A pinch of Salt
• 1 Tbsp of bicarbonate
• Lemon Zest
• 1 Yolk
• To decorate 1 beaten egg, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, sugar sprinkles, coconut flour, chocolate drops or any other ingredient that inspire you!

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To make the shortcrust pastry mix all the ingredients together and make the dough. This time you don´t need to knead your dough for too long ( Knead gently and just enough to form a smooth ball, 10 to 12 times. The technique for kneading biscuit dough is much more gentle than kneading yeast dough.) Put in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Now let`s make our “pasta frolla” & marmalade biscuits with this dough!

“Pasta frolla” biscuits

Ones the dough has cool down, use half of it to make these type biscuits. Roll it out 1cm thick and use a biscuit cutter to make different shapes.

Decorate your biscuits using your favourite ingredients! Then, brush them with a beaten egg, and bake it at 180°C for 10 minutes or until brown.

Marmelade Biscuits

Use the second half of the shortcrust pastry. Roll it out 1cm thick and make round shapes with a biscuit cutter. Then, create different designs (I made few with a big central hole and the rest with three little holes). Then, brush them with a beaten egg, and bake them at 180°C for 10 minutes or until brown. Spread one teaspoon of your favourite marmalade on each biscuit and top with another one. Press the sides together, then dip both sides in powdered sugar.

Vanille Crescents

Ingredients:

• 300g Flour
• 200g  Butter ( Room temperature & cut into knobs )
• 150g Almond and Hazelnuts powders, mixed together
• 100g Powdered Sugar
• 1 Tbsp of bicarbonate

Again, mix all the ingredients together to make a dough but knead it gently, very few times, just until all you obtain a cohesive mass. Put in the fridge for a couple of hours. When the dough is cold, cut it into 8-10 pieces, about 4 inches long and roll each piece by gently pushing with fingers spread. The goal is to make an evenly-distributed rope. Using a pastry cutter or non-serrated knife, cut dough ropes into pieces of 5-6 cm. Then give them a crescent shape.

Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and dip the hot biscuits in a bowl with powdered sugar.

Then, place them on a plate and let them cool down. Don’t taste them at this stage: these biscuits taste awful when warm, because of the dry almond oil, which is very bitter!

So all done! You can organize an afternoon tea with your friends or make nice mixed packs, to give to your friends and relatives as a gift!

I sincerely hope that my biscuits will bring you luck and fortune this year!