Shrewsbury Biscuits Recipe

Cream the fat and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and beat well. Stir in the sifted flour and lemon rind and mix to a fairly firm dough. Knead lightly and roll out to about 6 mm (i inch) thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into rounds with a 6 cm (2 1/2 inch) fluted cutter and put on greased baking sheets. Bake in a preheated moderate oven (180°C/350°F, Gas Mark 4) for about 15 minutes, until firm and a very light brown colour. Makes 20 to 24
Jammy faces
Roll out the Shrewsbury biscuit mixture and cut it into 6 cm (2i inch) rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. From half the biscuits remove two holes with a small round cutter, to represent eyes, and make a slit to represent a mouth. Bake. When the biscuits are cool, spread the plain rounds with jam and cover with the 'faces' Makes 10 to 12
Traffic lights
Roll out the Shrewsbury biscuit mixture and cut it into fingers. Using a small round cutter, cut out three holes, one above the other, from half the fingers. Bake. When the biscuits are cool, place a little raspberry, apricot and greengage jam on each of the plain biscuits and cover with the others, dredged with icing sugar. (Apricot jam, tinted with a little green food colouring, can be used instead of greengage jam.) Makes 12