Spiders' Webs Recipe
Ingredients
| 175 g/6 oz plain flour | ||
| 175 g/6 oz self raising flour | ||
| 175 g/6 oz butter or margarine | ||
| 175 g/6 oz caster sugar | ||
| 1 egg, lightly beaten | ||
| Decoration | ||
| 50 g/2 oz marzipan | ||
| A few drops green food colouring | ||
| Double quantity Glace Icing | ||
| A few drops black food colouring | ||
| Cream baby ribbon | ||
Directions
Lightly grease two baking trays and make a greaseproof paper piping bag.
Sift the plain and self raising flours into a bowl and rub in the butter or margarine until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar, then add the egg and mix well to make a fairly firm dough.
Knead the dough lightly, then roll it out on a floured board to a thickness of 3 mm/1/8 in.
Cut into rounds using an 8.5 cm/3 in plain round cutter.
With a skewer make a hole near the top of each biscuit, then, using a palette knife, carefully transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking trays.
Chill for 30 minutes, or longer if you have time.
Bake in a moderately hot oven (190 C, 375 F, gas 5) for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove the hot biscuits from the trays and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the biscuits are cooling, add enough colouring to the marzipan to produce a bright green.
Divide the marzipan into 14 pieces and model each piece into a spider.
Make the glace icing according to the recipe instructions.
Remove 4 tablespoons of the icing, add the black food colouring and spoon the icing into the paper piping bag.
Coat each biscuit in turn with a smooth layer of the remaining white glace icing.
Cut a tiny hole in the point of the paper piping bag and pipe a spiral of black icing over the white icing before the latter sets.
Dip a skewer, or the point of a knife, into cold water briefly, and draw it across the spiral, from the centre of the biscuit to the edge.
Continue drawing lines at an equal distance apart until the web is complete.
To complete the biscuits, place a spider on each web, thread ribbon through the holes and hang up the spiders webs.
Sift the plain and self raising flours into a bowl and rub in the butter or margarine until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar, then add the egg and mix well to make a fairly firm dough.
Knead the dough lightly, then roll it out on a floured board to a thickness of 3 mm/1/8 in.
Cut into rounds using an 8.5 cm/3 in plain round cutter.
With a skewer make a hole near the top of each biscuit, then, using a palette knife, carefully transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking trays.
Chill for 30 minutes, or longer if you have time.
Bake in a moderately hot oven (190 C, 375 F, gas 5) for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove the hot biscuits from the trays and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the biscuits are cooling, add enough colouring to the marzipan to produce a bright green.
Divide the marzipan into 14 pieces and model each piece into a spider.
Make the glace icing according to the recipe instructions.
Remove 4 tablespoons of the icing, add the black food colouring and spoon the icing into the paper piping bag.
Coat each biscuit in turn with a smooth layer of the remaining white glace icing.
Cut a tiny hole in the point of the paper piping bag and pipe a spiral of black icing over the white icing before the latter sets.
Dip a skewer, or the point of a knife, into cold water briefly, and draw it across the spiral, from the centre of the biscuit to the edge.
Continue drawing lines at an equal distance apart until the web is complete.
To complete the biscuits, place a spider on each web, thread ribbon through the holes and hang up the spiders webs.
Chef
