I am a big fan of Japanese confectioneries, even before I had kids. The kiddos…
Iced Gem Biscuits 花占饼干
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Here’s a taste of nostalgia – crunchy, buttery and milky cookies topped with royal icing. Always a child’s favourite snack!
Iced gem biscuits are crunchy mini biscuits, topped with a dollop of sweet royal icing with pretty colors!
I remember my childhood being filled with old school snacks like these cute little biscuits. How would you choose to eat this? Bite the chunk of icing off first? Or just munch happily on the entire biscuit? :p
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How Do These Iced Gem Biscuits Taste Like?
The iced gem biscuits that we can buy from shops here taste more like cream cracker biscuit base, topped with royal icing.
In this recipe, you will find the biscuit base to be a little different. It leans more towards a crunchy cookie, which my kids and I enjoy too!
The royal icing was from Dreamer’s Loft recipe, and it’s really yummy! The consistency is very easy to achieve even for first timers like me.
Is It Easy To Make These Iced Gem Biscuits?
This recipe uses the simple creaming method. You will just need to beat the softened butter with icing sugar, until it turns out pale and fluffy. Read this post to find out the right consistency to cream butter.
Then, we will mix in the egg, followed by the dry ingredients. It is quite easy to make the dough, however, you will need a little patience to roll these little biscuits one by one! You can make the indentation marks one by one like mine, or just leave them round with no pattern around the biscuits.
>> OTHER YUMMY COOKIE RECIPES:
How To Make The Icing?
To make the royal icing, simply whisk together meringue powder and icing sugar. Add in warm water and beat the mixture to stiff peaks. You will find it easier to beat the icing with handheld electric mixer at high speed, rather than manually using a whisk. The icing will have to be stiff so that it holds up well on the cookie. Otherwise it may “melt” into a messy bloop of icing on the cookie if it is too soft.
Next, I use freeze-dried fruit and veggie powders to color the icing. If you don’t have these, you can also use food coloring gel.
The biscuits were so cute and tasty that I made 2 batches over Saturday and Sunday 🙂 My daughter was so pleased to do the piping of icing together with me!
How To Store The Cookies?
After piping the icing on the cookies, let them dry completely by airing dry for a couple of hours.
Alternatively, you can also place the iced cookies into the oven, low heat at 70C for about 10-15 mins.
Once dried completely, you can store these cookies in airtight container.
Iced Gem Biscuits 花占饼干
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 46 Biscuits 1x
Description
A taste of nostalgia – simple buttery and milky cookie, topped with royal icing. Always a child’s favourite snack anytime!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Biscuit Base
- 50 g unsalted butter (softened)
- 20 g icing sugar
- 20 g beaten egg
- 110 g cake or plain flour
- 10 g full cream milk powder (for baking use)
- Pinch of salt
Royal Icing Topping
- 150 g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- 2 tbsp warm water
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring or natural fruit/veg powder
Instructions
Biscuit Base
- In a medium bowl, add in softened butter and icing sugar. Whisk till well incorporated and lighter in color.
- Add in beaten egg in 2 batches. Mix well after each addition.
- Sift flour into the butter mixture. Add in milk powder and salt. Using a spatula, and in a cutting motion, fold the dry and wet ingredients into dough.
- Divide the dough into smaller pcs, weighing about 3g each. Roll the small pcs of dough into balls, flatten the top slightly. Make indentation marks around the dough using a toothpick.
- Place all dough onto lined baking tray. Preheat oven to 170C. Bake on the middle rack for 10-15 minutes. The dough should be light golden in color.
- Cool completely on wire rack before storing or icing.
Royal Icing Topping
- Add meringue powder and icing sugar into mixing bowl.
- Add warm water and mix on medium speed.
- You will see the mixture turning opaque. Continue mixing until it turns white and reaches stiff peak. (When you lift the whisk, the meringue mixture should hold up well, not too droopy)
- Add in vanilla extract and mix well.
- Divide icing and add in coloring or natural fruit/veg powder as desired, or simply ice in white.
- Place icing into piping bags, fitted with piping nozzle. I am using 1M Wilton tip.
- Pipe and ice as desired. Leave to dry in room temp for a couple of hours, or overnight.
- Store biscuits in airtight container once dried.
Notes
Royal icing recipe adapted from Dreamer’s Loft. You may have extra royal icing left.
I have divided the icing into 4 portions to make pink/yellow/green/white. I used 3/4 tsp each of strawberry powder, pumpkin powder, spinach powder, from Tomizawa Singapore.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Cookie, Snack
Keywords: iced gem biscuits
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