Belgian biscuits for Mum

This Mother's Day I thought that I'd make Mum a nice little baking treat. Family and friends sometimes get to sample my baking and this time I made these themed for Mother's Day. Neither Mum nor I are the pink, frilly types but sometimes it's nice to be a little bit girly. So this Mother's Day, Mum, you will be getting some pink heart-shaped Belgian biscuits - they're made with love, care, sugar and spice and all things nice.

Some tips for these biscuits are:

• Roll the dough fairly thin, as you will be sandwiching two biscuits together
• Be generous with the jam, as the biscuits are a bit dry
• Be generous with the icing, as the biscuits aren't very sweet
• If you don't have any red food colouring, mix in a bit of freeze dried raspberry powder. It adds a nice flavour to the icing too!

Belgian biscuits

Makes approx 20 biscuits

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
1/3 c brown sugar
1 egg
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 c raspberry jam

Icing

1 c icing sugar
couple drops of red food colouring or 2 tsp raspberry jelly crystals
boiling water

Directions

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
2. Add the egg and beat well
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder and all the spices and mix into a firm dough
4. On a lightly floured bench, roll out the dough to about 2-3mm thick and cut into desired shapes using a cookie cutter
5. Bake at 180ºc for 10-15 mins or until golden brown
6. Allow to cool before assembling. Spread a generous amount of jam on half the biscuits and place a plain biscuit on top
7. Mix the icing ingredients together, adding boiling water a few drops at a time until the icing is a thick, smooth consistency
8. Ice the sandwiched biscuits and allow to set.