Birsay Biscuits
If you, like me, love the idea of a buttery, almost shortbread-like biscuit, with juicy sultanas in almost every bite, then you’ve come to the right place!
Roll out the dough until it is about 1cm thick. Cut into biscuit shapes. We did this really quickly using our ‘The Giddy Limit’ mug.
This classic Orkney recipe for Birsay Biscuits came from the late J. Scott, who once lived at Chocolate Cottage, which is where you will now find the amazing Yellowbird Gallery.
One of the main ingredients of Birsay Biscuits is beremeal, an ancient grain grown in Orkney and milled in the Barony Mill. We would recommend getting your hands on some as there are many delicious recipes that use beremeal. However, if you don’t have any, I do think it could be substituted with flour here.
We made 24 delicious big Birsay Biscuits using this quick and easy recipe!
Ingredients
- 340g (12 oz) self-raising flour
- 110g (4 oz) beremeal
- 225g (8 oz) castor sugar
- 225g (8 oz) butter
- 1 egg
- 170g (6 oz) sultanas
- A good pinch of salt
Method
- Cream the butter and the castor sugar together with an electric whisk. We softened the butter a little by putting it in the microwave for 15 seconds beforehand.
- Add the sultanas, egg and salt, and sieve in the self-raising flour and beremeal.
- Mix well – this will require a strong wooden spoon and muscles!
- Use your hands to knead the mixture into a dough.
- Flour a surface and roll out the dough until it is about 1cm thick. Cut into biscuit shapes. We did this really quickly using our ‘The Giddy Limit‘ mug!
- Place the Birsay Biscuits onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Bake for 16 minutes in an oven at 180°C. The biscuits should be a little bit tanned when you take them out.
- Place on a rack as the biscuits will become crisp when they cool down. We used a metal spatula for the job as the biscuits were still a little soft when hot.
- Enjoy these golden slices of heaven from Birsay with neighbours and friends over a hot drink and a good catch-up!
By Magnus DixonOrkney and Shetland enthusiast, family man, loves walks, likes animals, terrible at sports, dire taste in music, adores audiobooks and films, eats a little too much for his own good.
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