Kisses recipe

There’s probably no homebake that reminds me more of Orkney High Teas than kisses. I fondly remember childhoods visiting the tea room at Harray Stores, or Woodwick Tea Room on a Sunday afternoon, and our table being presented with teas, coffees, juice and a cake stand piled high with every fancy imaginable. Amongst these was a delight – two delicious biscuits jammed together with icing.

This kisses recipe, taken from the Birsay WRI recipe book, is easy to make, and creates a crumbly but delicious biscuit – a luxurious accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee.

There are still places on the island where you can enjoy High Teas, and they are popular in Shetland still too. However for a taste of High Tea at home, we recommend this kisses recipe, taken from the Birsay WRI recipe book, which is easy to make, and creates a crumbly but delicious biscuit – a luxurious accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee. Who doesn’t need more kisses in their lives?!

With this recipe I made 19 kisses, and, due to the icing centre, they are best stored in the fridge, and finished off within 2 days. This wasn’t a problem in our household!

Ingredients

For the biscuits:

• 57g cornflour.
• 170g self raising flour.
• 170g margarine.
• 70g icing sugar.

For the icing:

• 40g unsalted butter.
• 70g icing sugar.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence.
• 1 tablespoon milk.

Method

1. Sift the flour and cornflour together.
2. Cream the margarine and the icing sugar together with an electric whisk. I read tips that suggested you keep going for a little while longer after it looks ready.

3. Add the flour and mix it all together.
4. Put baking paper on a baking tray.

5. Roll into balls the size of a walnut and place on the tray. If you like to be precise like me, I made each one 12g in weight, which made 38 balls total.
6. Flatten the balls slightly with a fork so they look more biscuit-like and have a flat edge on the bottom.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for approximately 15 minutes.

8. The kisses should be a little bit tanned when you take them out! Allow to cool.
9. To make the icing, sift the sugar and soften the butter. Then add the milk and vanilla essence.

10. Mix with an electric whisk and then put the mixture in the fridge until it is quite stiff.
11. Once both the biscuits and the icing is cool put a generous dose of icing on one biscuit and join it together with another!

TIP: You can get adventurous with grated lemon zest, orange zest or cocoa instead of vanilla in the icing.

By Magnus Dixon
Orkney 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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