Custard Creams, the cousin of the Bourbon although I have found people typically only like one of the two. Crazy, I know. I will happily eat both (I will eat anything if I'm honest) although I would go for a Bourbon over a Custard Cream if I was made to choose. With that being said they are the prettier of the two. The detailing on them from the biscuit cutters I have is amazing and doesn’t get lost when baking. Custard Creams are also very nostalgic to me as you get to use custard powder which is something my grandmother would always use when making a pudding for afternoon tea. Check out my recipes for Bourbon Biscuits, Jammie Dodgers, and Party Rings.
Makes 20
Hands-on Time 25 minutes plus chilling
Baking Time 12 minutes
Ingredients
225g Unsalted butter (softened)
70g Caster sugar
200g Plain flour
85g Custard powder
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp Full-fat milk
1 Egg, medium
Cornflour for dusting
140g Icing sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
Equipment
Mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
Baking parchment
Custard Cream biscuit cutter, sharp knife, or pizza cutter
Aluminium baking sheet
Wire rack
Teaspoon
Add 150g of butter and caster sugar to a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until light and smooth.
Add the flour and 65g of custard powder.
Stir them into the buttercream until you have a crumble like mixture.
Add 1 tablespoon of milk and egg and give a final stir until you have a thick paste.
Take a large sheet of baking parchment and fold it in half. Open the paper out and put the paste onto one of the halves. Fold the paper over to cover and flatten with your hands. Use a rolling pin to roll the paste out until it’s approximately 5-7mm thick. Try and roll the paste out into a rectangle. As the paste is pliable you can shape it easily by folding it back onto itself. Use the parchment to your advantage.
Pop it into the fridge for at least an hour.
When the paste is a firm dough remove it from the fridge. Rather than use a clean sheet of parchment I rip one half off and use this for my cutout biscuits for baking. Sprinkle and then gently rub cornflour over your dough if you are using a Custard Cream biscuit cutter otherwise the dough will stick to it. Take your cutter and stamp out your biscuits. If you are using a knife or pizza cutter then you want your biscuits to be about as wide as your middle, ring, and pinky fingers and as long as your pinky finger.
Place them a couple of centimetres apart on the baking parchment. If you have any dough left roll it out between the remaining piece of parchment but bear in mind you may need this piece for baking too. If you used cornflour then this will create layers in the dough when re-rolling it. Try not to handle the dough too much with your hands as it will soften from your body heat and the repeated rolling. If your dough gets too pliable again then pop it back into the fridge to set.
Once all biscuits have been cutout pop them back into the fridge for another hour. If you are limited for space you can stack one parchment of biscuits on top of the other, it won’t squash them.
In the meantime preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(Fan)/350°F/Gas mark 4.
After the hour is up slide a sheet of parchment onto a baking sheet and pop it into the oven on a middle shelf for 12 minutes.
When the time is up remove the biscuits and leave them to cool. Transfer them onto a wire rack and leave to cool fully.
Bake the second sheet (if you have one) and again leave to cool.
When the biscuits have cooled, you can get on with the filling.
In a clean mixing bowl add the remaining 75g of butter, 20g of custard powder, and icing sugar and cream together.
Add the vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of milk and beat until you have thick yet spreadable buttercream.
Turn half of the custard creams over and dollop 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of buttercream on top of them. Sandwich the biscuits with their corresponding tops. If you want a neat edge run your finger along the edge to remove any buttercream which has squidged out.
If you want a firm buttercream pop the biscuits into the fridge before eating.
Enjoy!
