Growing up in South Africa in the early 1980s, biscuits formed an essential part of Diwali parcels. Amma‘s biscuit specialties being custard biscuits, date rolls and melting moments to name a few.
Now that I am a mum, I too look forward to Diwali with the same level of enthusiasm as Amma did. Except I am unable to make the equivalent quantities she did. I usually make a few of my childhood favourites. This year I have decided to make a few treats with my personal touch. I wanted to embrace the shape, colour and textures of Diwali in a biscuit. The inspiration for these easy eggless biscuits came from teardrop earrings. It is made from a cardamom shortbread biscuit dough cut with a teardrop cutter then filled with colourful crushed lollipops. When baked, the sugar melts reconstituting into a chewy sugar centre. For a bejewelled look, add crushed sweets once biscuits are removed from the oven. I used an icing pen to decorate. This is my first attempt at making decorative Diwali biscuits and I can safely say it won’t be my last.
How to Make Easy Decorative Biscuits for Diwali
Ingredients
If you prefer eggless biscuits for Diwali, I recommend a basic shortbread biscuit dough which is guaranteed flopproof. For an egg, version see the Danish butter cookie recipe. Essential ingredients for these biscuits are:
Flour: I recommend using cake flour for biscuits this results in a soft biscuit texture.
Butter: I prefer butter in this recipe, but margarine can also be used as a suitable substitute.
Sugar: I recommend using icing or castor sugar for a fine biscuit texture.
Spice: I added a pinch of cardamom. I love cardamom, it represents the smell of Diwali to me, but if you are less of a fan than I am of this deliciously fragrant spice, then omit or add a sweet spice ingredient of choice, for example, cinnamon.
Lollipops: I used crushed lollipops because I had them at hand. Use lollipops without sherbet or filling Similarly use any hard candy.
Method
For best results, place the cut biscuits into the fridge to set, This will help retain their shape.
Crush hard sweets or lollipops. Fill into biscuits. Bake for a few minutes then fill more crushed sweets.
Easy Diwali Biscuits Recipe
Easy Diwali Biscuits
50
Food Like Amma Used to Make It
15 Min
20 Min
30 Min
1 H & 4 M
Ingredients
- 125g butter (at room temperature)
- 2 cups of cake flour
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom
- 4 lollipops (without sherbet) or 8 sweets (hard boiled)
Instructions
- For best results take the butter out of the fridge before baking. Place butter in a mixing bowl. Cream with a spoon or fork until soft.
- Slowly sift in icing sugar than four.
- Combine to form a soft dough
- Roll out flat then cut into desired shapes.
- Place on a baking tray and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This will help retain the shape of the biscuit.
- Crush sweets or lollipops.
- Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius
- Remove biscuits from the fridge. Sprinkle with crushed sweets.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Open the oven add more crushed sweets.
- Bake for another 10 minutes.Remove from oven.
- Store in an airtight container.
Calories
43.87
Fat (grams)
2.08
Sat. Fat (grams)
1.29
Carbs (grams)
5.82
Fiber (grams)
0.14
Net carbs
5.68
Sugar (grams)
2.01
Protein (grams)
0.54
Sodium (milligrams)
16.2
Cholesterol (grams)
5.38
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Did you make this recipe?
Henna Cookies
I tried this biscuit recipe to make henna cookies. I added cinnamon instead of cardamom to create varying hand shades. It’s a work in progress. I made Hamsa shaped ones and attemped the ‘sugar henna’ with an icing pen from Dr Oetker. The pen works really well, just need to work on a steady hand for next Diwali.
