One of my presents this Christmas was a little book of recipes to make some Petits-Beurre, a type of (oh so yummy) butter biscuits. It came complete with a cookie cutter and cute stamp to make them as ‘authentic’ as possible. The first batch I made, I was totally hooked. Want to know how to make them? Here’s the recipe:

Petits-Beurre

Ingredients

  • 150g sugar
  • 200g butter
  • 125ml water (1/2 cup)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 500g flour
  • 2 tsps baking powder

In a saucepan, place sugar, butter, water and salt and put on low heat until the butter and sugar are melted. Leave it to cool down for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

In a large bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Add the butter/sugar mixture. Work the dough, first with a wooden spoon, then knead it with your hands. The dough obtained must be homogenous, it must hold together but still be fairly soft.

Separate the dough in 3 equal parts. Cut 3 sheets of baking paper to fit your baking trays. Roll the dough flat on the sheets of baking paper until it is fairly thin (about 2mm thick) then transfer the lot (dough and baking paper) onto a baking tray. Cover the dough well with gladwrap, then place in the fridge for 3 hours.

Before getting the dough from the fridge, pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees C. Cut out the biscuits using a rectangular-shaped cookie cutter. Bake them for 10-12 minutes, or until the outside of the biscuits are golden-brown.

Enjoy!