Moyra's Chill & Slice Biscuit Recipe

Easy to make and with really basic ingredients, this recipe is an oldie but a goodie.

And the best part is that you can have biscuits that are crispy or chewy. To make them chewy, use real butter, not shortening and take them out of the oven while they are still pale gold. If you leave them in slightly longer, because they spread out while they cook, you end up with thin, crispy biscuits.

This recipe is for sliced cookies, so it is best to make the dough a day in advance and chill it overnight to prevent excess spreading during baking, but you can leave out the chilling part and just pop small balls of the mixture straight onto the baking tray. Just remember to place them far enough apart as the mixture will spread quite a bit.

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla essence (or lemon essence)
3 ½ cups of cake flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Method:
Cream shortening and sugar
Add eggs and flavouring
Beat in the sifted dry ingredients
Form in long rolls about 5cm in diameter
Wrap in waxed paper
Refrigerate until firm
Slice cookies about 3mm thick
Place on a greased baking tray, leaving space for the mixture to spread slightly
Optional – decorate each biscuit with a small slice of glace cherry or nut, for the sake of looks more than taste
Bake at 375degrees F / 190C / Gas Mark 5
Allow to cool on a baking rack