Easy Peasy Iced Gems

5 from 3 votes

Remember those?! Well, my gluten & dairy free versions are mega easy to make and will take you right back to the 90's!

Prep Time15

Cook Time8

Total Time23

Servings: 60 iced gems minimum (aka 1 very greedy Jess)

Course: Dessert, Side Dish

Keyword: dairy free, gluten free, iced gems

Ingredients

Cut the Stork into rough squares and place into a mixing bowl. Add the caster sugar to the bowl too.
>We cut the Stork into smaller pieces to make it easier to whisk at the next stage
Cream the butter & sugar until smooth and fluffy.
>Ideally, mix with an electric hand whisk for about 30 seconds. Don't cut this time short because (1) it creates a creamy shortbread and (2) it warms up the butter which makes the next stage easier!
>You could also use a wooden spoon but you'll have to really go for it!!
Add the flour and whisk again. It'll start resembling breadcrumbs like the first picture. Keep whisking and it will then form bigger lumps like the second picture. Stop at this point!
>Don't worry about sieving the flour – just tip it in
>There should be no white flour showing by the time you've finished this stage, it should be all mixed in
Use your hands to press the mix together into a big ball
Transfer the shortbread dough to a big piece of cling film
>Don’t worry if its falling apart a little, it'll firm up in the fridge
>I go for a sausage shape as it chills more evenly (and quickly!) in the fridge than a big ball
Wrap it up tightly. Put it in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up.

Pre-heat your oven to 175oC (fan)
Remove the dough from the fridge, remove the cling film.
Dust your hands in flour. Play with the lump of dough, moulding into a smooth ball.
>You can be quite heavy handed with it again, play with it like its playdough!
Add some flour to your rolling pin and roll out until its about the thickness of a £1 coin.
>If you'd rolled too thin, don't worry just gather the dough together and start again! Add more flour to the rolling pin, work surfaces and your hands.
Cut out as many circles as possible.
>Cutter: I used a 3/4 inch (2cm) fluted cutter I bought cheap on Amazon but you could stamp out with the base of a piping nozzle or cut around a pound coin
Transfer the circles onto a baking tray and place into the oven for 8 mins.
>These biscuits will not brown so don’t wait for the edges to start to colour – stick to 8 mins and they’ll be cooked!
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before touching them as they’ll still be soft.

Make up your icing (see "The Icing Topping" section in my blog post)
Divide your icing into as many bowls as you'd like colours. Add the colours & any flavourings you like to each bowl.
Place your nozzle into your piping bag (I use a 12-point open star swirl nozzle) and fill with the first colour.
Hold the biscuit with one hand and piping bag with the other. Press the piping nozzle down onto the centre of the biscuit squeeze the piping bag firmly.
Pull the nozzle away and release your squeeze at the same time!
Tap the biscuit on the worksurface to make the icing spread more evenly. Wipe the end of the nozzle between each biscuit.
Leave your iced gems for at least 30 mins to set before serving. The longer you leave the icing to set, the crunchier it will be.

*This will make too much icing but its much easier to work with if you have too much than too little so I recommend sticking to this!