November is a month traditionally reserved for remembering our loved ones who've passed away back in Malta. Whether that's by planning a special mass in their honour, or ensuring to visit and decorate their graves. The 2nd of November in particular is called All Souls' Day. Throughout the month of November, bakeries in Malta will have these bone shaped biscuits on sale, which are actually very similar to the Figolli we make during Easter. Two layers of sweet biscuit are filled with an almond and sugar mixture, and then covered in royal icing. These biscuits are slightly less decorated, but just as yum, You will need a bone cutter to make these biscuits, or if like me you'd rather not have a drawer full of cookie cutters, you can make a template using cardboard and foil. Depending on the size of your cutter/template, this recipe will make around 4-6 biscuits.
Ingredients
For the biscuit
230gr plain flour
115gr margarine
85gr icing sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2tsp vanilla paste (or 1tsp vanilla essence)
1 egg yolk
For the almond filling
140gr ground almonds
140gr white sugar
50gr chopped nuts
1 egg white
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/2tsp almond essence
1/2tsp vanilla paste (or 1tsp vanilla essence)
Icing
200gr icing sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2tbsp milk
Zest of 1 lemon (to decorate)
Method
1. Making the dough. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl, using your fingertips to combine the wet and dry ingredients. A dough will soon begin to form - knead until a soft dough ball forms. Cover in plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for around 30mins-1 hour.
2. Making the almond filling. In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients, until the mixture resembles wet sand.
3. Assembling the bones. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius. Roll out the dough till around 3-4mm thick on a heavily floured surface. Start cutting out bone shapes, making sure you have an even number of cut out biscuits, as we'll be creating somewhat of a sandwich effect in the next step.
4. Line and grease a baking tray. Set half the cut out bones on the tray and using a teaspoon, start placing some of the almond filling onto the dough, leaving around a 2-4mm border filling-free. Don't be stingy with the filling.
5. Set the matching cut out dough on top of the marzipan, stretching it out ever so slightly. Using your fingers pull the top layer of dough over the bottom one, as if stitching them together. Push into the side gently so as to get the dough layers to stick together. Once the dough pieces seem to be stitched together, run your fingers around the edges to smoothen the edges. Bake for around 20-25 minutes, or until just about golden. Allow to cool completely.
6. Making the royal icing. Once the bones have completely cooled, start making the royal icing. Combine all the ingredients until a smooth and runny mixture forms. If the mixture still feels too thick, add an extra tablespoon or two of milk. Cover the tops of the biscuits with the royal icing, making sure to get the sides too.
7. Sprinkle some lemon zest over the cookies whilst the icing is still wet. Allow to dry completely before digging in.
Recreating this recipe? Tag me on instagram @juliawgr!
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