Children In Need Baking - Pudsey Bear Biscuits

This week I decided to do my bit for Children In Need and make these Pudsey Bear biscuits and buns to take into work to raise a bit of cash for this fantastic charity day.

 

I bought the lovely Pudsey Bear cookie cutter for just £2.29 from Lakelands, with £1 going to Children In Need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve really got into baking over the last couple of months as I find it a perfect distraction from my thoughts and really helps me to relax when I’m feeling stressed, depressed and anxious. I just put some music on and bake! Everyone seems to love my cakes and bakes and this also helps to improve my confidence.

 

 

The biscuits went down a treat at work so I decided to share this very simple but delicious biscuit recipe with you. This recipe does make quite a lot of biscuits (around 24 Pudsey bears, which are quite large) so you can always half this recipe to make fewer.

 

 

 

 

Biscuit ingredients:

·        250g unsalted butter

·        250g golden caster sugar

·        2 free range eggs

·        ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

·        500g plain flour

·        1 tsp baking powder

 

For the decoration:

·        Yellow fondant icing (£1.49, Lakelands)

·        White fondant icing (£1.49, Lakelands)

·        Selection of cake decorating writing pens (I got mine from Asda but you can get them from pretty much any cake decorating shop or supermarket)

·        1 teaspoon of apricot jam mixed with a few drops of hot water (to make a paste to stick the fondant icing to the biscuit)

 

Method:

·        Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.

·        Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and work into a dough using floured hands.

·        On a floured surface, knead the mixture into a ball and divide into 2 portions. Wrap each portion into cling film and put in the fridge. Leave for at least 1 hour.

·        Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3 and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

·        Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and using cutters, cut shapes out and place them onto the baking tray. Make sure to leave a gap in between each biscuit because they may spread slightly whilst baking.

·        Bake for 12-15 minutes until they are starting to go golden.

·        Once cool, it is time to let your imagination run wild and decorate to your hearts content. This is my favourite bit!

·        Mix the apricot jam with warm water.

·        Dust a surface with icing sugar and roll out the fondant icing. Using the same cutter as the biscuits, cut out shapes in the icing. Brush the biscuits with the apricot jam and stick the icing shapes onto the biscuit. I then outlined each biscuit with black writing icing and used white fondant icing as Pudseys bandage. I decorated the bandage with the other coloured writing icing.

 

Also, I thought I'd share with you the halloween biscuits I made a few weeks ago using the same recipe.

Hope you enjoyed this post and I have inspired you to bake!

Hannah xox