A few days ago, a friend gave me some stalks of fresh rhubarb from their allotment. Juicy and crunchy, bursting with flavour and smelling amazing. I could not miss the opportunity to make something out of a homegrown produce. Did I ever tell you that homegrown food tastes 1,000 times better?
It’s no mystery that I absolutely love the combination of rhubarb and orange – I would eat my Rhubarb, orange and pink peppercorn yoghurt tart every day if I could. However, this time, I wanted to showcase these flavours in a simpler and easier-to-make way, and what’s better than some jam-filled biscuits? Nothing, I’m telling you.
For this rhubarb-filled orange biscuits recipe, I went for a buttery dough enriched with orange zest. You don’t need to add any artificial flavours, as the essential oils in the peel are more than enough to infuse the dough with a marvellous orange aroma.
The filling is simple, with just a little twist. A double filling of classic rhubarb compote (my way), plus a rhubarb bits infused with star anise, to give it just that little spicy kick.
Easy, but original, with a little bit of fun in there. If I haven’t convinced you yet it can be only because you’re not a fan of rhubarb. But you could become one, if you’d only try these biscuits.
Ha.
If you are looking for more biscuit recipes for your summer picnics, have a go at my salted caramel and lemon jam sandwich biscuits, or if you fancy impressing your friends with a tart, my kiwi fruit tart (‘crostata’) it’s easy-à-porter and can be made with any fruit jam. Just pick your favourite summer flavour and yeah, it’s party time.
Makes 12 sandwich biscuits
Ingredients
FOR THE DOUGH
- 100g plain flour
- 50g corn flour
- 100g cold butter, diced
- 70g caster sugar
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1g salt
- 1 medium egg yolk (between 15 – 20g)
FOR THE RHUBARB COMPOTE
- 250g fresh rhubarb, chopped
- 20ml lemon juice
- 20ml apple juice
- 70g caster sugar
- pink or red food colouring (gel or liquid)
FOR THE INFUSED RHUBARB BITS
- 100g fresh rhubarb, finely chopped
- 25g caster sugar
- 2 star anise fruits
- 40ml orange juice
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
- Rectangular cookie cutter (mine is 6 x 3.5cm)
- Palette knife
Method
MAKE THE DOUGH (at least two hours before baking)
- Combine the plain flour, corn flour, caster sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until all the dry ingredients are incorporated and you achieve a crumbly consistency. Try to work fast to prevent the butter from melting. You can also use a food processor to whiz and incorporate the butter.
- Add the egg yolk and orange zest and bring the dough together quickly with your hands or in the food processor, without kneading it. Flatten to a disk, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or ideally overnight.
MAKE THE RHUBARB COMPOTE AND FILLING
You can make both elements at the same time. If you are not using them immediately, they will keep in the fridge easily for a week, covered with cling film.
- For the compote, mix all of the ingredients but the food colouring in a medium-sized pan, bring to the boil over a medium-high heat. When boiling, turn the heat down to medium and let simmer for 15 minutes. Once the time has passed, there should be little to no liquid visible and the rhubarb should literally fall apart. Transfer the compote to a tall glass / jug and blitz with a stick blender until smooth and silky. Add the food colouring to your liking and briefly blitz again to mix evenly. Let cool down completely at room temperature. Once cooled, the compote should have a thick and spreadable texture, still retaining a little creaminess.
- While the compote simmers away, transfer all the ingredients for the rhubarb filling to a small pan, bring to the boil over a medium-high heat, then simmer over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until there is no more liquid visible in the pan and the diced rhubarb still retains its shape a little bit. Discard the star anise and leave to cool completely at room temperature.
MAKE THE RHUBARB COMPOTE AND FILLING
- Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C conventional mode. Take the dough out of the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. In the meanwhile, line a baking tray with parchment. Flour the work surface and roll the dough out to a 4 mm thickness. The dough will be quite soft and moist and will very likely stick to your surface. Before stamping the biscuits, run a palette knife or a thin spatula under the whole rolled pastry to make sure is detached from the counter. This is a simple tip, but it really makes a huge difference.
- With a rectangular (or round) cutter, stamp as many biscuits as you can fit. Transfer all biscuits to the baking tray, quickly re-roll the leftover dough again to cut more biscuits. If the dough becomes too soft to handle, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Transfer the biscuits on the tray to the fridge for 10 minutes too before baking.
- Transfer the tray to the oven and bake for 11 – 12 minutes, depending on your oven. Take the biscuits out of the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a cooling rack. Bake in multiple batches if necessary.
- When ready to assemble, spread a small quantity of both compote and filling along the centre of a biscuit, leaving an empty border all around. Gently press another biscuit on top, allowing the filling to naturally spread and reach the edges. Adjust filling quantity to best fit the size of your biscuits, ensuring it doesn’t ooze out when pressing the second biscuit on. Repeat the process to use up all the biscuits (you might be end up with leftover filling…you know what to do with it – wink -). Lightly dust with some icing sugar and serve with a cup of your favourite black tea.