Of course, there are Easter traditions all round the world. My friend Trish recently gave me a packet of mahlep seeds which, in Greece, are used together with a resin called mastic (pistacia lentiscus) to flavour an Easter bread. Here we use cassia oil to flavour Easter biscuits.
There is some thought that Easter biscuits are a Somerset specialty and certainly the best bought Easter biscuits are found locally in old fashioned bakers’ shops. Cassia oil can be bought in pharmacies. Around Easter, our local chemist even has a sign to say that he has cassia oil in stock. Easter biscuits are very much like Shrewsbury biscuits. It is important not to cook them too much; they should stay pale.
100g softened butter
75g caster sugar
1 large egg, separated
200g plain flour
½ level tsp mixed spice
50g currants
1-2 tbsp milk
A few drops cassia oil
Caster sugar for dusting
Oven at 200°C. Lightly grease three baking trays
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk. Sieve in the flour and spices and mix well. Add the currants and cassia oil and enough milk to make a dough.
On a floured board, lightly kneed the dough and then roll it out to an even thickness of 5mm. Using a fluted cutter, cut into rounds the size of digestive biscuits and place these on the baking trays.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the biscuits from the oven and brush them with whisked egg white. Dust with caster sugar and return them to the oven for a further 4-5 minutes until they are the palest brown.
Remove the trays from the oven and leave the biscuits for a few minutes before, using a spatula, sliding them from the baking trays onto a wire rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container.
If, after a few days, the biscuits become soft, they can be revived by placing them on a baking tray and putting them in a moderate oven for a few minutes.
[Pic: Penny Dalrymple-Smith]