These easy Easter Biscuits are perfect to make with kids & are great alternative to all things chocolate! Crunchy, gently spiced & full of raisins or currants, they're melt in the mouth delicious.
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Traditional Easter Biscuits made vegan
My recipe is by no means authentic as it's amalgamation of Mary Berry's Easter Biscuits recipe (which itself isn't very traditional) and more traditional recipes from around the web. I have also challenged myself to make it vegan and so egg and dairy free yet keep flavours & textures of the biscuits you know and love.
These biscuits didn't require any egg substitutions at all and a little bit of oat milk helped to bind the dough together whereas baking powder gave them a little bit of a lift.
What are Easter Biscuits?
Easter Biscuits are traditional British biscuits that have originated in West Country and used to be given to the guests on Easter Sunday. They are usually round, gently spiced, buttery biscuits studded with currants & with crunchy, sugary coating on top.
Some traditional recipes from Somerset region used cinnamon flavoured cassia oil that is thought to had been used to embalm Christ's body. [Source:Wikipedia]
What is Cassia Oil and can you use it in this recipe?
As mentioned above cassia oil is cinnamon flavoured essential oil traditionally used in Easter Biscuits to add a touch of cinnamon flavour and because of its symbolism. Its flavour is much stronger than that of ground cinnamon so it should be used sparingly.
I haven't used traditional cassia oil in my recipe as I wanted for it to be easy to make and with the ingredients you will most likely already have in your fridge and cupboards. However, if you'd like to go down more traditional route you can quite easily source food grade cassia oil* online.
As I'm not familiar with cassia oil and have never used it before I cannot really advise you on the actual quantity to be used. However, from what I've read online it appears that you shouldn't need lots of it, few drops at the most. I would love to hear from those of you with experience with cassia oil.
Ingredients you need to make Easter Biscuits
Vegan Block Butter/Spread – I would recommend using vegan block butter here instead of vegan spread in a tub as it’s got higher fat content which is so important in baking. My favourite ones are Stork Original Baking Block or Naturli Organic Vegan Block. Both with 75% fat content and widely available in the supermarkets. If you don’t need for these Easter biscuits to be vegan, simply use unsalted butter.
Caster or Golden Caster Sugar
Plain (All-Purpose) Flour
Currants/ Raisins/ Sultanas - Traditionally, it would have been currants that you would find in your Easter Biscuits. As we prefer raisins and sultanas to currants in our house, this is what I've gone for in my recipe. Feel free to swap as per your liking. Some recipes also call for adding finely chopped mixed peel (a teaspoon or so) but I decided to leave it out and go for zest of an orange instead.
Spices (Mixed Spice & Cinnamon) - Instead of using just cinnamon, I went for a little bit of mixed spice as well. The flavour of both is very subtle and definitely not overpowering.
Baking Powder
Orange Zest - Quite a few recipes for Easter Biscuits I came across include some lemon zest. I thought that orange zest would go much nicer with mixed spice and cinnamon and I think I was right lol. Feel free to leave it out or go for zest of a small lemon instead.
Salt
Oat Milk (or any neutral plant based milk) to bring the dough together.
Helpful equipment when making Easter Biscuits
Beside the obvious items you'll need like decent size bowl and wooden spoon (if you want to make your biscuits by hand), baking trays and cooling rack you might also find these items helpful.
Simple Hand Mixer - There are so many different brands available and majority of them are actually quite cheap. I got mine years ago in Lidl and it is still going strong (this one* is very similar to the one I've got). I use it mainly for creaming butter and sugar, making buttercream and whipping cream or egg whites.
Set of sieves* - I've got this set of 3 sieves and use it all the time. Perfect for sifting your ingredients when baking, draining beans or rice and the smallest one is perfect for dusting bake goods with icing sugar. Cheap and cheerful kitchen essential for sure!
Fine Microplane Grater* - Super sharp and extremely useful when it comes to zesting citrus fruits, grating ginger or garlic. Could be without it!
Silicone Pastry Brushes* - Perfect for so many kitchen tasks from basting to egg washes and in case of Easter Biscuits applying the glaze. They are super easy to wash too.
Easy Easter baking with kids
This recipe is perfect to make with kids as it doesn't require any special equipment (although you can use hand mixer, standing mixer or food processor if you want of course).
It is quick and easy which is perfect for smaller kids whose attention span is not that great. It is also easy enough for bigger kids to take charge and make them on their own.
Dough itself doesn't need to be refrigerated prior to rolling out and is really easy to work with and to re-roll as you cut out your shapes.
If you make these with kids don't feel like you need to use round biscuit cutters*. Be creative and use any cutters you fancy (lovely Spring or Easter themed cutters* would work brilliantly here).
If you're after a no-bake Easter treat, you might want to try these classic Easter Chocolate Nests instead.
How long can you keep Easter Biscuits for?
These delicious vegan Easter Biscuits should be stored in the airtight container and will keep for 1-2 weeks.
How to make Easter Biscuits - Step-By-Step Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
- Put softened vegan butter and caster sugar in a large bowl or bowl of your food processor and mix using wooden spoon/hand held mixer or paddle attachment of your standing mixer until pale in colour and fluffy.
- Sieve in the flour, spices, baking powder and salt and continue mixing until dough starts coming together.
- Add zest of an orange (if using) and currants or raisins and continue mixing.
- Add just enough oat milk to bring the dough together (½-1 tablespoon) and take it out onto lightly floured counter.
- Roll the dough out so that it's roughly 5mm thick and using 6cm round, fluted cutter (or any cutter of your choice) cut out the the biscuits, re-rolling the dough until it's all used up.
- Transfer biscuits to non-stick baking trays and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- While biscuits are baking prepare the glaze by mixing oat milk and agave syrup.
- Take biscuits out of the oven and brush them gently with the glaze and sprinkle with some more caster sugar to create a layer of sugary coating.
- Return biscuits to the oven for another 5 minutes until light brown and fully baked.
- Take them out of the oven and leave on the baking trays for a few minutes before you transfer them onto the cooling rack to cool completely.
Easter Biscuits (Vegan)
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 125 g vegan block butter softened (See notes)
- 75 g caster or golden caster sugar
- 200 g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 50 g raisins or currants
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking powder
- zest of one orange optional (See notes)
- pinch of salt
- ½-1 tablespoon oat milk any neutral plant milk will do
Glaze
- 1 tablespoon oat milk or any plant milk of your choice
- 2 teaspoon agave syrup can be substituted with maple syrup
- extra caster sugar to sprinkle over the glaze
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
- Put softened vegan butter and caster sugar in a large bowl or bowl of your food processor and mix using wooden spoon/hand held mixer or paddle attachment of your standing mixer until pale in colour and fluffy.
- Sieve in the flour, spices, baking powder and salt and continue mixing until dough starts coming together.
- Add zest of an orange (if using) and currants or raisins and continue mixing.
- Add just enough oat milk to bring the dough together (½-1 tablespoon) and take it out onto lightly floured counter.
- Roll the dough out so that it’s roughly 5mm thick and using 6cm round, fluted cutter (or any cutter of your choice) cut out the biscuits, re-rolling the dough until it’s all used up.
- Transfer biscuits to non-stick/lined baking trays and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- While biscuits are baking prepare the glaze by mixing oat milk and agave syrup.
- Take biscuits out of the oven and brush them gently with the glaze and sprinkle with some caster sugar to create a layer of sugary coating.
- Return biscuits to the oven for another 5 minutes until light brown and fully baked.
- Take them out of the oven and leave on the baking trays for a few minutes before you transfer them onto the cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Nutritional information is approximate, per biscuit and should be treated as a guideline only.
- For best results use higher in fat vegan block butter (Stork, Naturli) instead of the ones in a tub.
- You could use substitute orange zest for that of a small lemon.
- Easter Biscuits will keep for 1-2 weeks if stored in the airtight container.
Nutrition
More recipes you might enjoy
Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Mini Eggs
White Chocolate Blondies with Mini Eggs
Chocolate Fork Biscuits (Vegan)
Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (No-Bake, Vegan, Gluten-Free)
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Danielle says
Made these during lockdown so had to improvise due to lack of ingredients, but the good thing about this recipe is that it’s easily adaptable. Ended up using self-raising flour and mandarin zest, and a mix of cinnamon and nutmeg, and they turned out perfectly.
As someone who’s new to baking biscuits this recipe was really easy to follow and super tasty. 😋
joskitchenlarder says
Hi Danielle, I'm so pleased to read that you've enjoyed the biscuits and found the recipe easy to follow as well. Well done adapting the recipe to what you had at home, it's so weird at the moment not being able to get certain essential we used to take for granted. I hope you are having lovely Easter weekend! Jo x
lou Gunstone says
Great spin on some delicious Easter Biscuits 🙂
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks so much Lou! 🙂
Victoria says
Made these today for my 7yr old and was very impressed! they are just sweet enough, crisp and light! Will make again. I used Dove's wholemeal flour, half coconut fat and half Flora light and light brown sugar. Worked perfectly. Thanks for sharing!
joskitchenlarder says
Hi Victoria, Thank you so much for your lovely feedback! I'm so pleased you like the recipe! 🙂
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
These look lovely and crisp and the spices sound delicious!
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Cat, they really are! Nice and old-fashioned Easter goodies with vegan spin.
Michelle Rolfe says
Great looking biscuits Jo, and great to see they are vegan as well, they will appeal to lots of people this Easter. Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare. Michelle
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Michelle! 🙂 Sometimes it's nice to go back to the old classic I recon although I'm sure the chocolate will surely win with most during Easter. 🙂
Jenny Walters says
These biscuits look delicious! I love a bit of Easter baking and these are perfect to get the kids involved. Nice to make something for Easter that isn’t Chocolatey too! Thanks for sharing these fluted beauties with #CookBlogShare
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Jenny! 🙂 These went down so well with my kids despite the lack of chocolate which is nice for a change for sure, they loved getting involved too!
Karen says
I absolutely love Easter biscuits and yours look delicious Jo! I’ve just made a batch myself - but they’re not vegan, but it’s lovely to have all dietary offerings! Karen
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you so much Karen! I'm a huge fan of these too and they go so nicely with a cup of tea! I'm really pleased with my vegan take on them and you really can't tell the difference.