Halloween Jigsaw Biscuit

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Low Salicylate, Low Amine

The recipe generously makes 1 jigsaw picture of 20-30 pieces

As a rough size…each picture fits on a cookie baking tray. I started making these jigsaw pictures for my kids more than 20 years ago. They are a feature in our household. Your personal tolerance of colours will lead your direction for what type of design you choose.

Ingredients:

250g Nuttalex margarine (at room temperature)
180g (1 1/2 cups) light brown sugar
2 eggs
600g (4cups) GF self-raising flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp golden syrup
extra GF self-raising flour for kneading

Template

Draw a paper template of your design and cut it out.
Make sure your design fits the serving board/tray you intend the end biscuit to sit on.
Also make sure that it fits as one flat design on the cooking tray you place in the oven.
This biscuit will spread when it cooks, so leave a generous edge.
I have chosen dominantly white figures, for those sensitive to colours.
If colours are not your concern, choose the orange pumpkin as a suggestion.

Method:

Prepare the dough

Cream the Nuttalex and the sugar until light in colour and fluffy.
Add the eggs and beat well
Combine and sift the remaining dry ingredients, then fold them into the mixture by hand or use a very slow speed on your electric mixer
Add the golden syrup and mix well
Sprinkle extra flour onto a flat surface and knead the mixture until soft, but not sticky
Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes

Prepare your bench

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
The dough will be rolled out, and cut out, on baking paper. This baking paper, with the dough on it, will transfer straight to the baking tray for cooking.

Making your dough design:

Place your baking paper on your bench
Flour it and roll out the dough to 3-4mm (1/8in) in thickness. Be gentle so the paper does not crease underneath the dough. IF it does, just ease it flat again
It needs to be large enough for your pattern to fit on it as one picture
Try to have the dough the same thickness in the middle as it is on the edges
With a knife, carefully cut around the shape outline of your pattern
Remove all the excess dough from the edges. (You can cook other biscuits with that later)
Slide this dough covered baking paper onto your baking tray
Take your knife and cut squiggly lines through the dough, intersecting them to make odd-shaped jigsaw pieces
If you know you are having 20 kids to the party, ensure you have at least 20 jigsaw shapes in your picture
Position the tray middle to top of the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes. If toward the bottom of the oven, it will burn at the base
It should be a little golden in colour when you remove it from the oven
Straight away… take your knife and cut through all the jigsaw lines again to break the connection, as they would have cooked together in the oven
It will crisp on cooling, so don’t overcook it to make it crisp
Leave on the tray to become cold

Royal Icing

1 egg white
~500g (~2 cups) pure icing sugar, sifted
Colours and cachous at your discretion:- check all ingredients are right for you
Beat the egg white in a small bowl until bubbly
Add the icing sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition
You are looking for a spreadable consistency, but not runny, especially if using 2 or more colours in your end picture
Colour portions of your icing as required by your chosen picture

Making the picture

Place your paper template back on top of your cooked biscuit. It will be a bit smaller now that the biscuit has cooked
Take a pin and prick through the lines you have drawn on the paper template for the eyes and mouth (or whatever is in your picture). This will mark the gingerbread beneath. You can then take a skewer or the pin and gently scratch a line onto your biscuit to join the dots.
These lines will cross jigsaw pieces… and allows you to know what colour goes on what side of the line. Then when it is placed together again all the colours will be in the right place to see the picture. Start covering your design with the icing. Work on each piece individually. Place it back in the design before taking a new piece.
The ghost and skull are mostly white, so these are good designs to start with, especially if colour is an issue for you.
Let the white icing set for several hours before adding dark, strong colours, otherwise the reds and black may bleed into the white.
To keep the jigsaw in place on a serving board you may need to place a little icing under the outer pieces to stop them moving.
The final thing I do is pipe around the edges of the design to complete the picture. This also helps to stop the pieces from moving. You can do this in white if colour is an issue.
Do NOT put this in the fridge or the colours in the icing will become moist and bleed when you take it out.
When the icing is set, you can cover the biscuit in plastic wrap.

Those little hands can’t wait to take a jigsaw piece when it is served!

RECIPES SUITABLE FOR THE RPAH FOOD CHEMICAL ELIMINATION DIET

Disclaimer: Please note that the food chemical elimination diet is a testing tool to find which food chemical substances your body is sensitive to. It is not intended to be a life-long diet. This procedure should be done with the supervision of your dietitian. Once the elimination investigations are complete you need to add foods back to the diet, from the food chemical groups you have been avoiding, to find your tolerance levels to the substances to which you are sensitive.

The following recipes fall into 4 main categories and will help you through this diet investigation and or the initial re-introduction of moderate chemicals.