Name: Easy Firework Biscuits Recipe
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 1 h 47 min
Yield: 18
Cuisine: English
Ingredients: Electric Stand Mixer or Large Bowl with Electric Hand Whisk; Spatula; Baking Paper; Rolling Pin; 7cm Round Fluted Cookie Cutter; Large Baking Tray; 3 x Small Bowls; 3 x Disposable Piping Bags; 18-20 Jazzy Straws or Lollipop Sticks; Sugar Stars; 1 Large Egg White; 250g (2 + 1/4 Cups) Icing Sugar; Squeeze of Lemon Juice; Food Gel Colourings of Your Choice; 125g (1/2 Cup + 1 tbsp) Unsalted Butter, Room Temp; 100g (1/3 Cup + 1/8 Cup) Golden Caster Sugar; 1 tsp Vanilla Extract; 1 Small Egg, Beaten; 190g (1 + 1/3 Cups) Plain Flour; 30g (1/3 Cup) Cocoa Powder

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Halloween has been and gone, next in the social calendar? Bonfire Night! These eye catching firework biscuits will make your spectacular celebrations go off with a BANG! They really look the part, they’re easy to make, and they taste beautiful. The perfect way to celebrate Guy Fawkes night!

3 firework biscuits in a jar with purple nettings and colourful curling ribbon.

Why you’ll love this recipe

Having grown up celebrating Bonfire Night every year, these nostalgic biscuits bring back a lot of memories! Me and my two brothers used to climb up onto the out house roof, and sit watching the firework displays with lots of tasty drinks and snacks. We LOVED it!

These firework biscuits and Bonfire cupcakes were always firm favourites, and really fun to make.

Ingredients

Confused about what ingredients to buy? Not sure about a substitution? Here’s everything you might need to know…

Butter – You can use salted or unsalted (I prefer unsalted). Just make sure it’s at room temperature before you use it. If you don’t have much time, here’s how to soften butter quickly.
Sugar – I like to use golden caster sugar for the slight caramel flavour it adds, but regular caster sugar (superfine in the US) will work just as well.
Vanilla – A good quality vanilla extract or paste is always best, as you can really taste the difference! Avoid supermarket own brands, as they are usually rubbish, and you won’t even taste them in the end product.
Egg – Use a small egg for the biscuit dough, and a large egg for the icing. You can buy mixed weight cartons to make this more cost effective. You only need the egg white for the royal icing. To avoid waste, you can always use the yolk to make custard.
Flour – You need plain (all purpose) flour for the biscuits. Don’t substitute for self raising, gluten free or other. As they won’t work as intended, and your biscuits will be completely different.
Cocoa Powder – Make sure you don’t use a drinking chocolate powder, as these have added sugars. Use a proper baking cocoa powder.
Icing Sugar – Also known as confectioners sugar, it needs to be this and nothing else for the royal icing to work.
Lemon Juice – You only need a little squeeze for this recipe. You could use the rest to make lemon ice cream or a lemon drizzle cake.

Emma’s top tips

Here are tips you’ll find helpful when making firework biscuits.

Save stress by making the biscuit dough ahead of time. Keep it well wrapped and in the fridge for up to 3 days before. This then means you only have to bake and decorate on the day.
Short on time? Get shop bought biscuits and decorate them with pre-made icing instead!
Don’t skip chilling the dough before and after you cut out shapes. If you do, they will spread and won’t hold their shape well.
Make sure you allow the biscuits to cool completely before decorating. Otherwise the icing will melt and things will get very messy!
Let the children and grandchildren help decorate! This bake doubles as a lovely family activity.
When icing, work on one biscuit at a time as royal icing sets quite quickly.

Not a confident baker yet? You need these Top 5 Tips to Guarantee Baking Success! Head over to baking for beginners and have it all!

3 firework biscuits in a jar with colourful curling ribbon.

Timings

Have limited time? Struggle with recipe timings? Or juggling around other things? Here’s some time managing info to make your life easier!

Allow time to bring the butter to room temperature before starting. (The time this takes will depend on how warm/cold your kitchen is.)
Making and rolling out the chocolate biscuit dough will take around 15 minutes.
You then need to allow for 30 minutes chilling time.
Cutting out the biscuits should take no more than 10 minutes.
Allow 15 minutes further chilling time, while you preheat your oven.
Baking the cookies will take 10-12 minutes.
Cooling the biscuits will take somewhere around 30 minutes to cool, but the temperature of your kitchen may affect this time.
Making and colouring the royal icing will take around 10-15 minutes.
Depending on your experience/skill level, decorating the biscuits will take around 15 minutes.
The decorated biscuits should fully set within 30 minutes. But, again, your kitchen temperature may affect this.

Firework Biscuits – Step by Step Picture Recipe

(For a printer friendly version, see the recipe card at the end of this post)

Please note, this recipe includes both UK metric and US Cup measurements.

Ingredients

Here is what you will need to make 18-20.

For the biscuits

125g (1/2 Cup + 1 tbsp) Unsalted Butter, Room Temp
100g (1/3 Cup + 1/8 Cup) Golden Caster Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Small Egg, Beaten
190g (1 + 1/3 Cups) Plain Flour
30g (1/3 Cup) Cocoa Powder

For the royal icing

1 Large Egg White
250g (2 + 1/4 Cups) Icing Sugar
Squeeze of Lemon Juice
Food Gel Colourings of Your Choice

Essential Equipment

Electric Stand Mixer or Large Bowl with Electric Hand Whisk
Spatula
Baking Paper
Rolling Pin
7cm Round Fluted Cookie Cutter
3 x Small Bowls
3 x Disposable Piping Bags
18-20 Jazzy Straws or Lollipop Sticks
Sugar Stars

Biscuit instructions

To make the biscuits, either in an electric stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand whisk, cream together the butter (125g | 1/2 Cup + 1 tbsp), sugar (100g | 1/3 Cup + 1/8 Cup) and vanilla extract (1 tsp) until light and fluffy. You may need to scrape the bowl down with a spatula from time to time.

Creamed butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer.

Next, add in the egg (1 x small) and beat again until it’s all combined.

Butter, sugar and egg beaten together in an electric stand mixer.

Then tip in the flour (190g | 1 + 1/3 Cups) and cocoa powder (30g | 1/3 Cup) and beat with a spatula, until it clumps together to form a dough.

Chocolate biscuit dough in the bowl of an electric stand mixer with a spatula.

Now tip out the dough onto a work surface, and knead gently to bring together into a ball. Then divide it into two, and roll each one between 2 large sheets of baking paper to 6mm/1/4″ thick.

Pop into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. This is important as, if you don’t chill the dough, when you cut out the cookies they won’t hold their shape well.

Once the dough is chilled, remove it from the fridge and cut as many 7cm circles out as you can. Re-roll any leftover dough to the same thickness, and cut out more biscuits until all the dough is used up.

Chocolate biscuit dough rolled out between two sheets of baking paper, being cut into 7cm biscuits.

Next, chill the biscuits for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 170°C/356ºF.

Then line a large baking sheet with baking paper or a silicone mat, and fill with biscuits. Make sure you leave room between each one for spreading, then bake for 10-12 mins.

Unbaked firework biscuits on a lined baking tray.

Baked chocolate biscuits on a lined baking tray.

Allow them to cool for a minute or two on the tray, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat for any remaining biscuits.

Royal icing instructions

In an electric stand mixer or a large bowl with and electric hand whisk, beat together the egg whites (x 1), icing sugar (250g | 2 + 1/4 Cups) and lemon juice (a squeeze) on high speed for about 5 minutes, until stiff peaks form.

Egg whites, icing sugar and lemon juice being whipped together in an electric stand mixer.

Then, adding no more than a drop or two at a time, very gradually add cold water, and mix between each addition, until it’s thinned to soft peaks.

Soft peak royal icing in an electric stand mixer.

Then divide the mixture between 3 bowls and colour with food colouring gels. You can use whatever colours you like. I chose to keep 1 x white and colour the other two purple and pink.

Different coloured royal icing in 3 bowls.

It’s important to keep your icing covered until you are ready to use it, or it will begin to set and become unusable.

Decoration instructions

Load 3 disposable piping bags with the 3 coloured icings, and snip a small hole from the tip.

On each biscuits, pipe lines in the shape of a firework – with a few little dots at the ends for added effect. I find it easiest to put the biscuit you are decorating on a non slip surface as you will need both hands on the piping bag, but you can do this however you feel most comfortable.

Sugar stars being stuck onto firework biscuits.

Finally add a few small blobs of icing to each biscuit and top them with sugar stars. Repeat until all your firework biscuits are decorated.

Firework biscuits setting on a cooling rack.

You can leave your biscuits as they are, or you can put them on a jazzy straw/lollipop stick by piping a blob of royal icing on the back, and pressing them in. (Optional.)

If you are using straws like me – flatten the end to make it easier to stick.

Straws being stuck onto the back of firework biscuits with icing.

Finally, leave to set for an hour or so until completely set.

Firework biscuits in a jar wrapped in purple mesh and curling ribbon.

How to store firework biscuits

Store your biscuits at room temperature in an airtight container. (I prefer metal as cookies keep their crunch better.) Consume within 3-5 days.

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3 firework biscuits in a jar with colourful curling ribbon. A text overlay says "Spectacular firework biscuits".