Empire biscuits are one of those special bakes that stay with you from the moment you take your first bite. How the biscuit crumbles, the jam oozes out the sides and sticks to your fingers and the icing thickly coated across the top leaves your teethmarks in its sugary shell. Of course, the best part is the jelly sweet on top, saved for last. The merits of a good empire biscuit are based on what colour the sweet is – red and black the most superior of course.

As a child I had a system for eating an empire biscuit, largely to savour it for as long as possible once it was removed from the paper bag. I’d twist the two biscuits apart and eat the bottom one first, enjoying the sweetness of the sticky bright pink factory jam which bared no resemblance to the jars in the cupboard. Then came the iced biscuit, the jelly sweet removed and more sugar would hit, heat creeping across my nose at the sweetness of it all. And finally that sweetie would be popped in my mouth and the process would be complete. These days I don’t have the patience I had as a child and when I choose an empire biscuit from the cafe at work, I devour it in one go for a pre-lunchtime sugar hit. I sometimes pick one up for my breakfast on especially unorganised days.

Yet due to my Veganuary challenge, the dinner plate sized biscuits so conveniently located in relation to my desk were out of bounds and so I sought refuge in the internet for a vegan version. Aimee’s recipe for crumbly jammy dodgers looked like the perfect starting point and so on a snowy Saturday, I made these pretty little biscuits topped with all my favourite coloured Jelly Tots, which are accidentally vegan. You could use the classic glace cherries if you wish, which is how my Mam makes them, but if you’re sticking to a vegan diet, some may contain red dyes that contain some questionable ingredients.

Biscuit recipe adapted from The Wallflower Kitchen