I came back to this thread to ammend my recipe a bit. I realize it's 3 years later but I've gotten a bit better at making these biscuits. I still use the following measurements but changed the method and added a little salt:


Black pepper Sherry Biscuits by Dave'sWife
Recipe dediecated to BatGoddess


Ingredients:
3 cups of All Purpose Flour, sifted (can use Bisquick if you prefer)
1 and one half sticks American Butter, softened to room temp and not melted
(that would be 3/4 cup of butter)
1/8 cup coarsely ground Black Peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon of salt (omit salt if using Bisquick)
(ground up in a coffee grinder...pulse until you like the size)
1 cup confectioner's Sugar or Icing Sugar to you UK/ROI/OZ folks
1 cup of very good quality sweet Sherry or Port Wine that has been strained through a fine seive to remove sediment or strained through a paper coffee filter.

I still mix the pepper with the flour & sugar first and then cut in the softened butter with a pastry blender until you get pea sized lumps. I find it works better if you use room temp butter instead of melted. You get a better texture. Some people insist om cold butter for shortbreads and that would be the way to go if you weren't adding alcohol. So, I dribble the sherry in and mix with a salad fork until it comes together.

Then, instead of just patting it into a ball and sticking it in the fridge, I now do the Martha Stweart technique of forming it into a log on parchment or wax paper and then rolling it tight to compact the dough and squeeze out the air. I form the log so that it will fit into an empty paper towel roll core which is about 1 3/4 inches in diameter. Roll it as tightly as you can, slide parchment covered log into paper towel roll core and refrigerote for at least one hour or overnight. You can even leave for a day or so.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 325 Degrees. take parchment covered log out and remove the paper. Slice into 1/4 inch rounds for a finsihed biscuit that has both the snap Batgoddess remembers and the meltaway mouth feel of a shortbread. Bake in the oven at 325 % for approximately 20 minutes. At 10 mminutes, turn the cookie sheet around carefully to avoid the biscuits in the back getting overly browned.

Since you can't really tell the "done-ness" by color because these are bright pink, you have to go by teime or by your own experience. I think 20 minutes is just about right. I used to bake them in a hotter oven but I like the way they come out better when the temp is set at 325 degrees. When you take them out, transfer them to a cute up paper back to cool or to a wire cooling rack. Store in tins up to a week at room temp.


These can be served along with small meat pies, scotch eggs or sausage puffs for Tea.