I originally baked Shrewsbury biscuits in preparation for the Downton Abbey 4th season premiere in the U.S. I was looking for an interesting British dessert recipe and this one fit the bill. I also created sticky toffee pudding cupcakes for the occasion.

My recipe for Shrewsbury biscuits is an adaptation of a recipe from the captivating site, The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies, which explores recipes from a book of the same name; that book is “a manuscript recipe book in the collections of Westminster City Archives. The recipes, recorded in several different hands, span 150 years of British cookery, providing a fascinating insight into culinary craft of the Georgian and Regency periods.” I also used a post on Shrewsbury biscuits from Mouthful of Paradise as inspiration.