How to Bake Bid’s Bug-shaped Biscuits

Bid’s been busy baking again! In Spid the Spider’s latest story, Spid the Spider Helps Bid Open a Bakery, Bid whips up some batches of beautiful bug-shaped biscuits for her grand opening. Now you can make your very own at home! These round biscuits are easy to bake, totally yummy and fun to decorate – as bees, ladybirds, caterpillars or with Spid and Bid’s cheeky faces.  Just download our free recipe and instructions.

What You’ll Need:

• Round biscuit cutter (or a glass if you don’t have one)
• Baking tray (lined with baking paper or lightly greased)
• Mixing bowl
• Rolling pin
• Wooden spoon
• Teaspoon
• Wire rack (for cooling)
• A work surface sprinkled with flour
• Oven (preheated to 190°C / 170°C fan)
• Oven gloves
• A grown-up helper!

🧈 Ingredients (for the biscuits):

• 100g butter (leave it out of the fridge to soften)
• 225g self-raising flour (for extra lightness)
• 80g sugar
• 1 large egg (beaten)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 3 drops vanilla extract (optional, but yummy!)

🍋 For the icing:

• 100g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon water (or lemon juice for a lovely lemony flavour)
• Food colouring (white, yellow, green, red – or your favourite bug colours!)

Sprinkles, edible eyes, or chocolate chips for decoration (optional)

👩‍🍳 Method:

1.Wash your hands – and make sure your grown-up does too!

2.Lightly grease your baking tray or line it with baking paper.

3.In the mixing bowl, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

4.Add the sugar, beaten egg, milk, and vanilla. Stir it together – then get your hands in and squish it into a ball of dough!

5.Sprinkle your work surface with flour. Roll out your dough until it’s the thickness of a coin.

6.Use your cutter (or glass) to cut out biscuit circles. Place them gently on your tray. Push the sides in gently if you prefer a more oval or rounded rectangular shape.

7.Ask your grown-up to put the tray in the oven. Bake for 12–15 minutes until golden brown.

8.Let the biscuits cool on a wire rack. Guard them from nibblers while they cool!

🎨 Time to Decorate:

1.Mix your icing sugar with water or (lemon juice) until it’s smooth but not runny.

2.Divide into bowls and add your colours: yellow for bees, red for ladybirds, or green for a caterpillar or Spid’s shiny head!

3.Spoon the icing onto a piping bag with a small nozzle. Put this in a glass first to keep the top of the bag open.

4.Squeeze the piping bag gently to draw shapes, leaving gaps or holes for spots. Start with the outside lines of shapes and then infill. Use the back of the spoon or a cocktail stick to spread it neatly. Create spots or eyes by leaving gaps in the icing, or adding chocolate chips!

5.Leave to set – then serve to your friends (or maybe a spider or two…).

🕸️ Bid’s Top Tips:

• Use a piping bag to draw outlines of shapes before filling in with coloured icing (as this will happen naturally!).
• Start with white icing for the white part (sclera) of eyes, then add colours!
• Fancy Spid or Bid faces? Use icing bags, pens or fondant for silly expressions!
• Make a whole bug family – and name them all!

Bid’s Bake Off Bests

✨ Share your bug biscuit creations with us on Spid’s website or ask your teacher or grown-up to tag #spidthespider on social media. We’d love to see your tasty troop of biscuit bugs!

Now try baking Bid’s Honeybee cakes!