Making Christmas biscuits is a wonderful activity in a run up to Christmas. We love this simple sugar cookie recipe with the biscuits decorated with icing and then used as decorations. A batch of these festive cookies would make a wonderful homemade Christmas gift.
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Yields:
24
Prep Time:
1 hr
Cook Time:
15 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 15 mins
Cal/Serv:
166
Ingredients
75 g butter, softened, plus extra to grease
100 g caster sugar
40 g golden syrup
1 medium egg
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
Finely grated zest and juice 1 lemon, keep separate
1/2 tsp. baking powder
225 g plain flour, plus extra to dust
To decorate
500 g royal icing sugar
Red food colouring paste
You will also need
Christmas biscuit cutters, we used ones from dotcomgiftshop.com
Piping bags and nozzles
Silver dragees
Directions
Step 1Beat butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large bowl with a handheld electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Next, beat in the egg, vanilla and zest. Sift over flour and baking powder, mix until just combined, then tip on to a clean work surface and bring together with your hands. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 30min (up to 24hr).
Step 2Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out dough to 5mm (1/4in) thick. Stamp out Christmas shapes, re-rolling trimmings as needed. Arrange biscuits on prepared sheets, spacing a little apart. If you are planning on hanging the biscuits, make a 5mm (1/4in) hole in the top of each biscuit with a skewer. Chill for 30min, until firm.
Step 3Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Bake biscuits for 15min until lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 4For the icing, sift icing sugar into a large bowl and, using a handheld electric whisk on lowest speed, beat in 5-6tbsp of the lemon juice (mixed with cold water if not enough) to make a thick, smooth icing. Beat for a further 3-4min until shiny - it should have the consistency of toothpaste. Spoon 1/3 into a separate bowl – this is your outline icing. If you like, divide outline mixture in half again and dye one batch red with food colouring. Transfer outline icings to separate piping bags fitted with fine nozzles. Whisk a little more water (2-3tbsp) into the 2/3 icing remaining icing bowl, until you have a thick but pourable consistency. This is your flood icing. Again, if you like, dye half of this red in a separate bowl. Transfer to 2 separate piping bags.
Step 5To flood decorate sections, or the whole biscuit, pipe an unbroken line using the outline icing (including making a circle around the ribbon hole, if made). Snip off the end of a flood icing bag and fill the space within the outline. Use a toothpick to nudge the icing into any gaps (store piping bags in bowls with the cut end facing up while you’re working). Allow to set (see GH Tip) before decorating further with outline icing and silver dragees. Repeat with remaining biscuits. Leave to set firm.
Step 6If you’ve made holes, thread through ribbon and hang.
To store
Once set, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. The biscuits will soften faster if exposed to the air.
GH Tip
To harden the flood icing faster, return biscuits icing-up on a baking sheet to an oven preheated to its lowest setting (about 110°C/90°C fan/mark1/4) for 30min or until icing is set hard.
Per Serving:
Calories: 166
Protein: 1g
Total fat: 3g
Saturates: 2g
Carbs: 34g
Total sugars: 26g
Fibre: 0g
48 of our favourite Christmas biscuit recipes to bake, gift or enjoy with a cuppa this festive season
The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time
