The icing will start to set quickly once piped, so decorate with sprinkles quickly as you go. Or better yet, get someone to help you!
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Yields:
8 serving(s)
Prep Time:
35 mins
Cook Time:
30 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 5 mins
Cal/Serv:
331
Ingredients
FOR THE BISCUITS
135 g butter, softened
50 g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
60 g ground rice/rice flour
150 g plain flour
TO DECORATE
225 g royal icing sugar, sifted
Green food colouring gel or paste
Sugar sprinkles, to decorate, see intro
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
Piping bag
Plain or star/fluted nozzle
Directions
Step 1For the biscuits, in a large bowl using a wooden spoon, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla, until smooth. Stir in the ground rice/rice flour until combined, followed by the plain flour. Using your hands, bring the dough together into a ball.
Step 2Place the dough between 2 large sheets of baking parchment and pat, then roll out to a rough 20cm circle, with an even 1cm thickness. Slide on to a baking sheet (still within parchment) and chill for 1hr.
Step 3Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Peel off the top sheet of parchment and use a large, sharp knife to slice the dough circle into 8 equal triangles through the centre (don’t separate). Trim the base of each triangle from a curve into a flat line (see GH TIP) to make an octagon.
Step 4Bake for 25-30min, or until pale golden and sandy to the touch. Leave to cool on the sheet until just warm, then slice along the triangle lines with a large knife to separate. Cool completely.
Step 5To decorate, in a medium bowl, whisk the royal icing sugar with a generous dash of green colouring gel/paste and 2-3tbsp cold water to make a very stiff but just pipeable consistency (adjust with more royal icing sugar or water, as needed).
Step 6Scrape into a piping bag fitted with a fine plain or star/fluted nozzle. Starting at the top of each biscuit, pipe down in a zigzag motion, making increasing conjoined horizontal lines to form a triangular- shaped tree. Decorate while wet with sugar sprinkles. Leave to set for at least 1hr (ideally overnight) before serving.
TO STORE Once set overnight store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
GH TIP You can press any trimmings into small, round biscuits (about 8mm thick) and bake alongside the triangles (spaced well apart).
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
