Spiced Christmas Biscuits Recipes

Steps:

• In a very large bowl, beat the molasses, butter, sour cream and lemon juice until well blended. Combine the flour, brown sugar, spices, baking soda, lemon zest and salt; gradually add to butter mixture and mix well. Stir in the walnuts, raisins and candied peels. Cover and refrigerate until easy to handle, about 30 minutes., Divide dough into 4 portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/4-in. round cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° until bottoms are lightly browned, 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., Combine frosting ingredients until smooth. Frost cookies; decorate with cherries. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Gently melt the butter, muscovado sugar and syrup in a large pan until the sugar dissolves. Mix the flour, spices and ½ tsp salt. Cool the butter mixture a little, then stir in the bicarb. Immediately add half the spiced flour and beat well. Add the egg and the rest of the spiced flour, then beat well again until the mixture comes together as a soft dough. Tip onto a sheet of foil, flatten to a large disc, then cool and chill until firm. Will freeze for up to 6 weeks.
• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Halve the dough and roll out on a floured surface. Stamp out trees using a cutter about 10cm long and arrange, well spaced apart, on baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 mins until golden. Leave to harden, then lift onto a rack. Repeat with the remaining dough. Use the trimmings to stamp out 3-4cm stars, then bake for 9-10 mins.
• To decorate, mix about 3 tbsp water into the icing sugar to make a thick icing. Use to sandwich two trees together with a lolly stick between them. Use the rest of the icing to ice the trees and stars, adding sweets or sprinkling with the sugar. For a neater result, use the writing icing to make an outline of the tree before filling in with the icing. Leave to set. Will keep in a tin for 3-4 days.

Steps:

• Sieve the flour, spices and salt together into a bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add the honey and beaten egg. Stir to fully combine. Sift in the dry ingredients in a few batches. The mixture will be a bit stiff but still soft and not dry.
• Divide the dough into two batches and wrap the halves in cling film. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 3-4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line several large baking trays with greaseproof paper, or if they are non-stick simply butter them and set aside.
• Lightly flour the work surface, then roll out one half of the dough. Stamp out festive trees using a tree-shaped cutter. Lay on the baking sheets with spaces between them, then add on the smarties or other coloured beans.
• When you have stamped out enough to fill the tray, place in the oven and bake for 8 - 10 minutes. They want to be golden in colour but still fairly soft as they harden up a little after cooking. Repeat this process until all the mixture has been used up. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Heat the sugar, golden syrup and butter until melted. Mix the spices and flour in a large bowl. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 1 tsp cold water. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the melted sugar mix, egg and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well. At this stage the mix will be soft but will firm up on cooling.
• Cover the surface of the biscuit mix with wrapping and leave to cool, then put in the fridge for at least 1 hr to become firm enough to roll out.
• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. (At this stage the dough can be put into a food bag and kept in the fridge for up to a week.) Cut the dough in half. Thinly roll out one half on a lightly floured surface. Cut into shapes with cutters, such as gifts, trees and hearts, then transfer to baking sheets, leaving a little room for them to spread. If you plan to hang the biscuits up, make a small hole in the top of each one using a skewer. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake for 12-15 mins until they darken slightly. If the holes you have made have closed up, remake them while the biscuits are warm and soft using a skewer. Cool for a few mins on the baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool and harden up completely.
• Break up the chocolate and melt in the microwave on Medium for 1-2 mins, or in a small heatproof bowl over simmering water. Drizzle the chocolate over the biscuits, or pipe on shapes or names, then stick a few silver balls into the chocolate. If hung up on the tree, the biscuits will be edible for about a week, but will last a lot longer as decorations.