Spiced Snowflakes Recipes

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a large bowl, beat butter with brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add half of flour mixture, then 1/3 cup water, then remaining flour mixture, beating on low after each addition until just incorporated. Shape dough into 3 disks and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
• Working with one disk at a time, roll out to 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured parchment. Cover with a doily; gently roll to make an imprint. (Dough should now be about 1/8 inch thick.) Remove doily and freeze dough until firm, about 15 minutes. Cut dough first using a 5-inch snowflake-shaped cutter, then cut remaining dough using a 3-inch snowflake-shaped cutter and 1 1/2-inch snowflake-shaped cutter. Chill and reroll scraps. Arrange large cookies on one parchment-lined baking sheet and medium and small cookies on another; freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Bake until cookies set around edges, 16 to 18 minutes for large, 12 to 14 minutes for medium and small. Transfer cookies on sheets to wire racks; let cool completely.
• Whisk together confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. If necessary, add more milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until glaze is slightly thicker than heavy cream. Dip each cookie, design-side down, into glaze, tilting to evenly coat, then transfer to rack until glaze is set, about 10 minutes. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Put the butter in a bowl and beat it with electric beaters until soft and creamy. Beat in the sugar, then the egg and vanilla, and finally the flour to make a dough. If the dough feels sticky, add a little flour and knead it in. Chill for 20 mins in the fridge.
• Roll the dough to about the thickness of a £1 coin on a lightly floured surface. Cut out snowflake shapes using a biscuit cutter, then re-roll the off-cuts and repeat.
• Bake for 8-10 mins or until the edges are just beginning to brown. Leave to cool for 5 mins before trying to move them. Cool completely.
• Roll out the fondant icing to the thickness of a 50p piece. Use the same cutter to stamp out the icing. If you have smaller cutter you can stamp out holes in the middles of some of them. Brush each biscuit with a tiny amount of honey and press an icing snowflake on top.
• Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a pipeable icing, and spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a straight piping nozzle. Pipe patterns onto the snowflakes and add silver balls and sprinkles as you decorate. Leave to dry completely.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, whipped topping and egg until well blended. Batter will be very sticky., Drop by teaspoonfuls into confectioners' sugar; roll lightly to coat. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned and tops are cracked. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, spices and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light. Gradually beat in 3/4 cup sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in dry ingredients. If dough is too soft to mold, refrigerate until firm enough.
• Spoon dough onto large sheet of plastic wrap. Roll into 7-inch-long, 2 1/4-inch-diameter log. Wrap tightly. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 2 large baking sheets. Unwrap dough and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place on baking sheets, spacing slices 1 inch apart. Bake until light golden brown, about 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)
• Place doilies or stencils atop cookies. Sift powdered sugar over. Carefully remove doilies or stencils and serve.