Name: Spiced Christmas biscuits
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: Makes 16 plus extra stars
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 100g butter chopped; 175g dark muscovado sugar; 85g golden syrup; 350g plain flour plus extra for dusting; 1 tbsp ground ginger; ¼ tsp ground cloves; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1 egg beaten; 300g sifted icing sugar; 16 lolly sticks or coffee stirrers; a few sweets; sugar for sprinkling; red and white tubes of writing icing

For the biscuits

100g butter
chopped
175g dark muscovado sugar
85g golden syrup
350g plain flour
plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
beaten

To decorate

300g sifted icing sugar
16 lolly sticks or coffee
stirrers
a few sweets
sugar
for sprinkling
red and white tubes of writing icing

Method

step 1
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.
step 2
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.
step 3
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.