These are Christmas biscuits. There’s no point in making them at any other time of year. They’ll just make you feel a bit depressed and nostalgic. Maybe even start you off on out of season cravings for Quality Street. So make them this week. Enjoy them. Then bookmark for next year.
Photography: Scott Choucino
Styling and Props: Woodrow Studios
Lots of great recipes like this in my books, Recipes from a Normal Mum, (available on Amazon, at The Works, Waterstones, WHSmith, The Book Depository and many smaller outlets) and The Power of Frozen (available through Amazon).
Last December: Mince pie brownies and Pulled jerk turkey sliders and Christmas pudding crackers and Fail safe mince pies and Boxing day pie and Christmas pudding flapjack and Last minute tropical trashy Christmas cake and Sausage,onion and apple sesame plait and Cherry eccles cakes and Cinnamon apple pie and Mushroom, leek and Stilton soup and Firecracker
scones.
Two years ago: Two minute marinade for chicken and Melted snowman biscuits and Egg nog truffles and Chocolate biscuit Christmas pudding and Drunken Amaretto mince pies and Cheese concertina loaf and Hot chocolate on a stick and Sausage, sage and squash lasagne and Chocolate hazelnut granola and Orange and cranberry loaf and Chocolate ganache tart.
Three years ago: My slow cooker beef bourguignon pie and Crumble topped mince pies and a very ugly but delicious cranberry & raspberry traybake
Four years ago: Mini Yorkshire pudding canapes and Christmas pudding fizz and Brandy butter icing and Rudolf morsels
Five years ago: Lime meringue pie with chocolate pastry and Christmas scones and Ginger cake with Christmas cottage and Hot chocolate on a stick
Six years ago: Moonuts and Cheese biscuits and Parsnip soup and Inauthentic chicken tagine
Yield: 20
- Ingredients:
- - 125g unsalted butter
- - 100g dark muscovado sugar
- - 65g maple syrup
- - 300g plain flour
- - 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- - 2 tsp ground ginger
- - 1 tsp cinnamon
- - clear boiled sweets
- For the icing:
- - Juice of 2 lemons
- - Icing sugar to mix to a stiff yet pipable consistency
Make the gingerbread. Crush the boiled sweets in a bag using a rolling pin. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl, then stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. Roll the gingerbread out onto greaseproof paper to 1cm thickness and cut shapes out and then cut a hole in the middle using a smaller cutter. You can use a straw to make a hole for hanging the biscuits on the tree too. Place crushed boiled sweets into the holes once on the baking tray. Chill for 30 minutes. Bake the gingerbread in a preheated oven at Gas 6/200C/fan 180C for about 12 minutes, until hard and golden brown. Remove from the oven, then cool on a wire rack, still on the tray. Ice with glace icing made with lemon juice and icing sugar. Pipe small dots, names etc onto the biscuits.
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Holly Bell 