« Back to Tree Decorations Both
these recipes will freeze well at the dough or at the baked stage. We've
also included a recipe for edible cookie paint which goes on to the
dough before you bake it.
Spiced cookies
for the Christmas
tree Ingredients: (recipe
makes 10-12)
100g
plain white flour
1/2 tsp of ground mixed spice
1
tsp ground ginger
pinch of baking powder
65g
butter
50g light muscovado sugar
1
tbsp milk
2 tbsp orange juice
Method: Rub
the butter into flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs,
then stir in the spices & the baking powder. Gently
melt the sugar & milk together in a pan until
well blended. When
this mixture is cool enough to touch stir it into
the dry ingredients along with enough orange juice to make a soft (but
not sticky) dough. Wrap
the dough in clingfilm & chill for 15
minutes. Sprinkle
your work surface with flour & roll
out the dough to
0.5cm thick. Stamp out
shapes using Christmas theme biscuit cutters.
Put onto greased
baking sheets and bake at 180C/Gas 4 for
about
12-15 minutes until golden. Remove
from the oven & leave to cool on trays for 2-3 minutes before
removing to a wire rack to cool. As
soon as you take them from the oven use a skewer or the point of a
sharp knife to make a hole for your ribbon or cord. When
cooled decorate as desired.
Vanilla
cookies for the Christmas treeIngredients: 350g plain flour,
plus extra for rolling
110g caster sugar
225g butter
(softened)
1 tsp vanilla extract
salt Method: Measure
the dry ingredients into a bowl & then add the butter (cut into
small pieces) and the vanilla extract. Rub
the butter into the other ingredients until the dough comes
together. (Alternatively
do all this in a food processor or mixer.) Turn
the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface & knead until
you have a smooth dough. Wrap
the dough in clingfilm & put in the fridge to chill for 30
minutes (or until you are ready to use the dough). Roll
the dough out to about 0.5cm thickness & stamp out biscuits
using Christmassy cutters. Place
cookies on greased baking sheets and bake
at 180C/Gas 4 for 12-15 minutes. Remove
from the oven and after 2-3 minutes transfer to a wire rack to
cool. As soon as you take them
from the oven use a skewer or the point of a sharp knife to make a hole
for your ribbon or cord. When
cooled decorate as desired. Store
in an air tight box for
about a
week.
Cookie Paint Ingredients:
yolks of 2 eggs
1 teaspoon water
food coloring In a small bowl,
beat the yolks together with a teaspoon of water. Divide
this mixture into small cups/containers and add
a couple of drops of food coloring to each. Use
small paintbrushes to apply to uncooked cookies.
| 
