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Christmas window biscuits

Beverley Glock from Food Uncut
Keep the kids busy with this great recipes for tree decorations from Beverley Glock, written specially with the young cook in mind

Christmas window biscuits

Method

What you'll need: weighing scales, large mixing bowl, small bowl, tablespoon, teaspoon, fork, rolling pin, Christmas cookie cutters, baking tray, wire rack, straw, palette knife, small cutter slightly bigger than the sweets, an adult!

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5.

2. Weigh out the flour and butter. Place these into the mixing bowl and measure out the spices and bicarbonate of soda and add to the bowl.

3. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until it is like fine breadcrumbs.

4. Break the egg into the small bowl. Add the syrup to the egg and beat well with the fork. Pour into the mixing bowl along with the sugar. Mix the flour and egg mixture together until it forms a dough.

5. Sprinkle a little flour onto a clean work surface, put the dough onto it.

6. 'Knead' the dough - squeeze the dough together, turning it and twisting it until it becomes smooth.

7. Use a little butter and grease the baking tray.

8. When the dough is smooth, sprinkle a little more flour onto the surface, split the dough into two balls and roll out one ball of the dough until it is approx 5mm in thickness.

9. Cut out lots of biscuits with the cookie cutters and carefully place each biscuit onto the greased baking tray. Use the straw to punch out a hole in the top for the string to go through to hang on the tree then use the small cutter and cut shapes out of the middle of the biscuit.

10. Carefully lift out the dough with the palette knife and place a sweet in the centre. Repeat with the second ball of dough but don't cut out any smaller shapes as you are going to decorate these with the sugar paste.

11. Place the biscuits in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove them and re-pierce the hole in the top and let them cool on the tray until they are quite cold, then transfer them to the wire rack.

12. When they are cold, roll out the sugarpaste until it is around 2-3mm thick. Use the same cutter you used on the biscuits to cut out matching shapes, as the biscuits spread a little in the oven the icing will fit beautifully.

13. Mix a small piece of sugarpaste (about the size of a pea) with warm boiled water and mix with water to form a glue.

14. Paint the top of each biscuit with the sugarpaste glue using a pastry brush and stick the sugarpaste shapes on to the biscuits.

15. Paint the each of shapes and sprinkle glitter on top then decorate them with sprinkles.

16. Carefully thread lengths of ribbon through the small hole in the top and tie with a bow or knot ready to hang on the Christmas Tree, or give them to friends and family as presents.

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Serves: Makes 15-20 Biscuits

Prep: 25 min
Cook: 15 min

Ingredients
350g plain flour
100g Butter
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
175g soft brown sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp golden syrup
packet of boiled sweets