Stained Glass Window Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened),
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla essence
- Pinch of salt
- 3 cups of plain flour
- 2/3 cup coarse sparkling sugar
- ½ cup crushed hard candies (lifesavers work great!). Separate the boiled lollies by colour and crush them in plastic bags using a rolling pin.
Method
- Place the butter and sugar into a mix bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth (about 2 minutes).
- Add the eggs into the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the vanilla essence and pinch of salt, then slowly mix in the flour until thoroughly combined.
- Remove the dough from the bowl. Place the dough on a large piece of cling film and shape it into a disc.
- Wrap cling film around the dough and chill for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day before you plan to bake your cookies.
- Preheat the oven to180 degrees Celcius.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Divide the dough in half and re-wrap the remaining half and place it back in the fridge.
- Roll out the dough mixture into ½ inch thick rectangle.
- Using a 4 inch star shaped biscuit cutter, cut out as many shapes as you can.
- Place the stars 1 inch apart on the baking tray and use a 2 inch star cookie cutter to cut out the inner windows.
- Re-roll the dough and repeat the process until you’ve filled your first baking tray.
- Gently press sparkling sugar into the tops of the cookies (optional).
- Place the baking tray of star shaped biscuits into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and fill each cookie with 2/3 of the way full of crushed candy, using a toothpick to spread the candy into the small crevices of the biscuit shapes.
- Cut a small hole at the top of each star biscuit to thread a Christmas ribbon through later once baked to hang on your Christmas tree.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are light golden brown and the candy has melted. Cool completely.
Gingerbread Wreath
Ingredients
Gingerbread:
180g soft butter
130g dark brown sugar
60g beaten egg
130g molasses or black treacle
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon allspice
Pinch of salt
Icing:
150g Royal icing sugar
Approximately 1 ½ tablespoons water
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan forced oven)
- Line two large baking trays with baking paper.
- Place the butter and sugar into a large bowl. Beat the butter and sugar together using an electric hand whisk until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and treacle/molasses. Beat until combined.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and beat until the mixture forms a dough texture.
- Knead the mixture into a firm dough.
- Wrap the mixture in cling film and chill in the fridge for 45 minutes until firm.
- Divide the dough in half.
- Roll out one half of the dough mixture to a 10” / 25cm circle about 1 – 1 ½ cm thick.
- Cut out an inner circle measuring 11cm diameter.
- Cut out a small circle near the edge to make a hole to tie a ribbon.
- Place the gingerbread wreath onto one of the baking trays and bake for 18 to 20 minutes until firm and lightly golden. Leave to cool.
- Roll out the remaining dough using Christmas biscuit cutters to stamp out Christmas Trees, Stars, Angels Place onto a baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, then leave to cool.
- To make the icing. Mix the icing sugar and enough water together to make a smooth paste.
- Spoon into a small icing bag fitted with a small nozzle.
- Pipe decorations onto the gingerbread shapes. Stick shapes onto the ring using the icing.
- Tie a ribbon into a bow in the smaller hole so that you can tie the wreath up.
Angel Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
225g plain flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon mixed spice
1 egg yolk (lightly beaten)
50g unsalted butter
100g dark brown soft sugar
100g golden syrup
1 tablespoon milk
Icing:
150g icing sugar
1 to 1 ½ tablespoons water
Decoration:
Edible Glitter
Edible mini pearls
Sugar Snowflakes
Yoghurt covered pretzels
Method
-
Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, ginger and mixed spice.
- Heat the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a small pan , stirring frequently until dissolved, then allow to cool for five minutes.
- Stir the syrup mixture , egg yolk and milk into the dry ingredients and form into a ball of dough.
- Cover with plastic film and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan forced).
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until about 5 mm / ¼ in thick. Cut into angel shapes.
- Bake the biscuits for about 12 minutes or until golden . Allow them to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To prepare the icing . Mix the icing sugar and enough water together to make a smooth paste.
- Spoon the icing onto the body of the angels.
- Stick on the yoghurt coated pretzels to make the wings.
- Sprinkle with the edible glitter and decorate with edible pearls and sugar snowflakes