Thinking to create the perfect little homemade hamper for your loved ones? Former Masterchef contestant and all-round dessert queen Julia Taylor has shared this Christmas snowflake cookie recipe that will make your hamper filled with tasty treats.
Come December, it’s always my dream to give beautifully packaged boxes of truffles, biscuits and decorated cookies to my loved ones in thanks for the year past. Time, however, is always of the essence and so these quick spiced cookies are a guaranteed fallback for something quick, easy, but still delicious. They hold shape when being baked, and so are perfect for intricate cookie cutters like these snowflakes.
The trick with all biscuit dough is to roll and cut it whilst it’s still cool, so if you’re working in a hot kitchen and the dough becomes sticky, dust with a light sprinkle of flour, brush the excess off, and pop in the fridge for 10 minutes. I also like to roll my dough out between two sheets of baking paper if I know it’s going to warm up quickly.
Decorate them with all manner of edible glitter, silver pearls, and add a drop of food colouring to the glaze if desired. These are fabulous to make with kids as well!
Makes: 30 cookies
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus chilling
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Ingredients
225g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
60g white sugar
60g salted butter, cold and diced
60g golden syrup
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. ea cinnamon and dried ginger
200g icing sugar, sieved
1 tbs. lemon juice
2-3 tbs. water
50g caster sugar, or edible decorations as desired
Method
1. Place flour, baking powder, spices and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until combined. Add butter and pulse until the mixture forms fine crumbs. Add golden syrup and egg yolk, and continue to pulse until the dough comes together, adding 1-2 tsp. iced water if necessary.
2. Roll the dough into a flat disc, wrap in clingwrap and chill for 30min or until firm. Taking 1/3 of the dough at a time, roll out between two sheets of baking paper to 3mm thick, and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.
3. Pre-heat oven to 180C and bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden at the edges. Cool and decorate as desired.
4. To decorate, mix the lemon juice into icing sugar until it forms a smooth paste, adding a little water as necessary. Drizzle the glaze across the baked and cooled cookies, sprinkling with extra sugar or glitter whilst the icing is still wet. Allow to set for 1-2 hours, and store in an airtight container.
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