Christmas gingerbread biscuits

This gingerbread recipe is a holiday classic and a winner with both young and old! 

With festivities almost upon us, these biscuits are the perfect Christmas day snack or stocking filler.

Even Santa won’t be able to resist these scrumptious biscuits if you leave them out for him on Christmas night!

The gingerbread biscuit base is made with sweet brown sugar, spicy nutmeg, and plenty of butter. Using a basic icing mixture you can decorate the biscuits as intricately or simply as you like.

Add some food colouring to your icing to give the biscuits a pop of colour!

Ingredients

Gingerbread Biscuits

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

Simple Icing

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2-3 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• food colouring

Method

1. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl beat the butter and sugar together for 2 minutes on medium-high speed with an electric mixer.
3. When the mixture is light and fluffy, add in the eggs and molasses then continue beating until combined.
4. Gradually add in the flour mixture and mix on low with the electric mixer until combined.
5. Divide the biscuit dough in half and roll each half into a ball.
6. Flatten the balls of dough evenly with your hands to a thickness of around 25mm and wrap the flattened dough disks in plastic.
7. Store in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.
8. Preheat the oven to 180℃.
9. Flour a chopping board and placed the chilled dough on it.
10. Use a floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to a thickness of 3mm and use biscuit cutters to create festive shapes.
11. Once you have used all your dough place the biscuit molds on a tray covered with baking paper.
12. Bake the gingerbread for 8 to 10 minutes until the biscuits are crisp.
13. Once cooked, let the biscuits cool on a wire rack.

Icing

1. Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract until combined.
2. Add food colouring if you wish.
3. Use a piping bag to decorate your room-temperature biscuits with your icing mixture.
4. Serve and enjoy or store in an air tight container.