Christmas Cardamom and Ginger Biscuits

Well here we are on the 18th December and despite uploading pictures on facebook weeks back I realise I forgot to blog them! So here we go with my Christmas Cardamom and Ginger Biscuits, and just in the (saint) nick of time! They don't take too long to make and will keep a good few days in an airtight tin!

Its not often I make biscuits, in fact probably I can count on one hand the amount of times since school that I've baked proper biscuits requiring cutters but my dad had bought over a set of cutters and thought it was about time...the trouble is I am an inpatient baker and I also share my kitchen with a stranger ..so leaving dusty work tops has to be planned around when I know they are out!

Back in October time I had snagged a biscuit recipe from a Tesco instore magazine for Bat cookies which topped with chocolate for Halloween but I decided to tweak very slightly and add a little cardamom to give it a slightly spicy, Christmas feel. For some reason whenever I write down the word Cardamom it just doesn't feel right. I even spell checked it to make sure! I feel like it needs a 'n' in there somewhere! Anyone else feel this way too? 

The first batch of these biscuits were made to take over to one of my lovely Auntie and Uncle's house in a long overdue visit - I do hope they like them! As it was, I hadn't used all the dough as ran out of baking sheets (I have one) so kept the remaining dough for a few days chilled - and it worked perfectly still then!

As you can see my icing skills are limited but I quite like my crazy reindeers!

Ingredients:

100g (31⁄2oz) butter, softened
100g (31⁄2oz) soft brown sugar
100g (31⁄2oz) golden syrup
1 large egg
350g (12oz) plain flour
1tsp ground ginger root
1 level tsp ground cardamom

Icing:

1/4 box Icing sugar

water

sprinkles

edible glitter

Method:

Beat the butter and sugar together, (I used a hand mixer) until creamy and fluffy, then beat in the egg and syrup.

Separately sieve together the flour, spices and fold into the butter mixture. Wrap in cling film and chill for an hour.

Roll out onto a lightly floured surface, to the depth of a pound coin and cut with desired cutters. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until just turning golden brown - they should be very slightly soft to touch. Cool on tray for about ten minutes then transfer to a wire sheet.

When you are ready to decorate, sieve the icing sugar and slowly add a teaspoon at a time of water until you have a smooth mixture, either spoon into a icing bag or use a small spoon to decorate. Then go nuts with the sprinkles as you desire!

With a little practice my tree's came out quite pretty - plus a sprinkle of edible glitter never goes amiss at Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Anne

xx