Christmas baking recipes

Simple Christmas sugar cookies

Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180˚C, fan 160˚C and line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.
Cream together 200g of unsalted butter and 200g of golden caster sugar in a large bowl until light, fluffy and pale in colour. Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time and then add 1 tsp of vanilla, 330g of plain flour, 60g of cornflour and a pinch of salt. Mix together until a dough forms.
Split the dough in half, shape into balls and cover separately with cling film. Place in the fridge for 45 mins (or up to 12 hrs) to firm up.
When you’re ready to bake your cookies, remove from the dough from the fridge, unwrap and roll out each ball, on a well-floured surface to a thickness of 1cm. Using your favourite Christmas cookie cutters, cut into shapes and place on the lined baking trays. Bring the remainder of the dough together and repeat the process until you have used up all the dough.
Bake in the oven for 10-12 mins until golden at the edges. Remove and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the icing, mix 400g of sieved icing sugar with hot water until you reach the consistency of pouring custard. Add a few drops of water at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
Split your icing mixture into 3 bowls (or more if you want to use more colours). Add the food colouring of your choice and mix until the desired colour is reached.
Fill a piping bag with the plain icing. Snip the end of the bag to create a 2-3mm hole (or use a small nozzle, 2mm diameter). Pipe the icing around the edges of the biscuits that you want to decorate in this colour. Repeat with the other colours.
Allow the edge icing to set for 15 mins. Then, to ‘flood’ the centre, use a teaspoon to gently pour a little of the icing into the centre of the outlined shape. Spread to reach the edges. Allow this to set for about 20 mins.
Finally, using your piping bags, draw your favourite festive designs on your cookies.
Tip: While you’re waiting for your icing to set, make sure to keep your icing bowls covered with a wet cloth so they don’t dry out.
Tip: To make Christmas decorations, use a skewer to make a small hole in the top of the biscuit shapes before you bake them. Cook as in the method; when the biscuits are iced and set, use a ribbon to thread through the hole.