Christmas is a time for sugar and spice and all things nice so what’s better to do than baking up a batch of these Sugar and Spice Heart Cookies.
These homemade cookies would look gorgeous hanging off your Christmas tree or would make the perfect gift.
Overall time to make and bake: 100 minutes
Serves: 10
You can find all of the ingredients for this recipe from Tesco Groceries
Ingredients for the cookies:
- 100g Lightly Salted Butter (3 1/2 oz, softened)
- 100g Light Brown Sugar (3 1/2 oz)
- 190g Plain Flour (7 1/2 oz)
- Dr. Oetker Bicarbonate of Soda Sachet x 1 sachet (1tsp)
- 5g Mixed Spice (1 tsp)
- 15g Ground Ginger (1 tbsp)
- 15ml Whole Milk (1 tbsp)
What you’ll need to decorate:
- 60 g Icing Sugar (4 tbsp) plus extra to dust
- Dr. Oetker Bright Red Gel Food Colour
- 150 g Dr. Oetker Regal-Ice Ready to Roll Icing Ivory (5 oz)
- 100 g Dr. Oetker Coloured Ready to Roll Regal-Ice (Red)
- 30ml Honey (tbsp) clear and runny
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C Fan, Gas Mark 4). Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Put the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy.
2. Sieve the flour, Bicarbonate of Soda and spices on top. Carefully combine to make a mixture that resembles a crumble topping and then bind together with the milk. Using your hands, bring the mixture together to form a firm dough. Turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth and pliable.
3. Roll out the dough to a thickness of ½ cm (¼ inch). Using an 8cm (3inch) wide heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out 10 hearts, re-rolling the dough as necessary. Arrange on the trays and prick with a fork. Chill for 30 minutes.
4. Bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes until firm and lightly golden round the edges. Whilst the hearts are hot, using a skewer, make a small hole in the top of each cookie for threading ribbon through, then leave to cool on the baking trays for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To decorate, dust the work surface lightly with icing sugar and knead the white and red Regal-Ice in turn until smooth and pliable. Roll out thinly and cut out 6 hearts from the white Regal-Ice and 4 hearts from the red Regal-Ice, re-rolling as necessary.
6. Brush the tops of each cookie with honey and stick the icing hearts on top. Carefully make a hole through the icing and biscuit beneath using a skewer, and also make a small indent in the icing a bove the hole for the ribbon or cord to sit neatly. Leave the cookies on a wire rack, lightly covered with greaseproof paper, for a few hours (or overnight) so that the Icing dries out a little.
7. Sift 30ml (2 tbsp) icing sugar into a small bowl. Mix in 30 drops Red Gel Food Colour and mix with a few drops of warm water to achieve a thick, bright piping icing. Mix the remaining icing sugar with a little water to make a white piping icing. Load the white and red piping icing into 2 small piping bags fitted with fine writing nozzles. Pipe your designs on top of each biscuit. Leave to dry for a few minutes until firm.
8. Carefully thread thin ribbon or cord through the holes on each heart, tie & hang on the tree.
This recipe was sent to us from: www.oetker.co.uk
Do you hang cookies off your Christmas tree? Share your comments below.
