Sparkly Christmas Biscuits

Coated with a zesty orange flavoured icing, these Christmas biscuits are the festive snack of the season.

YIELDS

30-40 mins

15-20 mins

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160Cfan/gas 4. Grease two baking sheets.
Put the Lyle’s Golden Syrup into a small pan with the butter, Tate & Lyle Golden Caster Sugar and orange zest. Put over a low heat and stir until the butter has melted, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Sieve the flour with the spices into a large bowl, stir in the ground almonds. Add the butter mixture and egg and mix until the dough comes together. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 5mm( ¼” ) and cut out stars, or Christmas shapes, as wished. Gather up the scraps of dough, knead again and reroll. Cut out as many shapes as possible.
Lift them onto the baking sheets with a palette knife. Bake for 15 minutes until they are just beginning to brown at the edges. Remove the cooked biscuits from the oven, while they are still warm, take a fine skewer and make holes in the cookies so a ribbon can be threaded through to hang on the Christmas tree. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
To decorate, put the Tate & Lyle Icing Sugar in a bowl and add the orange juice to make a thick Icing. Either drizzle over the biscuits or spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe decoratively. Add silver balls or sprinkles as wished, then leave to set.