- Makes approx. 24 biscuits - Ready to eat in 45 minutes -
Made without egg, so the raw mixture can be nibbled at safely by young 'helpers'!
Gather together…
300g plain flour (plus an extra 6 tbsp for rolling out).
1 tbsp ground ginger.
1 tbsp ground cinnamon.
175g butter, cold and cubed.
100g golden syrup.
Decorate with...
For Easter bunnies -
Before baking: Handful of currants / chopped raisins.
After baking: Handful of white chocolate drops / chopped up chunks of white chocolate - 'cooking chocolate' melts far more easily than regular chocolate and is much less likely to shock and split. Sainsbury's own-brand cooking chocolate is sold in foil and card (so is plastic-free), Green & Black's cooking chocolate is plastic-free AND palm oil-free, but is too pricey for me to use regularly.
For Halloween skeletons -
100g white cooking chocolate, melted - 'cooking chocolate' melts far more easily than regular chocolate and is much less likely to shock and split. Sainsbury's own-brand cooking chocolate is sold in foil and card (so is plastic-free), Green & Black's cooking chocolate is plastic-free AND palm oil-free, but is too pricey for me to use regularly.
Piping bag with a small, plain nozzle (or use a plastic food bag with the corner very slightly snipped off).
For Christmas shapes -
8 tsp icing sugar.
1 tsp cold water.
Smarties / Jelly tot sweets / Edible glitter / Sprinkles, etc.
OR
30g of each type; white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate to spoon over half of each biscuit - 'cooking chocolate' melts far more easily than regular chocolate and is much less likely to shock and split. Sainsbury's own-brand cooking chocolate is sold in foil and card (so is plastic-free), Green & Black's cooking chocolate is plastic-free AND palm oil-free, but is too pricey for me to use regularly.
Melt the white chocolate in a bain marie (a bowl over boiling water) first, use the white chocolate and then you can melt the milk chocolate into the same bowl, use that up and then melt the dark chocolate in the same bowl- saving on washing up!
Get cooking…
1. Set out 2 large baking trays and line with greaseproof paper (Lakeland sells a reusable cut-to-size liner) or use the brilliant Eco Living silicone liners.
2. Put the 300g of plain flour, the 1 tbsp of ground ginger (yes, 1 tablespoon!) and the 1 tbsp of cinnamon (again, yes 1 tablespoon) into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the 175g of butter in cubes.
4. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour, to make a breadcrumb consistency, this will take about 5 minutes of rubbing. Or use a handheld stick blender/chopper (after initially rubbing in with your fingertips for 1 minute), which will do the job in only a few seconds.
5. Add the 100g of golden syrup and mix with a dinner knife until big lumps form.
6. Use your hands to gather dough into one big lump and knead well for 1 minute until it is smooth - now it is ready to use. (If you want to use the dough later, put it in a sealed plastic food bag and keep it in the fridge for a maximum of 24 hours. Or freeze it. Return the dough to room temperature before attempting to roll it out - microwave it for a few seconds if you are in a hurry.)
7. When you are ready to cut the biscuit shapes, preheat the oven to 200 C (180 C fan) or gas mark 6.
8. Flour the worksurface and rolling pin with 1 tbsp of flour, gently roll out 1/3 dough to £1 coin thickness (i.e. quite thick). Make sure to lift and turn the dough often so it doesn't get stuck to the surface.
9. Cut out the shapes required and repeat twice more with the remaining 2/3 of the dough.
10. Then gather together the offcuts and re-form into a ball, roll out and cut. This dough stands a lot of re-forming and re-rolling quite happily.
11. Place the raw biscuits on the lined trays. If making Easter bunnies, press the eyes into the raw dough now.
12. Bake for 7 min and then watch them carefully, checking every minute thereafter, until they start to brown, up to a maximum of 10 minutes in total.
N.B. As soon as they come out of the oven, if making Easter bunnies, place the white chocolate drop / chunk bobtails onto each hot biscuit, to slightly melt and secure each tail.
13. Cool the biscuits on the baking trays for a few minutes, until they harden enough to be moved to wire racks.
14. Once cooled, finish decorating with white icing / sprinkles / melted chocolate etc.