- Makes approx. 30 sets of '2022' biscuits, so 120 individual number biscuits - Ready to eat in 1 hour and 10 minutes (as you'll make two batches and need to let the trays cool in between)-
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 (or use 1 tbsp ground mixed spice).
175g butter, cold and cubed.
100g golden syrup.
These 'Tala' stainless steel number cutters look similar to mine - I like that the 2 and the 5 are interchangeable, so two kids can cut out New Year numbers at the same time in years with lots of 2s in them!
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 1/4 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 numbers required (I used cutters similar to these Tala ones) aiming for 30 numbers per 1/4 quantity of dough (which will fit on one large oven tray). Then repeat again with another 1/4 of the dough.
10. Place the raw biscuits on the lined trays. If there is still space on the trays, 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. 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.
12. Meanwhile roll out the remaining (two quarters) of dough and cut out more numbers - to bake as another batch once the first two trays are out of the oven.
13. Gather together the remaining offcuts and re-form into a ball, roll out and cut. As I said previously, this dough stands a lot of re-forming and re-rolling quite happily.
14. Remove the first two trays from the oven when cooked and let the biscuits cool on the baking trays for a few minutes, until they harden enough to be moved to wire racks.
15. Let the two trays and two liners cool for a further 5 minutes, before putting the final batches of biscuits onto them and into the oven. As before, bake for 7-10 minutes and cool on a rack once firm enough to remove using a fish slice.
16. Once cool, keep in an air tight tin and eat them up in 3 days - which is easy, because they are yummy!
