Christmas Festive Spiced Biscuits

Festive Spiced Biscuits

It is the time of year to indulge in all things festive! For me, that means lots of festive spices. I must have professed my love for baked goods with cinnamon or spices in them time and time again. One of my all time favourites is carrot cake or muffins; you can read all about that here. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I just cannot get enough of the smell of cinnamon. There is just something so rich and inviting about the scent of butter accented with cinnamon and nutty spices wafting through the house. It instantly transforms your house into a warm and toasty home.

It should come as no surprise that my favourite biscuits are spiced biscuits. I have tried to recreate the store bought variety and after having baked and eaten far too many biscuits than I care to admit, I am sharing an excellent recipe for Festive Spiced Biscuits that will beat any store bought variety. It has a crisp and crunchy texture but not so hard that you will lose a tooth. For the flavours, I use some mixed spice and cinnamon. This recipe does not contain any eggs.

For the dough, you will need to roll it out so I would advise chilling the dough before you use it. If it gets too soft when you re-roll it, do chill it again before cutting. This will ensure the cookie holds its shape well during baking. You can use a decorative biscuit cutter for a festive feel; I only have a gingerbread man cutter so I had to use that. This recipe is adapted from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery book.

  

Recipe for Festive Spiced Biscuits

Prep Time: 3 hours (including 2 hours to chill the dough)/

Baking Time: 16-17 minutes/ Makes 32 biscuits

You will need – 2 baking sheets, parchment paper, biscuit cutter (I used a 2.5” Gingerbread Man cutter)

Ingredients

180gm Unsalted Butter (softened to room temperature)

105gm Plain Flour

75gm Self Raising Flour

75gm Whole Wheat Flour

¼ tsp Baking Soda

1tsp Cinnamon

1tsp Mixed Spice

3/8 tsp Salt

75gm Soft Brown Sugar

60gm Castor Sugar

1 tsp Honey

Icing Sugar for dusting

Method

1. Sift the Plain Flour, Self Raising Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Baking Soda, Cinnamon and Mixed Spice into a bowl. Then, add in the salt and whisk together evenly.

2. In another bowl, combine the Soft Brown Sugar and Castor Sugar together breaking up any lumps with a spoon. Add in the honey and set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, place the butter and cream until on medium-low speed until it is smooth. Add in the sugar and continue to mix for about 2 minutes until fluffy. Scrape down the bowl to ensure that all the sugar is evenly combined.

4. Next, mix in the dry ingredients in 2 additions. Again, scrape down the bowl to ensure all the dry ingredients are evenly combined. Pour the dough out and push together with your hands to form a rough block, wrap with cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Meanwhile, line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Once the dough is firm, place it in between 2 big sheets of parchment paper. Then, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into 5mm thickness. Dust the biscuit cutter with some flour and start cutting out the biscuits. Arrange the biscuits on the prepared baking sheets. If the dough starts to get soft at any time, refrigerate it again to firm it back up before re-rolling or cutting.

6. Bake the biscuits for 16-17 minutes until golden brown. Half way through baking, do reverse the trays so that the biscuits get an even colour. Once baked, remove the baking sheets and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Thereafter, transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing in an air tight jar.