Nothing says Christmas like these chewy German biscuits and they’re pretty easy to make at home, so why not get together with the family and make some festive treats?
You will need:
250g self raising flour (substitute for gluten free if you like)
2tsp ground spice
1tsp finely grated lemon zest
1tsp orange zest
2 eggs (or the equivalent amount of egg replacer)
Cookie Cutters (festive shapes or just circles if that’s all you have!)
Baking tray
Optional
100g Royal Icing and 25g dark chocolate for decoration.
What to do:
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 4.
- Line a large baking tray with nonstick baking paper
- Sift the flour and mixed spice into a bowl then stir in the orange and lemon zest
- Make a well in the centre and add the eggs/replacer
- Mix well until a soft dough forms
- Dust a clean, dry surface with flour and roll the dough out to around 1cm thick
- Use cookie cutters to stamp out as many as you can, re-rolling the dough as necessary
- Space each biscuit a little apart on the baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes until crisp, slightly risen and cracked.
- If you want to decorate them, sift the sugar into a bowl and mix with 4 tsp cold water to form a smooth glaze.
- Once the biscuits are cooked, transfer them to a wire rack or plate brush with the glaze and leave them to cool, the glaze will set as they cool down leaving a thin, glossy coating.
- Put the chocolate pieces into a heatproof bowl and melt either over a saucepan of hot water or in the microwave.
- When melted drizzle over the top of the cooled biscuits and add any left over zest.
Leave the biscuits for a day so they soften up for the best taste! Then store in an airtight container, they can keep for up to a week! If you want to decorate at a later date, put the uniced biscuits can be frozen for up to a month, make sure to defrost thoroughly before decorating and eating.
