Christmas star biscuits recipe

Crisp and buttery with a hint of cinnamon these delightful Christmas star biscuits won’t be hanging on any Christmas trees for too long. The recipe is very simple and children will love to help stamp out the shapes and decorate the baked biscuits. For more colourful decorations add a few drops of red or green food colouring to the icing and top with multi-coloured sprinkles. Use fine ribbon or silver string to thread through the holes. The iced stars will keep for 4-5 days in an airtight container. Only hang the biscuits on the tree for up to 24 hrs or they may go soggy.

Ingredients

• 50g butter, softened
• 75g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg yolk
• 100g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• ½tsp ground cinnamon
• 100g icing sugar
• 1-2tbsp lemon juice
• Sugar sprinkles, to decorate

Method

1. Place the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg yolk then stir in the plain flour and cinnamon and mix to a soft dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to ½cm thickness. Use a small star cookie cutter to stamp out about 30 stars, re-rolling the dough as necessary.
3. Place the stars on 2 large greased baking sheets and use a wooden skewer to make a hole in each cookie. Bake for 8-10 mins until pale golden. Leave on the baking sheets for 2-3 mins then transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
4. To decorate the stars, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add enough lemon juice to make a smooth icing. Spread or pipe the icing over the cold cookies and top with sugar sprinkles. Leave until set.