Christmas is our favourite time of year to get our bake on; it’s the activity that’s sure to get you into the Christmas spirit and perfect for getting family and friends involved. Not to mention the fact that calories are virtually banned in December (let’s be realistic now ? ) making it the best time to indulge. If you’re after that coveted star baker title among your group, it’s time to bring the festive magic to your kitchen with these super simple, yet utterly delicious Christmas Star Cookies. The best bit? You don’t have to be a whiz in the kitchen or overly creative to rustle up these sugary sweet holiday treats.
We love to hang ours from our tree, but if you’re looking for a last minute gift, you could package them up into cellophane bags/gift boxes to gift to your friends.
WHAT YOU NEED
- 100g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 275g plain flour
- 500g royal icing sugar
- 75ml cold water (extra for flooding)
- 2-3 drops food colouring (if you’re colouring your icing)
- Disposable piping bags
- Edible glitter + any other decorations you desire
GET YOUR BAKE ON
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale, light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Stir in the flour until the mixture comes together as a dough.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1cm/half an inch.
- Using biscuit cutters, cut biscuits out of the dour and place onto the baking tray. Note: if you’re planning to make your cookies into Christmas tree decorations, carefully make a hole in the top of each biscuit using a straw.
- Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Set aside to harden for five minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
HAVE FUN DECORATING
- Make up your royal icing by adding the water into the bowl first and following with the dry icing powder. Mix until you have a mixture the consistency of toothpaste. This is the ideal texture for piping the outline of your biscuits ready for flooding. Make sure you join up your trail, ensuring there are no gaps.
- Fill up your piping bag and cut a small hole at the end to reflect the thickness you need for outlining your cookie shape.
- The flood icing needs to be a little runnier than the line icing therefore you’ll need to add a bit of water slowly to the basic recipe to achieve the correct consistency. Fill the area of the cookie using a spoon or piping bag and push into smaller areas with a cocktail stick.
- Sprinkle over the glitter and add any other decorations before setting aside until the icing hardens.
- Finish off threading ribbon through the holes and get decorating that tree!
