Festive Ginger Christmas Cookies; Perfect for Christmas Tree Decorations

Ginger Biscuits

Cut the butter in small pieces; let it come to room temperature.

Once the butter is soft, cream the butter and the sugar.

Add the golden syrup and  the eggs one at a time, mix well after each egg.

Sieve the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda together.

Gently fold the flour in to the creamed butter mix.

Divide the ginger biscuit dough in to two even sizes.

Well wrap each part  in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 150°C.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll the ginger biscuit dough out to about 5mm even thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut the shapes, arrange the biscuits on the prepared tray, leave at least 1cm gaps as they do swell and get stuck. Use a sharp knife to make holes for the ribbons, be generous with the size of your holes as they close up easily.

Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, until golden but not too dark. Immediately re-enforce the holes to make sure that the gaps are big enough for the ribbons before the cookies cool down too much. If you make the holes after they have cooled down they cookies will break, disaster!

Let the biscuits cool on a cooling rack.

Decorate with royal icing and garnish with edible glitter or a garnish of your choice.

Thread ribbons or string through the holes.

Keep the ginger biscuits in an airtight container or hang them immediately on your festive Christmas tree.

Royal Icing

Mix all the ingredients together to a smooth paste, if the icing is too wet add more icing sugar and if it's too dry add more lemon juice. The icing goes  hard quickly so make it when you are ready to use it. I make little portions at a time so that I can play with the colours. It's very important to sift the icing sugar to prevent lumpy bits.

Use a piping bag to pipe shapes and garnish the biscuits. I used a small pallet knife or butter knife to spread the icing over some of my cookies and it does give a lovely effect, dust them with the glitter before the icing sets.

Makes plenty..... sorry I did not count them, keep them in a air tight container. They do last for good while.

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