How to make Father Christmas spiced shortbread biscuits

I would describe them as…biscuity  – JD, 5

This was our Saturday activity this weekend: making Father Christmas and his wife. Actually we made 12 of them!

The biscuits are essentially shortbread, flavoured with lemon and mixed spice – very tasty and very Christmasy.

Here’s what to do to make a dozen Father Christmas biscuits.

Ingredients

• 540g flour
• 150g caster sugar
• 300g unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 tsp lemon extrac
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 2.5 tbsp water
• Gingerbread man cutter
• Red moulding icing
• Icing pens

Instructions

1. Put the flour, sugar and mixed spice in a large bowl and stir well
2. Cube the butter and add to the bowl
3. Rub the mix through until you get an even crumb
4. Cut in the lemon extract and a tbsp of water with a round knife
5. Add more water (up to 2.5 tbsp total) if needed until you can work the mix into a very short dough
6. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface
7. Roll the dough to 1/2 inch thick and cut out your men
8. Bake a non-stick stray at 180C (160C fan assisted) for 20 mins until just colouring at the edges
9. Cool completely on a wire rack
10. Roll or press a little red icing out very thin (it works best if you have cold hands)
11. Use the gingerbread cutter again to get the outline you need,
12. Trimming the arms and legs back to get the shape you want, then press the ‘clothes’ on to the biscuit
13. Draw on the trim and beard with a white icing pen making small circles
14. Finish by adding any other detail you like, such as eyes, mouth and even a hat made from an offcut

Silly, fun, easy :)

If you prefer a really buttery biscuit, you can use about 50g of extra butter in the mix instead of needing water at the end, but I find the dough easier to work with using the method above, and you get a crispy, less greasy biscuit at the end of it.

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