We’ve given classic gingerbread cookies a zesty twist with lemon and cardamom. This biscuit tree is easier to assemble than you might think, but you can enjoy the biscuits just as they are, if you prefer.
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Yields:
20 serving(s)
Prep Time:
1 hr
Cook Time:
20 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 20 mins
Ingredients
FOR THE BISCUITS
125g
unsalted butter, chopped
50g
black treacle
125g
light brown soft sugar
275g
plain flour, plus extra to dust
1tsp.
ground ginger
1/2tsp.
ground cardamom, see GH TIPS
1tsp.
mixed spice
1/2tsp.
baking powder
Finely grated zest 1 lemon
1
medium egg
FOR THE ICING
1
medium egg white
200g
icing sugar, plus extra to dust
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
8
star shaped biscuit cutters, ranging from 4cm-16cm, or make your own templates
Directions
Step 1In a large pan over low heat, cook butter, treacle and sugar, stirring until melted and combined. Cool. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the flour, spices, baking powder, lemon zest and 1/2tsp fine salt.
Step 2 Beat the egg into the cooled syrup mixture, then stir in the flour mix to combine. Bring together, wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 3hr, or overnight.
Step 3Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Line large baking sheets with baking parchment. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to 3-5mm thick. Stamp out 2-3 stars from each sized cutter/stencil, rerolling trimmings as needed. You should have about 20 biscuits in total. Transfer to lined trays, spacing apart.
Step 4Bake for 10-12min, in batches if needed, until golden. Allow to cool for 5min on trays before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Step 5To make the icing, beat egg white in a medium bowl with a handheld electric whisk to stiff peaks. Beat in icing sugar until smooth. Add a couple of drops of water if needed to make into a stiff, pipeable consistency. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle. Pipe a thin boarder around all of the biscuits. Fill in the boarder of one of the smallest biscuits with icing (this will sit at the top), using a damp finger to smooth out, if needed. Leave to fully dry.
Step 6You can enjoy the biscuits as they are now, or assemble as a decorative tree. Starting with the largest first, stack the biscuits on top of each other in size order, misaligning the points. Balance the top star that’s covered in icing upright (using a bit of extra icing, or melted white chocolate to stick). Dust with icing sugar.
GH TIPS: You can buy ready ground cardamom in specialist grocers, but if you can’t get hold of it use a pestle and mortar to bash open 4 cardamom pods. Pick out the seeds (discard husks) and finely grind.
Store the cooled and dry biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
A crack team of highly skilled food content producers, the GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurstis our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time.
Alice Shields is Senior Cookery Writer for Good Housekeeping. A trained pastry chef, you’ll find her food styling on photo shoots, developing delicious recipes and writing about all things food. She loves to bake and her favourite pudding will always be a chocolate fondant. Originally hailing from Lancashire, she finally achieved her goal of getting a butter pie recipe into the magazine.
