What better way to get into the festive spirit than baking delicious Christmas treats?
Add a festive touch to your Christmas celebrations with these three delicious festive bakes recipes from BBC Good Food.
Edible Christmas Noughts & Crosses
- 150g butter
- 150g light muscovado sugar
- 160g golden syrup
- 350g plain flour
- 50g cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
For the decorations
- 500g royal icing sugar
- green and red food colouring gels
- festive sprinkles (optional)
Method
STEP 1
Melt the butter, sugar and syrup together in a pan over a low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and cool for a few minutes. Whisk together the flour, cocoa and ginger in a large bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together until you have a dough. Wrap and chill for 30 mins. Will keep frozen for up to three months.
STEP 2
Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line two large baking sheets with baking parchment. To make the game board, roll half the dough into a 20 x 20cm square. Bake for 12 mins until the edges are firm and slightly darker in colour than the middle. Leave to cool slightly and firm up, then lift onto a wire rack to cool fully.
STEP 3
Meanwhile, to make the playing pieces, roll the remaining dough out to a 3mm thickness. Use a 7cm round cutter and 7cm tree cutter to stamp out about 32 biscuits (16 of each shape). Arrange on the baking sheets and bake for 8 mins until slightly darker at the edges. Leave to cool.
STEP 4
Mix the royal icing with 2 tbsp warm water until the icing is loose enough to pipe, but still thick enough to hold its shape. Add a little more water, a teaspoon at a time, if needed. Pipe lines over the large square biscuit to make noughts and crosses board. Pipe drips of ‘cream’ onto the round biscuits to create Christmas puddings. Colour most of the remaining icing green, and use this to decorate the trees and pipe holly leaves onto the tops of the puddings. Colour any remaining icing red and pipe holly berries and baubles on the biscuits, or use sprinkles, if you like.
STEP 5
Leave the icing to set completely, then pack into an airtight tin.
Christmas Tree Cupcakes
- 150g unsalted butter, softened
- 150g golden caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 175g self-raising flour
- 100g gold or white fondant
- edible gold lustre dust or spray (if using white fondant)
- edible sugar balls, mini chocolate, beans, or multicoloured sprinkles (for baubles)
For the buttercream
- 300g unsalted butter, softened
- 500g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- green food colouring (preferably oil-based)
Method
STEP 1
Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl or stand mixer until pale and creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla along with 1 tbsp of the flour (to reduce the risk of the mixture splitting) and beat again.
STEP 2
Sift the remaining flour into the batter and mix to combine until no streaks of flour are visible, being careful not to overbeat. Divide the batter between the cases, ensuring they are all at least half-full. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 12-15 mins until golden. Cool in the tin for 5 mins before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
STEP 3
Roll out the fondant and stamp out 12 stars or flowers using mini biscuit cutters. Leave to dry on a sheet of baking parchment. If you’ve used white fondant, let the shapes dry for 5-10 mins, then spray or brush with gold lustre.
STEP 4
To make the buttercream, slowly mix the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl using an electric whisk or in a stand mixer. Once combined, beat for at least 5 mins until pale and fluffy. Add the green food colouring, a little at a time, until you reach your desired shade. Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe swirls of the buttercream over the cooled cupcakes, building the swirls up into a cone shape. Top the ‘trees’ with the fondant stars, then decorate with sugar balls, sprinkles or chocolate beans to make baubles.
Gingerbread Wreath
For the gingerbread
- 175g dark muscovado sugar
- 85g golden syrup
- 100g slightly salted butter
- 350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 egg, beaten
To decorate
- blue food colouring paste (optional)
- 500g fondant icing sugar
- silver edible glitter (optional)
- ribbon and cellophane (if giving as a gift)
Method
STEP 1
Put the sugar, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then bubble for 1-2 mins, stirring until well combined. Set aside to cool for 10 mins.
STEP 2
Tip the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl. Add the warm syrup mixture and the egg, stir to bring everything together, then gently knead in the bowl until smooth and streak-free. The dough will feel a little soft now but will firm up once cooled. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least 30 mins.
STEP 3
Remove the dough from the fridge and leave at room temperature until softened. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line two baking trays with baking parchment.
STEP 4
Cut off half the dough and keep the rest wrapped in cling film. Roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin, then use a plate or the base of a cake tin as a template to cut out a 20cm circle. Transfer to one of the baking trays, then use a 7cm cutter to stamp out and remove a circle in the middle. Roll out the remaining dough and cut out a variety of other shapes to decorate the wreath (you’ll need about 20-25 pieces – we used stars and angels) and arrange these over the trays too.
STEP 5
Bake the biscuits for 10-12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through cooking. Stamp a hole in the top of the ring using a small cutter, or the end of a piping nozzle, as soon as it comes out the oven – you can tie a pretty ribbon through this later. Leave to cool on the trays, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
STEP 6
Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick icing. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle, then decorate the biscuits as you wish, using a little edible glitter, if you like. We flooded some of the biscuits with pale blue icing (see tip) and piped white details on the others. Leave the icing to dry for 1-2 hrs, then use a little more icing to stick the biscuits to the wreath. Thread a ribbon through the hole and wrap it up in cellophane, if giving it as a gift (the ribbon is just for show and may not support a hung wreath). Will keep it for 2 weeks.
Want to get into the festive spirit even more? Check out Escapade’s blog post on The Best Christmas Adverts 2023 Has To Offer So Far!
Sources
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/edible-christmas-noughts-crosses
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/christmas-tree-cupcakes
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/gingerbread-wreath
Blog Cover Photo: Anastasia Dobrusina/istockphoto.com
