Ingredients

Step by step

1. Mix together the golden syrup and egg yolk in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, spices and a pinch of salt into a large bowl and add the cold diced butter. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingers, but try not to overwork the mixture. You can also do this step in a food processor, or in a free-standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

3. When the mixture resembles fine sand, and there are no visible lumps of butter remaining, add the sugar and mix again to incorporate. Add the syrup mixture and mix again until the dough starts to clump together, but don’t overwork it. Use your hands to gently knead the dough into a smooth ball. Flatten into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 1 hour.

4. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of 2-3mm. Using bauble cutters stamp out shapes from the dough and carefully arrange on the prepared baking sheets, leaving a little space between each cookie. Press the blunt end of a wooden skewer into the top of each cookie to make a hole through which you can thread pretty string or ribbon once baked and iced.

   Tip

   You can buy bauble cookie cutters from specialist baking shops such as cakecraftshop.co.uk, or draw a bauble on a piece of card, cut it out and use as a template.

5. Gather any dough scraps together, knead gently into a ball and reroll, then stamp out more cookies. Chill the cookies for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4.

6. Bake the biscuits in the middle of the oven for 15-20 minutes until starting to brown slightly at the edges. Remove from the oven and, if the hole has closed up again during baking, press the skewer through it again.

7. Leave the biscuits to cool and firm up on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. Sift the royal icing sugar into a bowl and, beating constantly, gradually add cold water – ½ tablespoon at a time – until the icing holds a firm ribbon trail. Scoop the icing into a disposable piping bag fitted with a fine writing nozzle, or snip the end into a fine point (about 2mm) and pipe the icing into decorative lines, stars and dots around each bauble biscuit. Add edible silver balls to decorate.

9. Leave for at least 2 hours until the icing has completely dried before tying with ribbon and packaging.
   
   Recipe by Annie Rigg

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