Makes 20
100 g butter, softened
100 g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
270 g gluten-free plain flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
Stained glass:
200 g boiled sweets
Separate the boiled sweets into groups of the same colour, transfer each group one at a time to a mixing bowl and crush (still in their wrappers) using the end of a rolling pin. Remove the wrappers and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 170 C fan-forced. Line two large baking trays with non-stick baking parchment.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy – I use an electric hand whisk or a stand mixer. Add the beaten egg and vanilla extract and briefly mix. Add the spices, flour and xanthan gum. Mix until all the flour is combined and it comes together as a dough.
Lightly flour a large sheet of non-stick baking parchment (and a rolling pin) and roll out the dough to a 6 mm thickness. Cut out star shapes using a large star biscuit (cookie) cutter and make a hole using a straw where string can be threaded through to hang them.
Transfer the shapes to a prepared tray, ideally using a large palette knife, then use a smaller star cutter to cut out the middle of the star shapes. Remove the middles (transfer to the second tray) and fill the star-shaped holes with one colour of crushed boiled sweets – about 2 boiled sweets’ worth should suffice per biscuit. repeat for all the star shapes.
Place both trays in the oven and bake for 8–10 minutes until the edges are very slightly golden.
Allow the cookies to cool on the trays for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The stained-glass biscuits are the ‘star’ of the show here, but the middle cut-outs are just too good to waste. Either ice patterns on them using royal icing or simply include when gifting along with the stained-glass biscuits.
Tip:
To make chocolate festive-spiced biscuits, replace 20 g of the flour with 20 g unsweetened cocoa powder.
Photo Credits: Hannah Rose Hughes
