Cookie Swap IMBB/SHF

What a fantastic idea from Jennifer of the Domestic Goddess and Alberto of Il Forno to host a Cookie swap! And what a great way to get back into cooking after my trip. At the edge of this festive time of year I have opted for gingerbread christmas tree decorations, which I make every year for hanging on the tree. Its a little early yet to put up a tree so that although I made these biscuits on Wednesday, I did make the full recipe below and put most of the uncooked dough into the freezer for later creations!! They're rather special biscuits because they come with their own music! They are made in my kitchen to the strains of 'Christmas Cookies and Holiday Hearts' by Teresa Brewer from a compliation CD called Christmas Time again, which is as old as the recipe, which I acquired from an old boyfriend - he had a use after all - though I modifed the recipe to include the sugar windows.

Gingerbread Christmas Trees

100g golden syrup
65g caster sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
a pinch of cinnamon
65g margarine
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
275g plain flour
a pinch of salt
1 egg yolk

clear boiled sweets

First gently heat the syrup, sugar, the spices and margarine until the margarine has melted. Stirt in the bicarbonate of soda and leave to cool. (If its quite hot the bicarb will foam but this is fine). Sift the flour and salt into the syrup mixture and mix together, adding the egg yolk to make the dough. Gently kneed to a smooth dough with floured hands and then roll out thinly. Cut out shapes of your choice using a smaller cutter to cut out a window in each shape. I used Christmas trees but I also like using hearts or stars. Place the shape on a baking tray lined with non-stick greaseproof paper and place a small boiled sweet in the window. Whole sweets will melt though you can also crush them and put the powder in the middle, this way you can do mulit-coloured biscuits. Sugar-free sweets work just as well as full sugar ones. You may need to experiment a little with how much you put in the window depending on how thick your biscuits are, as the sugar when liquid can bubble out of the window. Bake the biscuits at 180°C for about 10-15min. As they come out of the oven use a wooden cocktail stick to make a hole in the top through which you can thread a thread to hang the biscuit. Cool slightly on the tray before lifting off and allowing to fully cool on a wire rack.