When I saw Kat of The Baking Explorer’s snowflake biscuits, it made me want to run out and pick up some snowflake cookie cutters – aren’t these stunning? They are perfect for the holidays – I could just imagine decorating plates with these festive winter treats!
guest post by Kat from The Baking Explorer
Kat’s previous kitchen frolic cookie recipe advent calendar post:
– 2013: double chocolate cookies
[Last] Friday is Save the Children’s annual Christmas Jumper Day. The charity work around the world saving the lives of children and fighting for their rights. A lot of people I know are having Christmas Jumper Day’s at work and donating to the charity. I was contacted by both Save the Children and a company called The Biscuiteers, who make bespoke biscuits about the day and I was inspired to not only get my Christmas jumper on, but also to make these gorgeous snowflake biscuits and spread the word about this fantastic cause!
Here’s me in my Christmas jumper! And the biscuit likeness sent to me by The Biscuiteers, isn’t it fantastic?! Their speciality are beautifully iced biscuits that they send out in gorgeous tins.
- 230 g butter
- 225 g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 385 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- for the icing:
- 1 egg white
- 225 g icing sugar
- To make the dough for the Snowflake Biscuits I first creamed together 230g butter and 225g caster sugar. I then added 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp almond extract and mixed well.
- Finally I added 385g plain flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tbsp baking powder and mixed to form a dough. I wrapped it in cling film and chilled it in the fridge for 1 hour.
- I got the snowflake cutters from Lakeland and they are pretty tricky to use because they are so intricate. I found the best way was to roll some of the dough out onto baking paper, press the cutter in, then gently peel the baking paper away. The dough will stay in the cutter.
- Using a lollipop stick I first poked out the holes of the snowflake, then holding the dough filled cutter close to a lined baking tray, I used the lollipop stick to gently poke the dough to get it come out of the cutter. I did get a few lollipop stick indentations, but they disappeared after baking.
- I filled my baking tray full of snowflake shape dough using all four different shapes from the cutters.
- I baked them on 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for around 8 – 10 minutes, until they were just going golden at the edges.
- To make the icing I mixed 1 egg white with 225g icing sugar in my food mixer until thick. I piped it onto the biscuits using lot of different patterns. Snowflakes are unique after all! I used some sprinkles and glitter as well for decorations.
Although the cutters are tricky to work with, the effect is amazing and they look so stunning and even prettier when decorated!
Check out the rest of the Cookie Recipe Advent Calendar here!
The content, recipe and all photos used in this blog post belong to Kat / The Baking Explorer and were used with her permission. Please do not reprint any of the content in this post without her express permission.
So pretty! If any of my relatives happen to be reading, my stocking may just be begging for a few snowflake cookie cutters. Last time we were out, my little guy insisted on the zombie ones, which aren’t nearly as festive 🙂