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Has anyone got a recipe for cut-out biscuits that will cope with a really delicate snowflake cutter?

I'm a bit worried that a lot of mixtures will just lose shape or break up when I try to transfer them to the baking tray.

I don't want these to be really hard or tasteless though as they are for eating (by my boyfriend's parents!) not hanging on the tree.

thank you!

Hey,

I've got a really nice set of snowflake cutters as well, which looks a bit like this: http://www.kitchenfantasy.com/images/030734360910.jpg
although my cutters have sharper edges, and the design is a bit more intricate - so obviously, I ran into the same difficulty.

Now, I know you said you didn't want tree decorations, but Nigella's recipe for edible Christmas decorations works really well with them, and here it is:

To make ~35-40 biscuits:

~300g plain flour, plus more for dusting
~pinch of salt
~1 teaspoon baking powder
~1 teaspoon cinnamon
~1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
~1-2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
~100g soft butter
~100g soft dark sugar
~2 large eggs, beaten with 4x15ml tablespoons runny honey

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and preheat oven to 170C/gas mark 3

2. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and pepper in a food processor and, with the motor on, add the butter and sugar, then slowly, the beaten eggs and honey, though don't use all of this liquid if the pastry has come together before it's used up.

3. Form 2 fat discs and put one, covered in clingfilm or in a freeze bag, in the fridge while you get started on the other.

4. Dust a work surface with flour, roll out the disc, also floured, to about 5mm and cut out your Christmas decorations.

5. Re-roll and cut out some more, setting aside the residue from this first disc, well covered, while you get on with rolling out the second. When you've got both sets of leftover clumps of dough, roll out and cut out again, and keep doing so till all the dough's used up.
(If you want to hang them on the tree, then you can use a small icing nozzle and use the pointy end to cut a hole just below the top of each biscuit, through which a ribbon can later be threaded)

6. Arrange the pastry shapes on the lined baking sheets and cook for about 20 minutes; it's hard to see when they're cooked, but you can feel; if the underside is no longer doughy, they're ready. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Once they're cooled, you can ice them and scatter sparkles or sprinkles. Once the icing is set, thread ribbon through the holes and hang on your tree.

Now, as you can see from the ingredients list, the cookies will be spicy, perfect for Christmas, but if you don't fancy that, just omit the ground cloves and black pepper, and keep the cinnamon. Or if you want, you can use some vanilla essence instead of the cinnamon, and mix a teaspoon with the eggs and honey!

The great advantage of this recipe is that you can roll out the dough very thinly, which is great for delicate shapes.

Another recipe which should work as well, is this butter biscuits recipe:

To make ~50-60 biscuits:

~175g soft unsalted butter
~200g caster sugar
~2 large eggs
~1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~400g plain flour
~1 teaspoon baking powder
~1 teaspoon salt

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough.

3. Halve the dough, form into fat discs, wrap each half in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place a disc of dough on it (not taking out the other half until you're finished with the first) and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that.

4. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/2cm. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter in flour as you go to prevent the shapes from breaking, and place the biscuits a little apart on the baking sheets.

5. Bake for 8-12 minutes, by which time they will be lightly golden around the edges. Cool on a rack and continue with the rest of the dough. When they're all fully cooled, you can get on with the icing!

Oh and the dough freezes really well, so you can always freeze half of it, for up to a month!

And another idea: if you're giving them away, gold dust would look really good on little snowflakes.

Happy baking!

Tags: crafts, cricut, cutter, cutter lot, cutter lotion, cutter lotus flower, line cutter lottery, line cutter lotto, scrapbooking, software

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