Ingredients
6 oz plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground mixed spice
2 oz butter, chilled and cubed
3 oz soft light brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup, heated
1 egg, beaten
1 plain flour for dusting
1 decoration
9 oz packet coloured fondant
1 icing
1 glace icing made with 2oz
1 icing sugar & 2 tspn water
1 icing sugar for rolling
1 silver balls, sweets,
1 desiccated coconut, gold
1 thread
Directions
Preheat oven to 190'C (375'F). Grease two baking sheets. Sift the
flour, bicarbonate of soda and spice into a bowl. Rub the butter into
the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the
sugar. Add the golden syrup and egg and mix to form a dough. Gently
knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth, the roll out to
1/4 inch thick. Use christmas cutters to cut out 16 shapes. Lift
shapes on to baking sheets and bake until just firm to the touch.
Make a hole large enough for gold thread at the top of each biscuit.
Transfer to cooling rack and leave until cold. To decorate, roll out
fondant icing on a clean surface dusted with icing sugar. Cut out
shapes with cutters and place on biscuits, securing them with a
little water. Make a hole for thread as before. Decorate with piped
glace icing, silver balls, sweets or coconut. Thread each biscuit
with gold thread and hang on Christmas tree, if liked.
Servings: 16 servings
Christmas Tree Biscuits Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bread; Breads; Christmas; Holiday
The History of Recipes
Written cooking instructions as an idea can be traced back into ancient history, in fact as far back into recorded history as the ancient Egyptians, and maybe further still. Having said that, generally, these old cook books were just very basic hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
In an interesting twist, the most ancient recipe found, according to experts in ancient history is a collection of stone tablets in Sumerian which show the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who drank it feel wonderful and blissful. As we move into The time of the roman empire around 25BC a man called Apicius created some documents showing how to cook the recipes prepared by his fellow Romans. In his scrolls, he recounts how the meals were split into starters, main course and desserts, a very modern way of dining. Aspicius tells us how the ancient Romans used many different spices, including some that we all recognise like basil, fennel and parsley. In the 15th century, knights returning from the crusades brought back many new spices and herbs from the East, including coriander, parsley, and basil. These new foods and spices was responsible for a torrent in books on cookery, most of which are kept safe in private libraries. Over the next few hundred years, the rich families of the West strove to serve the most exotic banquets, and as a result the best cooks and their recipes increased in prestige. Nevertheless, it was during the nineteenth century that cookery and recipe books became popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the USA, devoted their lives to assembling, testing, and writing down recipes to help cooks of their time. When we get to the 1900s, cooking publications were starting to become popular mostly due to increased literacy, people having more leisure time and a general increase in wealth. |
We hope you enjoy this Christmas Tree Biscuits recipe.
