Christmas Sugar Biscuits

Buttery and orangy little delights.

Level: Easy

Serves: 36

Prep: 30 minutes + 1h chilling

Cook: 6 minutes

Ingredients:

Sugar Biscuits:

150g butter (room temp.) or margarine

100g sugar

1 tsp orange zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

½ tsp baking powder

250g plain flour

¼ tsp salt

4 tbsp milk (if needed!)

Royal Icing

480g powdered sugar (sifted)

3 tbsp meringue powder

6-10tbsp lemon juice (room temp.)

Preparation:

Beat the butter, sugar, orange zest and vanilla in a mixing bowl until well combined (2-3 minutes). Beat in the egg until light and fluffy. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and add the flour mixture bit by bit to the butter mixture until just combined. (If the mixture is too dry, add the milk.) Roll out the dough (about 5-7.5mm thick) between 2 sheets of baking paper, place it on a baking sheet and put it in the fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to fan 190°C. Line a sheet pan with non-stick baking paper.

After an hour cut out the dough with some biscuit cutter and bake it for 6-8 minutes. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool down completely.

For the royal icing sift together the sugar and the meringue powder. Add 6 tbsp of lemon juice and mix with a hand mixer until smooth (about 2 minutes). Play around with the lemon juice to find the consistency you like. (More lemon juice - thinner icing, less lemon juice – thicker icing.) I like the consistency best when you let the icing drizzle down from a spoon back to the rest of the icing and the surface will smooth out completely within 10-15 seconds. Use gel based food colouring to have different coloured icing if you want to. The royal icing will dry completely in about 2h but I usually let it dry over night to be safe.

When the biscuits are cooled down completely, decorate them with royal icing however you like it. Enjoy!