This week I’ve been planning my Christmas baking – so I thought I’d share some of my favourite Christmas cookie recipes with you.
It might seem a little early, but I like to make sure I’ve got enough time set aside so it doesn’t become a chore and I really enjoy this delightful Christmas tradition.
You can also get ahead and make your cookies now, as you can freeze most raw biscuit doughs and simply defrost and bake them nearer to Christmas.
When my kitchen is filled with delicious aromas of nutmeg and ginger, it really feels like the start of Christmas, so the sooner I get started the better!
Here are some of the best Christmas cookie recipes for you to try:
Jamie Oliver’s stained glass biscuits
These beautiful biscuits – which use boiled sweets to make the ‘glass’ – look very impressive but are pretty simple to make.
Children will love helping you make (and eat!) them!
They also make fantastic gifts or decorations for the Christmas tree.
Delia Smith’s Gingerbread
It doesn’t feel like Christmas until I’ve had a bite of delicious gingerbread, and Delia’s recipe is an absolute classic.
If you have children helping you bake, this is another good recipe to choose as it makes a ‘hardy’ dough that will cope well with being played with.
You can also get creative with cutter shapes and styles, either sticking with the traditional gingerbread person, stars, animals, or even your own gingerbread house!
Paul Hollywood’s biscotti
I think these crunchy little biscuits make such a sophisticated, impressive Christmas gift.
Did you know that ‘biscotti’ means ‘twice cooked’? In fact, it’s this double bake that makes them so crisp.
Paul Hollywood’s recipe includes a choice of yummy flavours: pistachio and cranberry, hazelnut and date, chocolate, almond and orange…or make all three!
Nigella Lawson’s Linzer cookies
If you haven’t heard of a Linzer cookie, imagine a fancy jammy dodger (this is a Nigella recipe, of course it’s posh!).
These biscuits, originally made in Austria, are very light and just melt in the mouth – thanks to the ground toasted hazelnuts used in the pastry. Yummy!
You can get creative and put your own stamp on them using mini cookie cutters to cut different shapes in the top biscuit.
I make these classy biscuits a lot and they’re always a winner!
Mary Berry’s florentines
If you’re a fan of nuts and candied peel, you’ll like Mary’s tried and tested recipe for florentines – and they’re just so Christmassy!
These little treats are very sweet and chewy, so a little bit different to most Christmas biscuits – and I love the coating of chocolate…so indulgent.
Mary advises careful weighing of the ingredients to ensure the biscuits turn out well – a great tip from my favourite baking guru!
I hope my favourite recipes give you some ideas and inspiration for your Christmas baking – and that you enjoy the fruits of your labour! Let me know how you get on.