food hits and misses

Time for gift baking - the gift that's always appreciated and much less stressful than hitting the shops at the last minute!



These biscuits are quick enough to make right on Christmas morning, or can be made in advance and hung on the tress as edible decorations. At our house, a couple even got left out for Santa and the reindeer to enjoy.*

Stained glass biscuits

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup golden syrup
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tspn vanilla essence
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 packet boiled lollies

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cream the butter and sugar together. Stir in the golden syrup, then egg yolk and vanilla essence, beating well to combine. Sift together the flour and bicarb soda and gradually add to the butter mixture until a soft dough forms. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for around 30 minutes. Roll out to a thickness of around 5 millimetres between two sheets of grease proof paper. Using a large cookie cutter, cut as many shapes as possible from the dough. Carefully remove the centre of each shape using a smaller cutter. You can bake the smaller shapes as little vanilla cookies, or chill and roll out again to make more window biscuits. Place the large biscuits on a lined baking tray, and add a boiled lolly to the centre of each shape. Bake for ten to fifteen minutes, until the biscuits are golden and the lollies have melted into windows. Allow to cool on the tray until the lolly windows are firm, then finish on a cooling rack.

*They make a surprisingly good accompaniment to Timboon Railway Shed Distillery coffee liqueur!