Chocolate Christmas Trees
Makes : 12
Preparation Time: 30 minutes plus cooling, resting and drying time
Cooking Time: 12-15 minutes
Ingredients
For the biscuit dough
- 100g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 200g self- raising flour, sifted plus extra for dusting
- 25g cocoa powder, sifted
- 100g golden caster sugar
- 1 medium free range egg, lightly beaten
For the icing
- 75g icing sugar, sifted
- 2 tsp cold water
- To decorate, Haribo sweets,
- For the handles, matchmakers or cinnamon sticks and edible glue
Method
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Rub the butter into the flour and cocoa. Mix in the sugar. Add the egg and mix to form a stiff dough. Lightly knead until smooth on a floured work surface. Divide the doughs into 2 rounds. Cover and rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.
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Place the oven rack on the middle shelf. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan160°C/Gas Mark 4. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.
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Remove from the fridge. Roll out the first dough on a floured surface until approx. 5mm thick. Use a 14.5cm Christmas tree biscuit cutter to cut out the Christmas trees. Use a floured palette knife to lift the trees onto the baking trays. Re roll the dough to make more trees. Repeat with the second dough. Bake in batches for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool then transfer to a cooling rack.
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For the icing, mix the icing sugar with the water. Fill a piping bag with the icing snip the end off and use to decorate the trees. Place the Haribos on the trees. Leave to dry.
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For the handles, brush 2/3 of each matchmaker or cinnamon stick with the edible glue and place on the back of each biscuit. Allow to dry.
