On the Second Treat of Christmas...

Magic* Christmas Star Cookies!

*Not actually magic

In order to use up the ingredients I already had from the mince pie pastry, I decided to make some Christmas cookies. The best thing about Christmas cookies is that you can also use them for decorations on your tree (provided you don't have a greedy chocolate Labrador who will scoff anything that smells remotely edible - even scented candles). Using them for decorations is a great way to save money and it's fun to get your kids to do. Mine may look like kids have helped me, but that was in fact, just me. Being a bit special.

Unfortunately my supermarket had run out of festive cookie cutters and I still have no scales.  But for decoration I came across this little beauty.

Shimmer Spray. By Dr.Oetker. In Gold and Silver.

This is so awesome, I am tempted to spray it on all my food just to make it feel more Christmassy.

So to make your own cookies... 

*Base recipe from BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

140g Icing Sugar

375g Flour

1 Egg Yolk

250g Butter

A good splash of vanilla extract or the seeds from a vanilla pod.

1tsp Ground Mixed Spice - for a bit of festivity.

For Decoration:

Icing Sugar

A splash of water

Food colouring of choice as well as some festive decorations (glitter spray, silver/gold balls, sprinklies)

Method

• Put all of the ingredients except for the flour into a bowl and wazz up (for definition please see Jamie Oliver's official dictionary) with a hand whisk until it's formed a smooth paste.
• Sieve in the flour and mix together to form a smooth dough.
• Place in the fridge and leave for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5.
• Roll out the pastry on a icing sugared surface until it is a couple of cms thick. 
• Cut out your cookies using a cookie cutter or with a knife if you want them to look extra special, like I did.
• Place them on a greased baking tray (or use greaseproof paper) and pop them in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
• Once they are a light, golden brown, get them out of the oven and leave them on the side to cool.
• When the cookies have cooled, the decoration funtimes begin!
• Mix up some icing sugar with water and your chosen food colouring and spread it liberally over your cookies. Sprinkle sprinkly sparklies over the cookies and then the shimmer spray for a festive glitz. Obviously feel free to decorate your cookies however you like! I used red icing with sprinklies and silver shimmer spray. You could do a mixture of red and gold/green and silver trees and stars.

I happily munched on my cookies whilst drinking a nice hot mug of mulled wine and watching Elf / present wrapping. With only 5 work shifts left until I'm off for Christmas, I'm starting to feel very festive. Especially with a belly full of sweet treats and the big pile of presents under the tree!