Slowly but surely, Christmas is approaching, the house is gradually taking on a festive air, and the scents of cinnamon and orange are filling the kitchen!
This year, I wanted to make the little embroidered fir trees that I had so much fun knitting in November into a delicious version to nibble on and share 🙂
Between shortbread and gingerbread, they are delightfully crispy and fragrant without being overly sweet, with a homemade touch full of sweetness. You can adjust the sugar by being more or less generous with the icing, or even leave some plain for a bit of variety!
They are made with a modified gingerbread dough base, with a little less honey and a portion of brown sugar to add texture, and enriched with butter and egg to make them crispy and biscuity.
The dough is flavoured with gingerbread spices (cinnamon, ginger, aniseed, nutmeg and cloves) and candied orange peel (you can find the recipe here). If you don’t have any or enough time to make some, you can replace the candied peel with orange zest and a little more sugar.
The little trees are simply cut out with a knife, without a cookie cutter, so you can have fun imagining different sizes and shapes; a little jumper even slipped into the forest 🙂
When they come out of the oven, the biscuits are brushed with a thin layer of milk to make them shine. Once cooled, you can start icing them and let your creativity run wild!
They keep for slightly less time than gingerbread, but will remain crisp for around ten days in a metal tin, meaning they can be prepared in advance to make lovely, thoughtful gifts.
Now for the recipe!
Spicy fir trees
Matériel
- 2 40 x 30 cm backing tray
Ingredients
For the dough
- 150 g of flour
- 100 g of rye flour
- 1 tbsp of baking soda
- 50 g of butter
- 100 g of honey
- 1 tbsp of treacle
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 30 g of candied orange peel
- 1 tbsp of gingerbread spices (cinnamon, ginger, aniseed, nutmeg and cloves) powder
- 1 tsp of cinnamon powder
- 1 pinch of salt
For the icing
- 3 tbsp of milk
- 100 g of icing sugar
- 1 egg white
- a few drops of lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Preparing the dough
- Finely chop the candied orange peel.In a saucepan, melt the butter with the honey, treacle and 25 g of sugar.Once the butter has completely melted, turn off the heat and add the spices, chopped candied orange peel and vanilla extract.Leave to cool.
- Meanwhile, sift the two types of flour, baking soda and pinch of salt into a mixing bowl.
- Make a well in the flour and pour in the contents of the saucepan. Break an egg and beat it into the honey/butter/spice mixture.Add the remaining 25 g of brown sugar.Gradually mix in the flour until you obtain a smooth, even ball of dough.
- Leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is 4–5 mm thick. (You can place the dough between two sheets of baking paper to make it easier to roll out).Using a sharp knife, cut out the Christmas trees in a staggered pattern (the trees in the photo are 10-12 cm high and 5-6 cm wide). Place them on an oiled or baking paper-lined baking tray, spacing them slightly apart (they will rise slightly during baking).
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown.
- Once out of the oven, brush on a thin layer of milk (optional) and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Making the icing
- Prepare the icing by gradually adding the egg white, teaspoon by teaspoon, to the sifted icing sugar. Mix vigorously until you obtain a relatively thick consistency and soften it slightly with a few drops of lemon juice. The icing is at the right consistency when it is smooth and thick and forms a ribbon when dropped. If it is too runny, add more icing sugar and whisk again.
- Using a piping bag and a fine plain nozzle (2 mm, for example), decorate the biscuits as shown in the illustrations, if you wish.Leave the icing to dry for 15 to 20 minutes before handling the biscuits.
I hope you like these little gourmet Christmas trees and that they inspire you to try your hand at making pretty icings that will make eyes sparkle 🙂
I wish you all the best with your preparations!
So kind to give all these delicious recipes 😋 😍
You are welcome Francesca, we hope that you’ll like them 🙂