Christmas Spiced Mini Biscuits

It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas! We’ve had two weeks of frantic Christmas fun – carol services, fairs (which saw the first outing of a commercial side of Lucy’s Friendly Foods!), parties and shopping. There’s hardly been a moment to start my food preparations for this Christmas. I’ve still got to make the panatone, Christmas Yule log, Christmas cake, mince pie cookies and chocolate truffles as well as all the savoury stuff. Phew – that sounds exhausting!

These little spiced bite sized morsels are an ideal place to start and are the perfect nibble at a Christmas drinks or tea party. By all means make them large, stamp a hole and hang them on the tree (they’ll just need a longer baking time – probably about 15 minutes) but I think these bite sized versions look as pretty as a picture – a little nibble sized taste of Christmas.

Christmas Spiced Biscuits (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

• 1/2 cup dairy-free spread
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 1/4-1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 tbsp oat milk
• pearl sugar to decorate

– Cream together the dairy-free spread, caster sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
– Stir in the vanilla.
– Sift in the cinnamon, spice, ginger, salt, bicarb and plain flour and mix to a soft dough, adding the oat milk to make the mixing easier.
– Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for half an hour.
– Heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade/ gas mark 4 and line a cookie sheet with parchment
– Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out.
– Cut out an even number of shapes and press one pearl sugar crystals onto the top of each

– Place on the lined baking tray and cook for 6 minutes.
– Cool on a wire rack