Lemon star biscuits

Gorgeous, edible decorations for the Christmas tree which will delight your children

  • Cook:20 mins
    Plus chilling time
  • Serves 18
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 279
  • fat 11g
  • saturates 7g
  • carbs 44g
  • sugars 22g
  • fibre 1g
  • protein 3g
  • salt 0.26g

Ingredients

  • 1 quantity vanilla shortbread dough (see below), with the finely grated zest of 1 lemon added to the flour
  • 1 tbsp lightly beaten egg white
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 200g icing sugar
  • 100g tropical dried fruits, such as mangoes, pineapple and papaya, chopped
  • 50g dried cranberries, chopped
  • small handful silver ball
  • ribbon, for hanging on the tree

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas 4/fan 160C and grease 2 large baking sheets. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 5mm/¼in and cut out star biscuits using a 10cm cutter. Re-roll the trimmings make more biscuits.

  2. With a skewer, make a small hole 1cm/½in from a point on each star - this is for hanging the biscuits. Bake for 18-20 minutes until turning pale golden around the edges, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. (If the holes have filled in during baking, re-make them with the skewer while the biscuits are still hot.)

  3. Put the egg white and lemon juice in a bowl and beat in the icing sugar to make a smooth icing. Using a small palette knife, spread it generously over the biscuits to about 5mm/¼in from the edges.

  4. Mix the fruits, then scatter them in the middle of the icing with some silver balls. Leave for at least 2 hours to set. Thread with ribbon just before you hang them and eat within 24 hours. They will keep fresh for up to 1 week stored in an airtight tin.

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