Theo enjoyed biscuit baking
But the richness can become too much for some, while others never liked dried fruit-filled food to begin with.
Plain buttery vanilla biscuits make a nice change from the flavours of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and this recipe is fun for all the family.
I weighed out all the ingredients into separate bowls and encouraged my toddler to tip them into the big basin.
He was also able to help roll out the biscuit dough and had great fun using the cookie cutters.
This batch made about 30 biscuits in shapes of bells, stars, trees and candy canes.
Once cooked and cooled completely I made some icing (a few large spoonfuls of icing sugar and a little water) and let my son loose!
The icing style was rustic, to say the least, and then he went daft with sprinkles.
But they were made with love and they were delicious with a cup of tea!
Recipe – makes about 30
100g room temperature salted butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
275g plain flour
To decorate
Icing sugar and water
Add some food colouring, if you like
Any Christmassy sprinkles
Method
Set your oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and line baking trays with greaseproof paper (I needed three trays).
Cream the butter and sugar together, using a machine if necessary, until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
Gradually beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined and gently stir in the sifted flour.
The mixture will be quite dry and crumbly, use your hands to quickly bring it together and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface.
Roll your dough to about 1cm thick.
Using your favourite Christmas cutters, cut biscuits out and carefully place onto the baking tray.
Re-roll and left over dough until it is all used up.
Bake them for about 10 minutes, until a pale golden-brown, and then cool on a wire rack.
To make the icing, sift the icing sugar in a medium bowl and add water a teaspoon at a time to create a smooth mixture.
Add the food colouring, if using, and slather on to the biscuits.
Add the sprinkles while the icing is still sticky.
Enjoy!
