I love to have them hanging on the Christmas Tree, and to give them as little gifts to those friends of mine with kids. They last for a week or so in a tin.
Ingredients:
250gr plain flour
150gr muscovado sugar
200gr butter at room temperature
16gr baking powder (it would be better to use "lievito vanigliato per dolci")
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder
Less than 1/2 tsp clove powder or All Spice
For the decoration:
1 egg white
120gr icing sugar
1/2 a lemon, juiced
Food colouring (better if in a paste) if you like it
Optional macaroon topping (if you wish to add it to some cookies for decoration):
1 egg white
50gr icing sugar
Alternative 1 = coconut macaroon (it'll be white)
10gr plain flour
60gr desiccated coconut flakes
Alternative 2 = almond macaroon (it'll be of a cream colour)
10gr plain flour
60gr almond flour
Method:
Using an electric mixer, whisk the butter and the muscovado sugar until nice and fluffy
In a separate bowl mix the flour with the baking powder, the cinnamon, ginger and cloves
Add the flour mix gradually and keep whisking, depending on your electric mixer you might have to finish adding the flour continuing to mix with a spoon
The dough will be dry but very soft. Shape it into a ball, cover it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 mins (up to 1 day)
Roll it onto a very lightly floured baking paper sheet to a 0.5cm thickness, lightly sprinkling some flour on your rolling pin as you go along
Pre-heat the oven at 160 degrees C (fan)
Using some cookie cutters shape your biscuits
Lay them onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, and if you intend to hang them, make a hole in each of them with a toothpick (make it a little big, as the dough will rise, tending to close it up)
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 mins
Test they are cooked by using a wooden toothpick (it needs to come out dry)
These quantities give me 3 batches - as soon as the batch is out, re-work the little holes to ensure they are big enough for the thread, they will be still quite soft, so if when you do this the cookie breaks you might be able to press it back again
Set them aside to reach room temperature
Alternative - optional macaroon topping:
Whisk the egg white with an electric mixer until they form solid peaks
Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, keeping whisking
Add the flour mix or the flour and then the coconut, a tablespoon at a time keeping whisking
Bake in the preheated oven at 160 degrees C (fan) for 8 mins
Spread the topping on the chosen cookies using a teaspoon and a butter knife
Place an oven rack (or similar) on top of your oven tray, then cover it well with tinfoil (so that the tinfoil doesn't touch the cookies)
Bake again for 8 mins
For the decorations:
Beat the egg white until it starts forming peaks
Add the icing sugar one tablespoon at a time until fully absorbed
Add a litle of the lemon juice (roughly half) and whisk again
Depending on how many colours you want to use, divide the mix into different bowls, then gently fold in the food colouring in each with a spoon
Put the icing into a kitchen bag, choosing a very small tip, and decorate your cookies to your liking
Repeat with different bags, or wash the same one each time, per each of the coloured mixes
Set aside to dry for 1 hour or 2
Hang them out or store them into a tin, lined with kitchen paper
TIP: If you're making them before Christmas Eve, it would be an idea to store them in the tin until that afternoon, otherwise they tend to get soft