Christmas cookies and sweets: 8 easy and original recipes.

INGREDIENTS (for 60 units)

25 grs of icing sugar

50 grs of butter

1 tbsp orange flavoring

85 grs of flour

PREPARATION:

1. Beat the butter and icing sugar with a whisk until combined. Add the sifted flour and orange flavouring and mix until you obtain a compact dough that does not stick to your hands.

2. Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of about 5 mm. Then leave it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

3. Cut the cookie dough using a circle cutter and mark the surface with a smaller cutter. Combine the leftover dough scraps, knead and cut more cookies following the same steps.

4. Place them on the baking sheet lined with baking paper, separated from each other, and make two holes with a needle in half of the cookies and four in the rest (imitating buttons).

5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until they start to turn golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Cinnamon cookies remind us of our childhood, of those metal boxes where they were kept...

INGREDIENTS (for 40 units):

600 grs of flour

340 grs of butter

480 grs of brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

PREPARATION :

1. Beat the softened butter with the sugar until creamy. Add the egg and stir. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda and mix.

2. Sift the flour over the dough in several batches and continue mixing until you obtain a smooth dough. Form 2 balls, wrap them in cling film and leave them in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Roll out the dough on the work surface until you obtain a sheet approximately 6 mm thick, and cut it with cookie cutters.

3. Place the cookies on the baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for 10 minutes. Remove them, let them cool until they harden slightly, then transfer them to a wire rack and wait for them to cool. Brush them with a little softened butter, cover them with the pieces of baking paper and serve.

INGREDIENTS (for 8 people):

225 grs of butter

235 grs of sugar

180 grs of flour

3 tbsp condensed milk

200 grs chocolate

25 grs of almonds

25 g of fleur de sel

PREPARATION :

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat 125 grams of softened butter with 55 grams of sugar. Gradually add the sifted flour and stir until combined.

2. Pour this mixture into a square mould forming a 5 mm thick layer and bake for 12 minutes.

3. Prepare the toffee. Place a saucepan with 180 grams of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water on the heat until a light caramel forms.

4. Add the condensed milk, the rest of the butter and a pinch of salt and mix. Boil the caramel sauce for 30 seconds, remove it and pour it over the baked dough.

5. Let it cool until the toffee becomes firm. Chop the chocolate and melt it in a bain-marie. Add the chopped almonds and mix well.

6. Cut the toffee biscuit into equal sticks, cover them with the chocolate cream and sprinkle with the fleur de sel. Put the bars in the fridge and leave them until the chocolate solidifies.

INGREDIENTS (for 40 units):

225 grs of butter

Salt and pepper

210 grs of brown sugar

480 grs of flour

Ginger powder

Cinnamon, cloves, star anise (all ground)

Baking powder, milk

250 grs of icing sugar

Red food coloring, 1 egg white

The juice of 1/2 lemon

PREPARATION:

1. Mix the softened butter with the brown sugar, a pinch of ginger, a pinch of cinnamon, half a teaspoon of anise, half a teaspoon of cloves and the same amount of pepper. Beat until creamy.

2. Add 3 tablespoons of milk, the flour sifted with ¼ teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt, and stir until you obtain a homogeneous dough.

3. Place the dough between two sheets of greaseproof paper and roll it out with a rolling pin until it is 5 mm thick. Leave it in the fridge for 3 hours.

4. Remove the top paper from the dough and cut it out with a cookie cutter. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 °C. Remove and allow to cool.

5. Beat the icing sugar with the egg white and the juice until you obtain a glaze. Divide it into 2 equal parts and dye one with 2 or 3 drops of red food colouring. Put both into piping bags with round and smooth nozzles and decorate the cookies. Allow to dry and serve.

With three cookies of different sizes and some edible ink markers you can create these fun and original snowmen.

INGREDIENTS (for 30-35 units):

125 grs of butter

140 grs of brown sugar

1 egg

250 grs of flour

40 grs of cocoa

1 tsp salt

200 grs of white fondant

Edible ink markers in black and orange

PREPARATION:

1. Beat the softened butter with the sugar and egg until creamy. Add the sifted flour with the cocoa and salt, and stir until you obtain a fine, homogeneous paste.

2. Place the dough on the work surface, between two sheets of greaseproof paper, and roll it out with a rolling pin until you obtain a sheet 5 or 6 mm thick. Leave it to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Remove the top paper from the dough and cut it into discs using 3 cookie cutters of different sizes. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet, with the paper on the bottom, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

4. Roll out the fondant and cut it into circles using the same cookie cutters. Brush each fondant disc with water and stick them on the cookie.

5. Draw the eyes, mouth, hands and buttons of the dolls with the black marker, and a carrot with the orange marker, simulating the nose. Serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS (for 35 cookies)

450 grs of flour

250 grs of butter

200 grs of sugar

30 grs of cocoa powder

2 medium eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

150 grs of dark fondant chocolate

Powdered sugar

A pinch of salt

PREPARATION:

1. Beat the softened butter with the sugar and salt. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat. Sift the flour and cocoa and add. Stir until it thickens. Knead by hand, form a ball and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Shape the cookies Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll out the dough and cut out heart-shaped cookies. Using a smaller cutter, make another heart in the centre. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, but do not remove them from the baking tray.

3. Chop and melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie. When it is lukewarm, place it in a pastry bag and fill the inside of the hearts with it while they are still warm so that the chocolate spreads better. Let the cookies cool and serve.

You can also use milk or white chocolate for the cookie filling.

INGREDIENTS (for 6-8 people):

240 grs of flour

4 grs of yeast

2 grs of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tbsp ground ginger

1 egg

110 grs of butter

4 ground cloves

1 pinch of white pepper

145 grams of brown sugar

PREPARATION :

1. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and mix with the salt, cinnamon, ginger, pepper and cloves. Put the softened butter with the sugar and egg into another bowl and beat until incorporated. Add the flour and spices to the previous mixture, little by little and stirring constantly, until you obtain a homogeneous dough. Form a ball with it, wrap it in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 12 hours. Preheat the oven to 190º.

2. Remove the cling film and roll out the dough until it is ½ cm thick. Cut out half of it with Christmas-shaped cookie cutters and divide the rest into moulds.

3. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the mould and allow to cool before serving.

INGREDIENTS (for 40 cookies):

200 grs of ground almonds

3 egg yolks

120 grs of sugar

1 sachet of vanilla sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice

For the glaze: 100 g of icing sugar and the juice of one lemon

PREPARATION :

1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, lemon juice and vanilla sugar. Add the ground almonds and stir until smooth.

2. Roll out the dough on a work surface sprinkled with a pinch of sugar until it is 4 mm thick.

3. Cut out the dough using a heart-shaped cookie cutter and place the biscuits on the baking sheet lined with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

4. Bake the cookie hearts for 12 minutes. Remove them and allow them to cool before peeling them off the paper.

5. Prepare the glaze by mixing the sugar with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Brush the hearts with this mixture while they are still warm. Allow the glaze to dry before serving.