Christmas biscuits to bake with children

Baking with children always seems like an idyllic thing to do - especially at Christmas time. You can picture the scene, mum or dad guiding the small folk on what to do, while spoons are sneakily licked and festive tunes play in the background.

The reality, however, as anyone who's cooked with kids will know, is that it sometimes doesn't quite go to plan. Weighing everything out first and having it all ready to go cookery-demo-style is a good idea, but there's rarely enough time to be that organised and it creates a mountain of washing up.

But, as new cookbook ScandiKitchen Christmas hits the shelves, we take a look at the child-friendly recipe for Swedish ginger biscuits.

What you will need:

(Makes 50-70 biscuits)

550g plain/all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

1tsp bicarbonate of/baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1tsp ground cloves

1tbs ground cinnamon

1tsp ground cardamom

1/2tsp ground allspice

Pinch of salt

100g granulated sugar

100g soft dark brown sugar

150g butter, at room temperature

200g golden syrup

150ml double cream

Making the dough

The recipe suggests making the biscuit dough in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment.

When the dough comes together, it is pretty heavy, so an adult will need to retrieve it from the bowl before rolling it into a sausage shape and wrapping it in cling film.

It does, is possible, need to rest in the fridge overnight and youngsters might need to be prepared for this.

Baking the biscuits

Preheat your oven to 200C and line baking sheets with parchment. On a floury worktop, break off a chunk of the dough, let the little ones roll it out to around 2mm thick and cut out an array of Christmas-shaped biscuits.

Because the recipe makes so many biscuits, it's good to get each baking tray in the oven as soon as it fills up. And you can do that easily because they cook in just six minutes.

Once they're out the oven, leave them for a few minutes before popping on to a cooling rack. They also cool down really quickly, so the kids can decorate.

Icing your bakes

The best icing for these biscuits is a mixture of icing sugar, stirred into beaten egg white and a few drops of lemon juice, because it goes hard when it dries and pipes beautifully.

But if you're rushed or just want to leave the little ones to it, let them loose with colourful tubes of icing or even chocolate.

ScandiKitchen Christmas by Bronte Aurell, photography by Peter Cassidy, is published by Ryland Peters & Small, priced £16.99. Available now.