Popcorn balls
Ingredients:
• 10 cups popped popcorn.
• 1 package (around 280 g) large marshmallows.
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed.
• 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Optional decorations: candy canes, candy spearmint leaves and assorted sweets to decorate.
Method:
Place popcorn in a large bowl. In a large saucepan, combine marshmallows, butter and salt. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Pour over popcorn, mix well. Cool slightly. Beware, mixture can be very hot.
With greased hands, shape mixture into 12 or more popcorn balls. Place on waxed paper. Decorate as desired and let stand until set. These gooey sweet treats are great for dressing up the tree with little more than classic popcorn string or ribbons.
Edible Christmas tree cookies
Note: You can make your own Royal Icing by mixing 2½ cups confectioners’ sugar with 2 tablespoons of meringue powder. Add 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of warm water and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the icing has thickened and forms soft peaks.
You can make these goodies for the Christmas tree ahead of time, simply bake the cookies and store them plain in your freezer. Come Christmas, you can fix homemade frosting and decorate. Tie on ribbons and hang the shapes on your tree. You can also create these treats for eating. If you do, start them from scratch at holiday time and keep them in an airtight container.
Ingredients (Makes 35 to 40 biscuits):
• 300 g plain flour (plus more for dusting).
• pinch of salt.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder.
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves.
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper.
• 100 g soft butter.
• 100 g soft dark brown sugar.
• 2 large eggs (beaten).
• 4 tablespoons runny honey.
Icing and trimmings:
• 300 g instant Royal Icing (from packet).
• Edible glitter or gold or silver balls to decorate.
Method:
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and preheat the oven to 170°C, gas mark 3/350ºF.
Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and pepper in a food processor and, with the motor on, add the butter and sugar, then slowly, the beaten eggs and runny honey, though don’t use all of this liquid if the pastry has come together before it’s used up.
Form two fat discs and put one, covered in clingfilm or in a freezer bag, in the fridge while you get started on the other.
Dust a work surface with flour, roll out the disc, also floured, to about 5 mm and cut out your Christmas decorations with cutters of your choice: fir-tree shapes, angels, stars, snowflakes, and so on.
Re-roll and cut out some more, setting aside the residue from this first disc, well covered, while you get on with rolling out the second. When you’ve got both sets of leftover clumps of dough, roll out and cut out again and keep doing so till all the dough’s used up.
Now take a small icing nozzle and use the pointy end to cut out a hole just below the top of each biscuit (through which a ribbon can later be threaded).
Arrange the pastry shapes on the lined baking sheets and cook for about 20 minutes. It’s difficult to see when they’re cooked, but you can feel; if the underside is no longer doughy, they’re ready. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.
Make up the instant Royal Icing, beating it until it’s thick enough to be able to cover the biscuits with a just-dripping blanket of white; but don’t beat it for as long as the packet says or you’ll have icing so thick it will need to be spread with a spatula and you won’t get such a neat outline.
Carefully ice the cold decorations, using a teaspoon (the tip for dripping, the back for smoothing), and scatter sparkles or sprinkles as you like. When the icing is set, thread ribbon through the holes and hang on your tree.
Make ahead tip: Make the biscuits up to one week ahead and store in an airtight container. Ice the biscuits the day before needed to allow them plenty of time to set.
Edible Christmas tree cookies (2)
Freeze ahead tip: The raw cookie dough can be made and frozen for up to one month. Thaw in the fridge overnight. The cooked biscuits can be made and frozen in sealable bags for up to six months.
Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature.
• 1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar).
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar.
• 1 orange.
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• 1 egg.
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour.
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.
• A handful of hard sweets
Method:
Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about two minutes.
Next, add the zest of one orange, vanilla extract and egg, and beat again to combine.
Fold in the dry ingredients until everything is combined. Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper.
Roll the dough to the thickness of a thick coin and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Once cool, using star cutters or any shape of your choice, cut one large star and then cut a smaller star in the middle and place them on a baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Crush your hard sweets and sprinkle them in the star hole of each biscuit. Place in the fridge for another 15 minutes.
Bake at 180°C for about 8 to 10 minutes or until just golden.
As soon as they come out of the oven, use a toothpick or skewer to create a small hole at the top of the biscuit for the string.
Allow the biscuits to cool completely, then place some festive string through each biscuit and hang on the tree.
You can also cut out a round hole in the middle of the cookies and bake. Decorate if you want to and hang them with a lovely ribbon on the tree. You can also sprinkle with sugar before baking.
