Today’s post is the final recipe of Blogmas At Home 2023, which is kind of sad, but also not that sad, because these Iced Star Biscuits are the dreamiest, easiest Christmas Cookies ever. I’ve been making these biscuits in all shapes and sizes for YEARS because they are so simple (I mean, they only require 5 ingredients, one of those ingredients is literally WATER and the dough is made in the food processor!), but they are also so delicious. In the original recipe, they are called ‘Birthday Biscuits’, so we still call them that, but I’m making these star shaped ones for Christmas- they’re really a year-round cookie! Also, the possibilities for decorating them are ENDLESS. I’ve just done plain, white glacé icing on these, to keep things simple, but you could use royal icing, fondant, chocolate, buttercream, literally ANYTHING. It’s such a versatile recipe!

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Making the Biscuit Dough
• Cutting out the Cookies
• Baking the Cookies
• Decorating the Cookies
• Storing the Cookies
• Recipe

Ingredients

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, these cookies only require 5 ingredients:

• Plain flour

Don’t use self-raising flour, because this will cause the biscuits to puff up, rather than bake into nice even biscuits- not what you want!

• Caster sugar

I use golden caster sugar, because it gives the cookies a lovely depth of flavour, but you can use white caster sugar, if that’s what you have.

• Unsalted butter

The butter needs to be cubed and at room temperature, so that it incorporates into the other ingredients properly.

• Icing sugar

You only need icing sugar and water to make glacé icing, which is what I used to decorate these biscuits.

• Water

Does water even count as an ingredient? I have no idea, but my brother threw a fit when he heard I was calling these ‘4-Ingredient Iced Star Biscuits’ and I was guilted into changing the name. I’ll forgive him, because 5-Ingredient sounds better anyway.

You will also need a star-shaped cookie cutter. The one I used was 5.5cm across. You can use any size/shape cutter you would like, but be aware this will affect the quantity of cookies this recipe makes, as well as the baking time.

Making the Biscuit Dough

Start by preheating the oven to 180°C (as usual, I am using a conventional oven) and line 3 baking trays with baking paper, then set aside.

To make the dough, put the flour, sugar and softened, cubed butter into the bowl of a food processor.

Blitz the mixture until it forms crumbs…

…then pulse until it comes together in a ball. That’s it! That’s the dough! Bring it together with your hands (after removing the food processor blade, of course), then it’s ready to roll- no chilling necessary.

Cutting out the Cookies

Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and tip the dough onto it. Dust both the surface of the dough and a rolling pin with a little more flour, then roll the dough out until it is about 5mm thick.

Cut out the cookies using the star cutter, carefully transferring them to the lined baking trays as you go. Re-roll the dough as needed.

Baking the Cookies

Once all of the dough has been used up, bake the cookies. They will need about 10 minutes in the preheated oven and should be a pale, golden colour when they are ready.

Allow the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the trays, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely, before decorating.

Decorating the Cookies

First, make the glacé icing. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl (this is important to get rid of any lumps), then add 2 tbsp of the water and stir to combine. Sometimes it can be a little tricky to get the perfect consistency of glacé icing, so it’s best to start with some of the water, then gradually add more until the perfect consistency is achieved. You want it to be thick enough that it doesn’t all slide off the cookies, but not so thick that it doesn’t have a smooth, shiny finish.

Once you have made the icing, spoon it onto the cookies and spread it out, so that it fills the star shape. Place the cookies back onto the wire rack to set- glacé icing will never set completely solid, like royal icing does, but it will form a delicate crust after about 20 minutes.

Storing the Cookies

Store the cookies in an airtight container, at room temperature. Like this, they will keep for 2-3 days. Ideally, store them in a single layer, to prevent the delicate icing from being smushed (or, you know, be like me and completely disregard that suggestion…).

I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe- these cookies really are the simplest treatsntil your desired consistency is achieved- to make, but they are completely delicious, so really it’s a win-win! Let me know if you try this out- I’d love to hear what you think!

Gemma

xxx

Recipe

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5-Ingredient Iced Star Biscuits

You only need 5 ingredients to make these simple and delicious festive biscuits (and one of them is water!). While these are perfect as Christmas cookies, they can be made in any shape and decorated in a multitude of different ways to fit any occasion year round!

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword 5 ingredient, Cookie, glacé icing

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Setting time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 50 cookies

Equipment

• 1 5.5cm star cookie cutter

Ingredients

For the cookie dough:

• 250 g plain flour
• 85 g golden caster sugar
• 175 g unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature.

For the icing:

• 250 g icing sugar, sifted.
• 3-4 tbsp water

Instructions

Make the cookies:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper and set aside.
• Place all of the cookie dough ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then pulse until it forms a ball.
• Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Tip the dough onto the work surface and bring it together into a smooth ball with your hands. Dust both the dough and a rolling pin with a little more flour, then roll out the dough, until it is about 5mm thick.
• Use the star cutter to stamp out as many cookies as possible from the rolled-out dough, then re-roll and stamp again, carefully transferring the cookies to the lined baking trays as you go.
• Once you have used up all of the dough, bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until pale golden. Once baked, allow the cookies to cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

Make the icing:

• When the cookies are cool, make the icing. Place the sifted icing sugar into a bowl. Add 2 tbsp of water and mix to combine. If needed, add more of the water until the desired consistency is achieved- the icing should be thick enough that it will not run off the cookies, but not so thick that it does not look smooth and shiny.

Decorate the cookies:

• As soon as the icing is ready, start decorating the cookies. Spoon a small amount of icing onto a cookie, then use the back of the spoon to spread it out over the surface, so that the whole star shape is filled. Repeat for the remaining cookies, setting them back onto the wire rack to sit while the icing firms up. This icing won't set as hard as royal icing, but it should form a delicate crust after about 20 minutes or so (if they last that long!).
• Store the cookies in an airtight container, ideally in a single layer, to prevent the icing from smushing, at room temperature. Like this, they will keep for 2-3 days (or longer, if they are left un-iced). Once kept for 24 hours, the icing will be significantly firmer and less likely to smush (though it will still not be as hard as royal icing).

Notes

 

Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food.

Confession: I am… not a big travel person. I mean, this whole blog is literally called Gemma at Home because of the sheer amount of time I spend not travelling. However, I do think witnessing, experiencing and making an attempt to understand cultures other than your own is incredibly important. While travelling to different countries and immersing yourself in their respective cultures is the most obvious way of doing this, it’s not the only way. I think, sometimes, people look down on the idea of learning about other cultures via less ‘real life’ methods- things like reading books and articles, watching videos or even engaging in certain activities. I know these techniques can’t provide as comprehensive an understanding of a culture as firsthand experience, but that doesn’t mean they are not effective sources in their own right- especially for those who aren’t in a position get that firsthand experience for themselves.

The point of this whole spiel, ultimately, is to introduce a new series on the blog: Baking Around the World. Food is such an intrinsic part of so many cultures- I love hearing about the stories and traditions surrounding food across the globe. In Baking Around the World, I want to explore some new recipes, try some new tasty bakes and learn about the history of each one as I go. I may not be much good at travelling, but I do love to bake. This is my own, more accessible version of experiencing new cultures (and testing out some tasty snacks that I have never tried before!).

Before we begin, let me just throw out a few disclaimers: obviously, I will not be any sort of expert on any of these recipes- I’m just giving them a try. As part of the process, I will be doing lots of research on the recipes- I’ll list the sources I have referenced for the bakes at the end of each post, as well as sharing some of what I have found in my research throughout. While I will be providing the final recipe I end up using in the posts, I am (obviously) not going to be claiming the recipes as my own- just sharing the ingredients/methods I used to make my version of them. Finally, my bakes are unlikely to be super authentic- recipes vary based on region, my research may go awry, I might be limited by the ingredients available to me here in the UK. Please, go easy on me! I’m just a girl who loves sweet snacks.

Right then, let’s get into our first bake, shall we? We’re heading to Sicily for this one…

Table of Contents

• Pizzicotti: Explained
• Pizzicotti Ingredients
• Making Pizzicotti
• Final Thoughts
• Recipe
• Sources Used

Pizzicotti: Explained

In my research, I was surprised to discover that pizzicotti are not actually a flavour of cookie, but a shape. Pizzicotti means ‘little pinches’ in Italian and these cookies are shaped by, quite literally, pinching the dough- hence the name. The cookies themselves are almond cookies, known, in their unshaped form, as pasticcini di mandorla (or mandorle – I’m fairly certain that mandorla is the singular form of ‘almond’, while mandorle is the plural. Which one is grammatically accurate in this context- I am unsure).

I actually stumbled upon some cookies with the same scalloped shape as pizzicotti in a (quite fancy) farm shop recently- you can see them in the photo above. These cookies are labelled as amaretti, though they look more like the pizzicotti/pasticcini di mandorla than the amaretti I have seen. Upon further research, I think pasticcini di mandorla are a Sicilian variation of amaretti– made using sweet (as opposed to bitter) almonds and no apricot kernels. If you have had the amaretti that they sell in stores here in the UK before, these pizzicotti are very different- they are much paler in colour and have a much softer texture.

Pizzicotti Ingredients

To make pizzicotti, you will need the following ingredients:

• Clementine

Pizzicotti are often ‘scented’ with citrus (though you can also use alcohol, vanilla or something else along those lines), so I decided to use clementine zest, like in Giuseppe Dell’Anno (of Bake Off fame)’s recipe (see the end of this post for source references). Honestly, I’m still not sure what makes a clementine different from a satsuma or a tangerine, but I’m pretty sure any of them will work in this recipe. You could even use orange zest, just make sure to only use the zest of about half an orange (clementines/satsumas/tangerines are much smaller!)- otherwise the flavour might overwhelm the almond taste.

• Ground almonds

There is no flour in these cookies, just ground almonds. This means that the cookies have a lovely almond-y flavour and, as a bonus, they’re also gluten-free!

• Caster sugar

Some recipes use icing sugar for their pizzicotti, but the majority seem to use caster sugar. I’ve gone with caster sugar here.

• Egg whites

This recipe doesn’t use the yolks, so you can save them for a different recipe.

• Almond extract

This is just to amp up the almond flavour a little- I’ve actually decreased it slightly from the original recipe because I felt it was fighting a little too much with the clementine flavour, but you can use the original amount (1 teaspoon) if you prefer.

• Honey

I’m not entirely sure what the purpose of the honey is in the recipe, but it seems to be a fairly standard edition across the pizzicotti recipes I’ve found. I’d love to know whether it helps to bind the mixture or adds sweetness/flavour- or maybe even both?

• Icing sugar

This is what gives the pizzicotti their iconic snowball-esque appearance- the balls of dough are rolled in icing sugar before baking, making them all snowy (and extra tasty).

Making Pizzicotti

The traditional method of making pizzicotti involves a bowl, a spoon and good old-fashioned elbow grease. When I first tried these out, I followed Giuseppe Dell’Anno’s recipe, where he uses a food processor instead. I’ve tried both methods now, and I actually prefer the food processor method for a couple of reasons:

• While pizzicotti are by no means taxing to make by hand, energy is not something that I have a lot of. I love recipes that I can make in a stand mixer/food processor, because I can still enjoy making them when I’m feeling particularly tired.
• Processing the sugar and almonds helps to break them down a little, making your pizzicotti a little smoother. I found that the pizzicotti I made by hand were a little grainier, which wasn’t unpleasant, but was noticeable.

Basically, you can make these either way. I do prefer the texture of the pizzicotti made in the food processor, but I also wonder if the grainier texture of the handmade cookies is more authentic? Nevertheless, it’s up to you which method you choose.

Start by preheating your oven to 180°C and lining a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Then, make the dough…

To make the pizzicotti in the food processor, place the clementine zest, ground almonds and caster sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz for a few seconds until well combined.

Add the egg whites, almond extract and honey, then pulse until the dough comes together.

Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface, lightly dusted with icing sugar to help prevent it from sticking, then knead into a smooth ball. The dough will be very sticky- that’s how it should be! The dough is now ready to divide and shape.

If you would like to make the pizzicotti by hand, just put all of the ingredients (bar the icing sugar) into a large bowl.

Mix with a wooden spoon until it starts to come together, then use your hands to knead the dough into a smooth ball. The dough is now ready to divide and shape.

To form the pizzicotti, split the dough into 26 pieces (each piece will be about 25g). Roll each piece of dough between your hands to form a ball.

Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl, then drop the ball in and roll it around until it is completely coated in the sugar. I like to shape all of the balls first, then roll each one in the icing sugar, but you can do them one at a time if you prefer.

Once you have all of your icing sugar-covered balls, you need to pinch them to make them into pizzicotti!

Using your thumb, index finger and third finger, gently pinch each ball- you’re aiming for a kind of rounded triangle shape with a scalloped pattern on top, as in the photos. Don’t worry about it too much though- they’ll taste delicious no matter what!

Once you have shaped all of your pizzicotti, bake them in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes, until they have turned slightly golden and a few cracks have appeared. Let them cool completely on the tray, then serve at room temperature.

The pizzicotti will keep for up to 2 weeks at room temperature, if stored in an airtight container.

Final Thoughts

I am a BIG fan of these cookies. They taste exactly like you would imagine softly baked marzipan tastes, but with an extra hit of clementine flavour, which makes them feel extra Christmassy. I love their snowy-white and powdery coating, as well as their scalloped shape. They’re also incredibly easy to make, which is perfect for this busy time of year! I think these might just be a new favourite cookie recipe for me- I just know I’ll be making them again and again and again.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the first post in my Baking Around The World series and Day 7 of Blogmas At Home! I have a few more recipes lined up, so keep an eye out for those. I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 8!

Gemma

xxx

Recipe

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Pizzicotti

These Sicilian almond cookies, called Pizzicotti ('little pinches') for their indented shape, are flavoured with clementine zest and rolled in icing sugar before baking.

Course Snack

Cuisine Italian

Keyword almond, clementine, Cookie, pizzicotti

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 32 minutes minutes

Servings 26 cookies

Ingredients

• zest of 1 unwaxed clementine (see Note 1).
• 250 g ground almonds
• 200 g caster sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 tsp honey
• 40 g icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting.

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, then place the sifted icing sugar into a small bowl, ready for coating the pizzicotti. Set both aside for later.
• Place the clementine zest, ground almonds and caster sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine the ingredients and break down the sugar and almonds a little.
• Add the egg whites, almond extract and honey to the food processor, then pulse until the mixture starts to come together into a sticky dough. Remove the dough from the food processor and transfer to a clean work surface, lightly dusted with icing sugar, then knead gently with your hands until it forms a smooth ball. You can shape and bake the pizzicotti immediately, or you can wrap the dough in cling film at this stage and store in the fridge for up to 2 days.
• To shape the pizzicotti, take a small amount of the dough (about 25g) and roll it between your hands to make a ball. Drop the ball into the bowl of icing sugar, then roll it around until it is completely coated. Place the pizzicotti onto the baking tray, then use your thumb, index and middle fingers to gently pinch the ball and give the cookie its characteristic shape. Repeat this process with the remaining dough, spacing them out slightly on the tray (they don't spread hugely, but do give them a little room to grow- if in doubt, use a second tray).
• Bake the pizzicotti in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes, until the cookies (underneath all of the icing sugar!) have turned golden and are slightly cracked. Let them cool completely before removing them from the tray and serving. Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the pizzicotti will keep for up to two weeks.

Notes

1. I used clementine zest to make these pizzicotti extra Christmassy, but you could use lemon or orange zest to flavour your pizzicotti, or even omit the extra flavouring, if you prefer.

Recipe adapted from ‘Clementine and almond cookies’ by Giuseppe Dell’Anno, from Olive Magazine (Christmas 2023, p.42).

Sources Used

Giuseppe Dell’Anno‘s ‘Clementine and almond cookies’ for Olive Magazine, ‘Christmas 2023’, p.42.

Cooking with Manuela: Italian Almond Cookies

Italian Recipe Book: Italian Almond Cookies

Italy Magazine: Pasticcini di Mandorla

Marisa’s Italian Kitchen: Pasticcini di Mandorle

Rachel Eats: Pasticcini di Mandorle

Quatro Fromaggio and Other Disgraces on the Menu: Amaretti and Amaretto

The dough in question comes from the December 2002 issue of BBC Good Food magazine, under the name ‘Finnish fairy-tale house’, and was shared by a woman called Mira Paren. Unlike traditional gingerbread, this dough is flavoured with cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and orange- no ginger in sight! But, trust me- it is truly delicious!

The recipe below makes enough to build a standard gingerbread house, which we have done for many years. I will, at some point, share the process of making a house using this dough. However, this year, I’m using this dough for a different gingerbread undertaking, which I’m VERY excited about. Stay tuned! You can also easily use this dough for individual biscuits- which I have also done many, many times. The number of biscuits it yields will, of course, vary depending on how big your cutters are. I have listed this recipe as making about 30 average-sized biscuits, but please consider this figure a rough estimate!

You can decorate these biscuits however you want- glacé icing, royal icing and melted chocolate, alongside an array of sweets and treats, all work well. If you use this for a house, you definitely want to use something that sets firm, such as royal icing or caramel. We only want structurally-sound gingerbread houses on this blog! These biscuits are perfect for making with kids (it’s true! I was the kid!)- easy to make, easy to decorate and very easy to enjoy afterwards.

Let me know if you try this recipe out and, if you do, I’d love to hear how you think it compares to traditional gingerbread! Like I said, keep an eye out later on this week for a post detailing my 2022 gingerbread undertaking- I think it’s going to be so much fun!

Gemma

xxx

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Christmas ‘Gingerbread’ (Finnish Spiced Biscuits)

A robust, spiced cookie that can be used as an alternative to traditional gingerbread for both individual biscuits and Christmas houses. Decorate using melted chocolate, glacé or royal icing, with small sweets and sprinkles.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Finnish

Keyword Biscuit, Christmas, Gingerbread, Gingerbread House, Spice

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Chill time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 30 biscuits

Ingredients

• 140 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 100 g golden caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100 ml golden syrup
• 1 tsp ground cardamom seeds (can be obtained by grinding the seeds from 2tsp cardamom pods)
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 450 g plain flour, sifted

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and 50g of the sugar until pale and fluffy.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg with the remaining 50g sugar until pale and thick (the 'ribbon stage'). You should be able to draw a figure of eight with the batter as it falls from the whisk.
• Combine the bicarbonate of soda with the golden syrup, then pour into the butter mixture and mix well. Add the beaten egg mixture and mix again.
• Add the spices, orange zest and flour to the bowl and mix thoroughly, until a cohesive dough has formed. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 190°C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a floured surface and roll it out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter, and place on a lined baking tray.
• Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, depending on the size. Allow to cool fully before decorating.