It’s almost December and after trying my best over the last two months to ignore the Christmas jingles on the radio and festive paraphernalia lurking at every turn in the supermarket I have decided to embrace the season. Yes folks, I am officially “feeling Christmassy”. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some divine Christmas treats, so let’s kick things off today with a bit of festive baking shall we?
These Christmas cookies are a larger, fruiter version of the spiced dark chocolate cookies that I posted a few years ago. They have all the necessary components to make them appropriately festive, namely fruit, spice and chocolate! There is nothing particularly fancy or ornate about them, but they taste delish, and it’s a lovely recipe to make with the kids or to enjoy with the family while you decorate the tree or wrap the pressies.
Our little ones still look forward to leaving treats next to the fireplace on Christmas Eve for Santa to enjoy when he pops in. When I made these easy Christmas cookies for the first time my eldest’s first comment was “Santa would love these!”… and so the name stuck. I guess he will be getting a few of these cookies instead of mince pies this year!
Cook’s tips:
- If you can’t find ready made fruit cake mix simply make your own by combining sultanas, raisins, currants and some citrus peel or orange zest.
- You can use chopped dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips.
- Mix it up by replacing the dark chocolate with white chocolate!
SANTA'S CHRISTMAS COOKIES
- 350g flour
- 2 tbsp cocoa
- ¼ tsp bicarb
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 100g dark chocolate chips
- 100g fruit cake mix (sultanas, citrus peel, raisins, etc.)
- 150g butter
- ½ cup golden caster sugar
- ½ cup treacle sugar
- ¼ cup golden syrup
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
1.) Preheat your oven to 180ºC and line a tray with baking paper.
2.) Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarb, cinnamon and ginger into a bowl and mix. Stir in the chocolate chips and cake mix.
3.) Cream the butter, castor sugar and treacle sugar together in a bowl until fluffy. Add the golden syrup, egg and vanilla extract and mix to combine.
4.) Add the dry ingredients. Mix everything together until you have a soft dough.
5.) Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces and roll into balls. Flatten each ball with the palm of your hand and arrange on the baking tray. You may need to bake the cookies in two batches.
6.) Bake the biscuits for 15-20 minutes, turning the tray halfway through the baking time, until the biscuits have risen slightly and are starting to crack on top.
7.) Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack and allow to cool. Serve warm or cold (and don’t forget to save some for Santa!).
Cupcakes and Couscous 
Those look yummy
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Thanks Sheree! They were delicious… I won’t divulge how many I ate, ha ha!
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These look delicious I will definitely give them a try (:
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Thank you, I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does! 🙂
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those look delicious hope you follow my site called talk is sweet
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Thank you!
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Maybe send a few with hubby to work, so he can spread some of your delcious Chrismas feeling with his very special colleagues…. 😜
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Ha ha! That sounds like a plan. 😉
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Love all of your cooking and baking treats!
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That is so kind, thank you! x
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