It’s taken us some time to get into Christmas this year for some reason but a weekend of playing festive music, wrapping ourselves in warm clothing and drinking mulled wine seems to have done it! We love Christmas, not only because it means we get to spend time with our family, watching boxsets and old films and eating too much (naturally), but also because it’s just such a magical time of year! We love walking through London, all lit up with twinkling lights and the smell of roast chestnuts and sugar in the air.

If you’re not in the Christmas mood yet, these biscuits will take you there. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, pepper and cardamom work together to deliver you Christmas in a gorgeous crispy biscuit. Yum! These are from Irvin Lin’s Speculaas recipe but with a few tweaks they’ve become a cross between Swedish pepparkakor and English gingerbread. Perfect with a cup of coffee on a freezing winter day!

Makes around 20 big tree-shaped biscuits
from www.eatthelove.com

113g cold unsalted butter
200g dark brown soft cane sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
235g plain flour

1. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
3. Add the salt and spices and mix until fully incorporated.
4. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until incorporated.
5. Add the flour and mix until you get a firm dough.
6. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes to let the spices develop.
7. Preheat the oven to 175 C (fan assisted).
8. Divide the dough into two. Roll out one half so that the dough is 1/4 inch thick. The thinner the dough is, the crispier the biscuits!
9. Cut out biscuits using your preferred cookie cutter until all the dough is used up. You may have the re-roll the “scraps” to do this. Do the same with the second half of the dough.
10. Lay the biscuits out on the sheet and bake for 10 minutes until firm. You may have to use multiple baking sheets to bake all of the biscuits.
11. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, before transferring to a wire rack.
12. Enjoy with a hot drink or store in an airtight tin for a few days. Merry Christmas!

So what do you think? Feel free to share your questions and comments below! We’d love to hear what you have to say.