Iced Gingerbread Advent Biscuits

Ingredients

For the biscuits

• 65g soft dark brown sugar
• 30g black treacle
• 35g golden syrup
• 80g dairy-free margarine
• 25ml unsweetened oat milk
• 295g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1½ tsp ground ginger
• ¾ tsp ground mixed spice
• 24 vegan clear boiled sweets

To decorate

• 75g white piping icing
• Fine ribbon or cotton twine for hanging

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C / gas 4.
2. Line 3 large baking trays with baking parchment.
3. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar, treacle, syrup and margarine on a low heat. Stir continuously, until melted and combined. Stir in the oat milk and take the saucepan off the heat. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
4. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Gradually mix in the melted ingredients to make a firm dough. Knead gently until smooth.
5. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 5mm. Cut out festive shapes using 7-8cm cookie cutters, re-rolling the dough as necessary.
6. Transfer the shapes to the prepared trays. Using a small cutter, approximately 4.5cm, cut out a shape from the middle of each biscuit. Gather up the trimmings and re-roll to make 24 biscuits in total. Leave some of the biscuits whole if preferred.
7. Place a sweet in the centre of each cut out. If the biscuits are to be hung up, make a small hole near the top of each biscuit using a skewer.
8. Bake for 15 minutes until the biscuits are risen and the sweet has melted and filled the space. If the mixture has spread over the melted sweet, then, while the biscuits are still warm, gently push the mixture back with the tip of a knife until the melted sweet pane is fully visible.
9. Once done, remove from the oven and leave to cool completely on the trays. Carefully peel away from the parchment when cold.
10. If the biscuits are to be hung, thread the twine or string through the hole before decorating.
11. To decorate: If using a readymade icing tube, pipe a design and advent number straight from the tube as instructed. If you are using homemade icing either put it in a piping bag fitted with a small plain piping nozzle .
12. Leave the icing to dry for an hour before hanging to display.