Vegan Spiced Gingerbread Christmas Tree Biscuits

Method

1. Place all ingredients with the exception of the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a heavy weight bottomed saucepan. 2. Heat gently to melt the butter and sugar. Stir well throughout. 3. Add in the bicarbonate of soda and whisk until smooth. It may fizz up a little. 4. Add the flour to the mixture and fold in until it is well combined. 5. Wrap the dough into cling film (it may be quite soft at this point). Place in the fridge and chill for 2 hours until it is form enough to roll out. 6. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180°C Fan/ gas 5. 7. Line baking trays with baking paper. 8. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to around 5mm thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes from the dough. 9. Place the uncooked biscuits onto the trays, leaving a little space between each biscuit to allow for spreading. 10. Place the baking trays and biscuits back in the fridge and chill for around 15 minutes. 11. Bake in the oven for around 8 – 12 minutes. If you prefer a soft bake, reduce time to around 8 minutes, for more crunchy go for 12 minutes. 12. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes. Then, using a skewer pierce a hole at the top of the biscuits whilst still warm so that the ribbon can be threaded through later on. Place them onto a wire rack so that they cool thoroughly. 13. Once cooled, ice and decorate the biscuits then tie the ribbon through the holes so that they are ready to hang onto the Christmas tree.