Easy Christmas star biscuits with zingy clementine zest and spiced cinnamon, topped with a simple white icing glaze and festive sprinkles.
A simple kid-friendly festive bake, and the perfect homemade gift for teachers and friends!
This is such an easy biscuit for Christmas! The kids love decorating the spiced Xmas cookies, and it's a fun rainy day activity in the run-up to Christmas Day!
The recipe makes about 50 Christmas cookies (depending on what size cutters you use), but could easily be doubled if needed.
👩🍳 Love Christmas baking? Try my easy mincemeat flapjacks next!
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe!
- Simple Christmas biscuit recipe.
- Quick and easy to make.
- Great for homemade Christmas gifts.
- Uses storecupboard ingredients.
- Festive flavours of spiced cinnamon and clementine.
🛒 Ingredient notes
Butter - unsalted butter that has been softened.
Sugar - golden caster sugar or white caster sugar.
Egg - One large egg at room temperature.
Flour - Plain flour or wholemeal plain flour.
Cinnamon - Two teaspoons of ground cinnamon, or swap for mixed spice or ground ginger.
Clementine Zest - or the zest of a small orange.
For the icing you will need;
Icing Sugar - also known as powdered sugar.
Boiling Water - from a kettle.
Christmas Sprinkles - to decorate.
🔪 How to make easy Christmas cookies
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
One: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy.
Two: Beat in the egg.
Three: Fold in the flour, cinnamon, and clementine zest.
Four: Mix to form a dough then gather up with your hands to form a smooth ball.
Five: Divide the cookie dough into two pieces, shape into discs and wrap in cling film. Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Six: Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out each disc of dough to a thickness of 2.5mm.
💡 Pro Tip - you might find it easier to roll the dough out under a large piece of clingfilm.
Seven: Use star shape cutters (or other Christmas-themed cookie cutters) to stamp out the biscuits. Transfer to lined baking trays and bake in the oven for 10-14 minutes until golden brown (how long they take will depend on what size cookie cutters you use). Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes, before transferring them to wire racks.
Eight: Once the biscuits are cool, whisk together the sieved icing sugar and enough boiling water to make a spreadable icing. I add ½ tablespoon at a time and mix in between. Ice the biscuits using a teaspoon and decorate them with Christmas sprinkles. Leave to set for 1 hour before serving or storing.
💭 Expert tips
- Use different shapes of Christmas cookie cutters.
- Keep one disc of dough in the fridge for unexpected guests.
- Leave off the icing for plain Christmas biscuits.
🍴 Serving suggestions
These easy Christmas biscuits make great homemade gifts for teachers and friends.
They're also great for Christmas bake sales or a festive Afternoon Tea along with my chocolate orange brownies and crumbled-topped mince pies!
📖 Variations
- Swap the clementine zest and cinnamon for vanilla extract.
- Add 100g of dried cranberries to the biscuit dough.
- Make a chocolate version and replace 50g of plain flour with cocoa powder.
- Use vanilla buttercream to sandwich two biscuits together and make Christmas sandwich cookies.
🥡 Storage
Store: Keep the biscuits in an airtight container or Christmas biscuit tin for up to 1 week.
Freeze: It's best to freeze the cookies before they have been iced. Once cool, place them in a freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature before icing.
❓ Frequently asked questions
Make these Christmas cookies up to 3 months in advance. Freeze without icing, then when you're ready to eat them, defrost for 15 minutes at room temperature and ice!
It's not necessary to refrigerate these cookies. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature.
😋 More easy Christmas baking
- Cranberry White Chocolate Blondies
- Mincemeat Muffins
- Puff Pastry Mincemeat Pinwheels
- Chocolate Orange Muffins
- Chocolate Orange Cookie Bars
- Christmas Cake Muffins
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Recipe
Easy Christmas Star Biscuits Recipe
Ingredients
- 225 g Butter
- 125 g Golden Caster Sugar
- 1 Egg large
- 450 g Plain Flour
- 1 Clementine zest only
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon
For the icing
- 300 g Icing Sugar sieved
- 2-3 tablespoon Boiling Water
- 6 tablespoon Christmas Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160 fan/ Gas 4/ 350F) and line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy.225 g Butter, 125 g Golden Caster Sugar
- Beat in the egg.1 Egg
- Fold in the flour, cinnamon, and clementine zest.450 g Plain Flour, 1 Clementine, 2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- Mix to form a dough then gather up with your hands to form a smooth ball.
- Divide the cookie dough into two pieces, shape into discs and wrap in cling film. Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
- Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out each disc of dough to a thickness of 2.5mm💡 Pro Tip - you might find it easier to roll the dough out under a large piece of clingfilm.
- Use star shape cutters (or other Christmas-themed cookie cutters) to stamp out the biscuits. Transfer to lined baking trays and bake in the oven for 10-14 minutes until golden brown (how long they take will depend on what size cookie cutters you use). Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes, before transferring them to wire racks.
- Once the biscuits are cool, whisk together the sieved icing sugar and enough boiling water to make a spreadable icing. I add ½ tablespoon at a time and mix in between. Ice the biscuits using a teaspoon and decorate them with Christmas sprinkles. Leave to set for 1 hour before serving or storing.300 g Icing Sugar, 2-3 tablespoon Boiling Water, 6 tablespoon Christmas Sprinkles
Notes
- Use different shapes of Christmas cookie cutters.
- Keep one disc of dough in the fridge for unexpected guests.
- Leave off the icing for plain Christmas biscuits.
- Swap the clementine zest and cinnamon for vanilla extract.
- Add 100g of dried cranberries to the biscuit dough.
- Make a chocolate version and replace 50g of plain flour with cocoa powder.
- Use vanilla buttercream to sandwich two biscuits together and make Christmas sandwich cookies.
Sue
An easy Christmas biscuit for kids! Loved the festive spices in this cookie recipe.
Sharon Chen
These are so pretty! Definitely saving them for the holidays!!
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
Perfect! I've been looking for an easy biscuit and these star ones are on my list now. Thanks for sharing.
Dana
Gave these a test run and wow, SO GOOD. Definitely putting these into my Christmas cookie batch this year!
Tayler
I want to make a new cookie for my Christmas trays this year, and these stars look like just the cookie!