Christmas tree iced gems

Iced gems

Name: Iced gems
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Yield: Makes 25-30
Ingredients: 125g butter softened; 75g golden caster sugar; 1 egg yolk (use the white for the icing, below); 4 tsp vanilla extract; 175-200g plain flour; 2 egg whites; 1 tsp white wine vinegar; 140g caster sugar; green food colouring; red, white and green round sprinkles

Anna Glover

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Makes 25-30

Easy

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 1 hr and 15 mins

plus chilling and 1 hr cooling

A star rating of 5 out of 5.2 ratingsRate

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Get the kids helping to make these cute iced gems, with meringue topping and sprinkles for decoration. They're perfect for a party

Vegetarian

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Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

125g butter

softened
75g golden caster sugar
1 egg yolk

(use the white for the icing, below)
4 tsp vanilla extract
175-200g plain flour

For the icing

2 egg whites
1 tsp white wine vinegar
140g caster sugar
green food colouring
red, white and green round sprinkles

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Nutrition: Per serving (30)

kcal86
fat4g
saturates2g
carbs12g
sugars7g
fibre0.2g
protein1g
salt0.09g

Method

step 1

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Mix in the flour (you can use your hands or a wooden spoon to combine if the mixture stiffens up), then knead a few times in the bowl to bring together into a dough. Chill for 30 mins until firm.
step 2

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Roll a quarter of the dough out at a time between two sheets of baking parchment or on a floured surface to a 5mm thickness. Use a 4cm cutter to stamp out rounds (you should get 25-30 in total). Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for 10-12 mins until lightly golden and dry; they will cook more once the topping is on. You may need to bake them in batches.
step 3

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites in a clean bowl using an electric whisk until foamy and doubled in size. Or, do this in a stand mixer. Add the vinegar and, with the motor running, 1 tsp sugar at a time, mixing well between each addition until you have a stiff meringue. Beat in a few drops of green food colouring until it is evenly coloured. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a wide star nozzle.
step 4

Reduce the oven to 120C/100C fan/gas ½. Arrange all the biscuits on a tray and pipe a tall meringue tree over each biscuit (hold the piping bag vertically over the biscuits to do this). Scatter with sprinkles and bake for 50 mins-1 hr. Turn off the oven, open the door and leave to cool for 1-2 hrs until the meringues have dried.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, Homemade Christmas 2022

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A star rating of 5 out of 5.2 ratings

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