Phil Vickery's Christmas gingerbread biscuits

Why spend lots of money on edible gifts this Christmas, when you could make some of celebrity chef Phil Vickery's delicious gingerbread biscuits instead?

Makes: 20-25 biscuits

What you need:

• 125g (5oz) margarine or butter
• 100g (3½ oz) dark soft brown sugar
• 4tbsp Carnation Condensed Milk
• 325g (11oz) plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 20 boiled sugar sweets
• Coloured icing tubes, for decoration

You will also need:

• Biscuit cutters and lined baking sheets

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas Mark 4.
2. Heat the butter and sugar in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the condensed milk and stir together.
3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a bowl and pour over the condensed milk mixture. Start by working the ingredients together with a spoon then with clean hands bring the mixture together into a soft dough.
4. Roll the gingerbread out on a floured surface to the thickness of 0.5cm. Cut rounds out and place onto a baking sheet. Use a very small cutter or knife to cut out circles in the centre of the biscuits (about the size of a pound coin).
5. Place the boiled sweets into a strong plastic food bag and holding the open end of the bag tightly closed smash the bag onto a hard surface (like a work top), to break the sweets. Place the broken sweets into the holes in the biscuits. Make a small hole in the top of the biscuit with a skewer or cocktail stick. Bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes until just golden.
6. Remove the biscuits from the oven and check the small holes for hanging the biscuits are still open. Leave to cool completely before decorating with icing. Allow the biscuits to dry before hanging on the tree.

Handy cook's tip

Hang the biscuits on Christmas day as they go soft if not kept in an airtight container for more than a couple of days.

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