Fruity Gingerbread Wreath Recipe by www . bonnemaman . co . uk
Makes : approx 25 biscuits
Create a sensational , colourful Christmas centrepiece with this delicious edible wreath made up of crunchy , ginger-spiced snowflake biscuits , filled with Bonne Maman ’ s heavenly fruit conserves – we used Strawberry , Raspberry , Apricot , Mirabelle Plum , Blackcurrant and Fig - and beautifully decorated with icing .
Ingredients :
• 50g unsalted butter , diced
• 50g demerara sugar
• 100g golden syrup
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 30ml beaten egg
• 250g plain flour
• About 20 tbsp Bonne Maman conserve - use different flavours and colours
• 250g white fondant icing
• 250g Royal icing sugar
Method :
1 . To make the gingerbread dough , put the butter in a large bowl .
2 . In a saucepan , stir together the sugar , syrup , spices , and ginger , and bring to the boil . Add the bicarbonate of soda ( it will puff up ) and pour the hot mixture over the butter . Stir until the butter has melted .
3 . Beat in the egg and slowly blend in the flour . It will look as though there is too much flour but it will blend in .
4 . Knead the dough in the bowl until smooth and cut into quarters . Wrap each piece in clingfilm . Roll out a quarter of the dough at a time to make the biscuits .
5 . Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking parchment , to about 3mm thickness . Use a variety of Christmas cutters to stamp out about 50 biscuits of varying sizes . We used snowflake cutters from 12cm across down to 4cm . Remember you will need two of each size , to sandwich together . Re-knead and re-roll the trimmings .
6 . Lay the biscuits out on baking sheets , lined with baking parchment . Stamp out the centre from half the biscuits to create the space for the conserve . We used a 2 1 / 2 cm and a 1 1 / 2 cm round cutter . Chill the biscuits for a good hour before baking .
7 . Heat the oven to 170C , 150C fan , gas 3 . Bake the biscuits in batches until golden and crisp . They will take between 7 and 10 mins , depending on size . Cool on a wire rack .
8 . While the biscuits are cooling , roll out the fondant icing on a surface dusted lightly with icing sugar and stamp out 6 or 7 snowflakes , using the same cutters . Stamp out the centres , using the same round cutters . Brush the top biscuits with a little conserve and lightly press on the matching icing .
9 . Brush all the base biscuits lightly with conserve and press on the top biscuits . You should now have about 25 snowflake biscuit sandwiches of various sizes , some iced with fondant and some plain .
10 . Put the Royal icing sugar in a bowl with 40ml of cold water . Gradually beat the icing until it forms a stiff but pipeable paste . Spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle and pipe or drizzle icing across most of the biscuits to resemble snowflakes . Leave the icing to set for 10 minutes . Fill the biscuit centres with various flavours and colours of Bonne Maman conserve . Store the biscuits in airtight containers until ready to use .
11 . To serve , arrange the biscuits in a generous wreath on a large white board and take to the table for Christmas tea .
TOP TIP The biscuit shapes can be frozen if you don ’ t have time to bake the same day . Allow an extra 1-2 minutes cooking time . The baked biscuits can be frozen or kept in airtight containers until you ’ re ready to ice and assemble them .
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