Looking for a great gluten-free biscuit? Get yourself some star cutters in assorted sizes to make pretty Christmas cookies. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, add the beaten egg and vanilla and mix again until thoroughly combined.
Ingredients
125g/4½oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g/4½oz caster sugar
½ unwaxed lemon, zest only
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g/7oz gluten-free plain flour, plus extra for rolling
40g/1½oz ground almonds
½ tsp xanthan gum
pinch salt
icing sugar, for dusting
Method
Cream together the softened butter and caster sugar in a bowl until pale and light. Add the lemon zest and mix again.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, add the beaten egg and vanilla and mix again until thoroughly combined.
Add the gluten-free flour, ground almonds, xanthan gum and salt and mix until smooth. Bring the dough together into a neat ball using your hands, flatten into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Cover two baking trays with baking paper and lightly dust the work surface with gluten-free flour.
Roll the dough out to a thickness of 2–3mm/⅛in and, using the largest cutter stamp, cut out as many shapes from the dough as you can.
Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking trays and, using the smaller cutter, stamp out smaller stars from the middle of each biscuit. Gather the dough off-cuts into a ball and re-roll to make more shapes.
Chill the biscuits in the fridge for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3.
Bake on the middle shelf for about 10 minutes, or until the edge of each biscuit is lightly golden-brown. Leave to cool on the baking tray for about 2–3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Source: BBC FOODS
