These biscuits are vastly similar to the previous recipe I have posted, except that I have used unrefined sugars to create a softer chewier Christmas biscuit than a gingerbread.
I had the idea for these biscuits, as I have been experimenting a lot with date syrup this year, and wondered if it would make a good substitute for the golden syrup I usually use in my gingerbread biscuits. Sticking with the unrefined sugar theme, I swapped the brown sugar for panela sugar which I love adding to lots of my baking.
The biscuit comes out slightly more chewy than my usual gingerbread biscuits, and has a slightly deeper flavour thanks to the date syrup. I also used a few teaspoons of a Christmas spice mix called St Nicholas Spekulaas from the spice shop Gewurzhaus. I found this shop whilst I was in Melbourne, only to discover later that I had probably walked past the Sydney store in the Strand Arcade many times!
A substitute for this kind of festive spice mix would just be to add the same spices from my gingerbread biscuit recipe which are 1 tsp each of ground cloves, all spice, cardamom, cinnamon and ginger.
I am really loving my panela and date Christmas biscuits, and similar to their gingerbread cousin, the dough freezes well so you can make the dough in advance and bake later (just defrost in the fridge overnight).
Refined Sugar Free Christmas Cookies using Grounded Pleasures Panela Sugar & Gewurzhaus St Nicholas Spekulaas Spice Mix
Spiced Christmas Cookies
Ingredients:
125g unsalted butter, softened
120g panela sugar (I used Grounded Pleasures)
170ml date syrup/molasses
1 egg yolk
390g plain flour
5 tsp Spekulaas spice mix (I used St Nicholas Spekulaas from Gewurzhaus)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line three large baking trays with baking paper.
In medium bowl whisk together the flour and spice mix. Sift in the bicarb soda, whisk to combine then set aside.
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and panela sugar until it is pale and creamy. Add the date syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined.
Add the flour and spice mixture and combine on very low speed for a few seconds. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and finish the remaining mixing using a large wooden spoon or spatula.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and briefly knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. If making double quantities separate the dough into two discs.
Once the dough has rested, you can freeze the dough to use at a later date. Defrost in the fridge overnight before using.
Dust your work surface with more flour, then roll the dough out to around 2 mm thickness and cut biscuits out using festive biscuit cutters. Place each biscuit on to the prepared trays. Make sure you leave space in between each biscuit as they will expand as they bake. Re-roll excess dough and cut out more biscuits until it is all used up.
Bake for around 10-12 mins, rotating the trays in the oven to ensure everything cooks evenly. When the biscuits are done the edges will begin turn golden. Allow to cool on wire racks or on their trays.
Makes about 70 small biscuits or 36 medium as pictured in this post (yield will depend in the size and shape of your biscuit cutters).
