Orange cinnamon butter biscuits - crisp, buttery, melt-in-the-mouth festive cookies that make great cut-outs for Christmas.
I've been having a lot of fun making and decorating Christmas biscuits this week. The decorating part is quite time consuming if you are trying to do it really neatly and you have a lot of biscuits to get through, but I find it quite relaxing and it is a nice way to while away a cold, wet afternoon.
These orange cinnamon butter biscuits are a really delicious addition to your Christmas baking repertoire. They are crisp, buttery and melt-in-the-mouth with hints of festive orange and cinnamon.
They are a great biscuit for making cut outs as they don't spread too much in the oven (make sure that you freeze them before baking to help stop them spreading though!), but they are lighter and more delicate than gingerbread so are a great alternative for any gingerbread haters.
They taste delicious un-iced, but as they make such good cut-outs it would be a shame not to decorate them at all. I like the simplicity of plain white royal icing but do feel free to colour it if you like. Just be sure to use gel rather than liquid colours as liquid ones will alter the consistency of the icing.
I've given the recipe for from scratch royal icing below, but as it contains raw egg white, if that is of a concern then it may be best to use the stuff from a packet as that is pasteurised.
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Orange Cinnamon Butter Biscuits Recipe:
Orange Cinnamon Butter Biscuits
Ingredients
Orange Cinnamon Butter Biscuits:
- 350 g plain flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 250 g cold, unsalted butter (or vegan block butter) cubed
- finely grated zest of 2 oranges
- 150 g icing (powdered) sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk (omit for vegan) (save the white for the royal icing)
- 1-2 tsp milk/non-dairy milk (as needed)
Royal Icing:
- 235 g icing (powdered) sugar sifted
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice (and more as needed)
- 1 large egg white (reserved from making the biscuits) (or 5 teaspoons aquafaba)
Instructions
Orange Cinnamon Butter Biscuits:
- Place the flour, salt, butter and orange zest in a food processor and blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and cinnamon and blitz again to mix through.
- Add the vanilla extract and egg yolk and blend again. If the dough doesn't come together then add a little bit of milk, a teaspoon at a time until it does. Be careful not to add too much liquid though, stop as soon as the dough begins to clump together.
- Shape the dough into two discs, wrap in clingfilm and pop them in the fridge for half an hour.
- Roll the discs out on a lightly floured surface to about 4mm thick and use floured cutters to cut out your choice of shapes. Place them slightly spaced apart on a couple of baking trays lined with baking parchment.
- Re-roll the scraps and cut out more shapes. Place the baking trays in the freezer for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
- Bake the frozen biscuits for about 10 minutes, until lightly golden. Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Royal Icing:
- Once the biscuits are cool, make the royal icing. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon juice. Stir in the egg white or aquafaba a little at a time until the icing is smooth and thick but pipe-able; if you drizzle some back into the bowl the pattern should disappear after about 8 seconds. If it is too thick then add a little more egg white (or lemon juice if you've run out), and if it is too runny then add a little more sifted icing sugar.
- Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a 1mm plain round nozzle. Pipe snowflake designs onto the biscuits (Pinterest is a great place to get inspiration for patterns!) and set them aside for half an hour to dry.
Ana
Hi!
Is there any way to make this vegan? I know I can replace the butter for vegan margarine and the milk for soy milk, but what about the egg yolk?
Thank you,
Ana
hannahhossack
Hi Ana, I haven't tried veganising this recipe so I can't be totally sure, but I think that I would try replacing the egg yolk with 1 Tbsp cornflour (cornstarch) and a little extra soy milk as needed to bring it together. In this case the egg yolk is just there to help tenderise the dough and add a little extra richness so hopefully subbing it shouldn't affect the biscuits too much. Let me know if it works!
silvia
Hello, I would like to know whether there is a problem if using raw eggwhites in the recipe, how long wil these cookies last, and if they can be given as a gift for Christmas, taking into account the eggwhites are raw but there are no allergies found.
Thanks!
Sílvia.
hannahhossack
Hi Silvia, the cookies should last for up to a couple of weeks though obviously the fresher the better. I've never had a problem with the egg white as there is enough sugar in the icing to preserve it, but if you are concerned about it then I would suggest either using royal icing mix from a packet if you are able to get it as that uses powdered pasteurised egg whites, or use pasteurised egg whites from a carton to make your own icing as per the recipe.
Bethany
Oh! These cookies are just so pretty! I love the way that you have decorated them!
Claudia
Very pretty cookies; they look tasty too! I seem to have gone off Christmas baking since my children are all grown up. This recipe might just inspire me to have another try though, thanks for the nice post.
Sally
Really creative display Hannah. I’m going to try these with Clara
Tina
Where's the cinnamon?
Tina
NM, I just overlooked it in the recipe. Hmph!
Lu
These are beautiful and I want to make them but I don't have a food processor. How do I mix these then? Thanks.
hannahhossack
Hi Lu, You can just rub the butter into the flour, salt and orange zest by hand until it resembles fine breadcrumbs then stir in the icing sugar and cinnamon followed by the vanilla extract and egg yolk. I hope you enjoy them!
Marianne Fox
How many biscuits do these quantities make please?
hannahhossack
Hi Marianne, unfortunately I can't really give you an answer as the number of biscuits you get will vary wildly depending on what cookie cutters you use.
Jay
Easy to make and delicious. I found it best to cut the dough into four batches and only take one out of the fridge at a time as it melts and gets very sticky when it warms up. Also, for me they needed more like 12-15 minutes baking. Made approx 20 snowflake biscuits.
Charlotte Ticehurst
Amazing recipie! Tried these Christmas cookies today, so easy to make and really fun as well. They have a great flavour and definitly will be made every Christmas from now on!
Holly Palmer
Hi I love these cookies so much! I made several batches of them last year. I was just wondering is there a way to make the dough in advance and leave in the freezer? Christmas this year is pretty crazy and I wont have much time to make them otherwise!
Hannah
Hi Holly, glad you love them! You can freeze the dough (make sure it is well wrapped) then let it defrost overnight in the fridge before rolling it out. You can also roll and cut out your biscuits, freeze them on a baking sheet until solid then transfer them to a container. They can be baked right from the freezer, no need to defrost first.
Jeanine
I really want an orange tasing cookie, and love this recipe . Will it work if I omit the cinnamon. Thanks , Bean.
Hannah
Hi Bean, yes absolutely.
Madeline
Hi! I want to make this recipe but I like my cookies to have a little something extra in them! Do you think toffee chips would work?
Hannah
Hi Madeline, yes I think toffee chips would work. It just might make it a bit more difficult to cut out clean shapes.
Shane
Would be great if these non-vegan recipes were no longer on this 'vegan' blog
Guessing/hoping you have not made any of these for a long time, perhaps they are ready to be veganised?
Hannah
Hi Shane, had you bothered to read my About page before posting your rather rude comments you would have seen that I am indeed working my way through veganising my old recipes, I have already veganised and updated many of them. As I'm sure you can appreciate however, it is no quick and simple task to rework, re-test (usually multiple times), re-photograph, edit photos and re-write a recipe plus blog post; a process that can take me an entire week to do. I am just one tired and busy person working on this website so the job of veganising all my old recipes plus creating new content is not going to be a quick one. (And obviously I don't make any non-vegan recipes!)
Amy Kelly
Hi Hannah
I first made these with my daughter 5 years ago and they were so delicious we have made them ever Christmas since. It is one of our most loved traditions and they are eagerly awaited by the rest of the family. Somehow they’re always turn out well even with the chaos of baking with kids. We do a less classy topping of festive colour m&ms stuck on with melted dark chocolate. Thank you x
Maria
I love the delicate flavour! Thank you so much for sharing!