Chocolate Christmas Cookies

This is one of the best Christmas Cookies recipes I have ever found. The Christmas cookies it makes are incredibly delicious. I used small cookie cutters but you can use any shape and size you like.

You can choose to melt milk free chocolate but I have never seen white milk free chocolate. Another idea is to dust the biscuits with icing (confectioner's) sugar. Then these will be totally milk free.

Chocolate Christmas Cookies

Ingredients
180 g Meadow Lea margarine 
1 1/4  caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups  plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
100 g   white cooking Chocolate, melted


Method
Using an electric mixer, beat margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, then add egg and beat well.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder, then add to the margarine mixture. Mix to form a soft dough. Place in freezer and freeze for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C fan. Line 2 large trays with baking paper.

This is a very soft dough so just use half of the dough leaving the other half in the freezer and roll out between two sheets of non stick baking paper until 5mm thick.

Using small cookie cutters of varying designs or the same if you choose, cut shapes from dough. Re-roll any scraps of pastry. Place on prepared trays, allowing room for spreading. Bake for 10–12 mins, until firm. Cool on trays for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Now what you need to do is place the piece of dough you just used into the freezer and take out the other half roll it out and cut shapes. Then once done place this piece in the freezer and take out the other piece.

It is a bit fiddly to do it this way but the dough warms up very quickly and you won't be able to work with it.

Once the cookies have cooled melt the white chocolate according to the instructions on the packet. Then lay all the cookies out close together and drizzle the chocolate over them with a spoon or if you have a piping bag you can elegantly pipe the white chocolate over them.

I made 105 cookies with this dough but my Christmas cookie cutters were about 5cm/2 inches long.