Chocolate snowmen biscuits

Bake these adorable snowmen as a Christmas treat for family visiting over the festive season. Chocolate biscuits are stacked, then decorated with icing

Prep:25 mins
Cook:12 mins
plus 1 hr chilling and drying

Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 281
fat 10g
saturates 6g
carbs 43g
sugars 29g
fibre 1g
protein 3g
salt 0.2g

Ingredients

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50g cocoa powder
150g butter, softened
130g caster sugar
75g light brown soft sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
about 200g icing sugar
about 3 tbsp milk
about 5 cranberries
2-3 slices of dried mango
6cm, 5cm and 3½ cm round cutters

Method

Mix the flour, cocoa and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Beat the butter with the sugars in another bowl for about 3 mins until pale and creamy. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet, and bring together with your hands. Wrap the dough and leave to chill in the fridge for 1 hr.
Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/ gas 3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of about 4mm, and press out circles in three sizes. Place them, sorted by size, on baking sheets lined with baking parchment. Bake the smallest cookies for 6-8 mins and the remainder for about 10-12 mins. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tip the icing sugar into a small bowl and gradually add the milk, stirring until smooth and thick. Coat the tops of the biscuits with it using a small knife, then stack three of each biscuit, starting with the largest. Cut the cranberries into small pieces and stick to the snowmen as eyes, mouths and buttons. Cut the strips of mango into the shape of mini carrots, and place them on the faces as noses. Leave to dry. Will keep in an airtight container for up to three days.Recipe adapted from Let it Snow by Agnes Prus (£7.99, Hardie Grant). Photographs © Frauke Antholz.