ALLISON’S

Danish Snowball Biscuits

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Allison, a former team member at Luminary, has been making these biscuits with her mum and grandma at Christmas time since she was small, but her family have been making them for generations. They would always agree to save some for Christmas morning, but if anyone couldn’t resist pinching one, they would know from the tell-tale flurry of sugar ‘snow’ they left behind!

MAKES 30

115g unsalted butter, softened (you can substitute dairy-free margarine if you’d like to make these vegan or dairy free)

170g vegetable shortening (we use Trex), at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

180g icing sugar

400g plain flour

1 tsp fine salt

125g walnuts, finely chopped

Using an electric mixer, mix together the butter, vegetable shortening and vanilla extract until smooth and fully combined. Add 100g of the icing sugar to the fats, a little at a time, and mix in.

Add the flour, salt and chopped walnuts and mix together to combine. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and refrigerate for 20–30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas Mark 4 and line a baking tray with baking paper. Use a dessertspoon to scoop out chunks of dough from the bowl, weigh them at about 30g each, and roll gently into balls between the palms of your hands. Place the balls on the lined baking tray, spacing them 5cm apart.

Bake for 20–25 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown and firm to a gentle touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for 3 minutes.

Tip the remaining 80g of icing sugar into a shallow bowl.

While the biscuits are still warm, roll each one in the bowl of icing sugar until well coated, then leave them to cool completely on a flat surface.

When completely cool, roll each biscuit in the icing sugar for a second time and sieve icing sugar over the top so that they are fully coated before serving.