My kids are down to plain crackers for recess, the house is strewn with scraps or wrapping paper and I’m pretty sure I haven’t showered since Friday night: strap yourselves in, people, it’s almost Christmas!

Who’s busy? Lordy, we are! I didn’t know I had so many friends until they all want to host a Christmas party… or be hosted. Plus there’s the shopping. How can my list of wants be longer than Santa’s beard but I can’t think of a single great idea for my husband?!

And no month fills me with more baking FOMO (fear of missing out) than December. It’s like everywhere I look someone is making a Christmas tree out of an ice cream cone or a reindeer out of an Arrowroot biscuit. But this year, I’ve just been too busy. That kindergarten concert isn’t going to attend itself, you know!

I’m hoping to squeeze in a few more red and green treats – you know by now that I love a theme – and these Kitschy Wreath Biscuits with cranberry, pepita and almond are a simple way to show that you can find Christmas colours in nature. Your friends will be so impressed.

They’re basically a Woman’s Weekly recipe and they’re even more basically… just gingerbread. You could easily use this recipe for all kinds of shapes then just top with royal icing. You could also not top them with anything, if you are immune to the judgmental sniggers of your colleagues. I’ll leave that up to you.

Kitsch aside, I love the way the pepitas go all crispy and the cranberries are tart set against the gingerbread. They also look like Christmas wreaths, in case that wasn’t obvious thus far. If you make them, I’d love to see your pics.

Enjoy!

Emma x

PS: What is a Garmin? And why does a six year old need one? I tried to surreptitiously ask a kid at a birthday party over the weekend. He started saying it could tell him what time was on the clock and then ran off at the first whiff of a cheeseburger. So, it’s a watch?

Kitschy Wreath Bikkies

Ingredients

• 150g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup treacle
• 1 egg
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger*
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom*
• 1/2 teaspoon raw sugar
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pepitas

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees.
2. Cream the butter, brown sugar, treacle and just the egg yolk using an electric mixer. And I mean CREAM. Always leave that baby running for at least 10 minutes, even if it’s handheld, the result will be worth the pain and you’ll end up with mad baking guns! (Read: muscles)
3. Stir through the flours and bicarb along with all of the spices.*
4. Work together to form a dough and shape into a disc. Wrap in cling wrap and rest in the fridge for about thirty minutes. Give or take. This isn’t NASA.
5. Roll out and cut into circles with a smaller circle in the middle, which you remove… you know what? Just look at the pictures. You’re smarter than this.
6. Brush with the remaining egg white, beaten.
7. Add the cranberries, pepitas and almond flakes sporadically so your husband’s work colleagues will appreciate your seemingly carefree, artistic flare.
8. Make a few that are simply sprinkled with raw sugar. Again, see photos.
9. Bake until golden. Keep a close eye on them, they burn quickly and, much like a fake tan, will be ridiculed mercilessly if they get too much colour.

*The path to baking greatness is strewn with Great British Bake Off contestants who were too conservative when adding spices to cakes and biscuits. In almost every recipe I say you can safely double the quantity… except this one, where I’ve already done it for you.