Christmas Orange Drop Biscuits
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These Christmas orange drop biscuits are a decades-long Advent baking tradition — made with spelt flour so a gluten-intolerant daughter never has to miss out.
Baking Christmas presents is something that’s been a habit for decades now. Christmas Orange Drop Biscuits are one of the favorite Advent bakes here — baking during Advent has become customary, a nice way to take the mind off the long, cold, dark nights. Comfort food during winter is never something to feel guilty about.
This routine got skipped once due to time constraints, replaced with store-bought chocolates packed into pretty Tupperware containers — the only present given to friends who came for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that year, alongside skipping the shopping altogether. It wasn’t a bad solution, but it lacked that personal, special something that homemade gifts have.
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Homemade for a Reason
Dietary restrictions — mainly a daughter’s gluten and dairy intolerance — mean treats like these are rarely enjoyed here these days. Not wanting her to miss out when her friends are eating all these goodies, this recipe got reworked using spelt flour instead of all-purpose, and it works well. These orange drop biscuits happen to be her favorite, baked most years for Christmas presents.
Tools you may need
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- KitchenAid Mixer with the cake batter attachment — beating butter and sugar is a tedious process otherwise.
- Tupperware Silicone Baking Sheet — the easiest way to roll out dough without too much mess.
- Tupperware cookie cutters — a safer choice than conventional cutters with sharp edges, especially with kids helping out.
How to Make Christmas Orange Drop Biscuits?
Ingredients List
- Juice & rind of 1 orange
- 200g butter, 350g soft brown sugar
- 250ml milk
- 1 tsp bicarb, 2 tsp baking powder
- 675g flour (spelt works well)
- For icing: orange juice & rind, icing sugar
Cooking Instructions
Preheat:
Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Line or grease baking trays.
Cream:
Cream together the butter and brown sugar.
Add the Orange:
Mix in the orange juice and rind, combining well.
Combine:
Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder, and add to the mixture alternately with the milk. Mix thoroughly.
Shape:
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared trays, spacing them about 3 inches apart. (Alternatively, roll the dough out and cut it into shapes — see the notes below.)
Bake:
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove and let cool.
Make the Icing:
Mix all the icing ingredients together until you reach a spreadable consistency, adding water if needed.
Finish:
Cover each biscuit with a little icing and let it set before storing in an airtight biscuit tin.
Serving Suggestions
These biscuits are built for gifting and sharing. Try them:
As a Christmas present: paired with a batch of crunchy coconut oat biscuits for a two-biscuit gift box.
Alongside Christmas cake: a lighter counterpart to a slice of eggless Christmas cake.
Packed for school: a favorite for snack time and sharing with friends.
Final Notes for Baking Success
Bake back-to-back: to save energy, prepare the dough ahead so the oven stays in constant use until the whole batch is done.
Set aside real time if kids are helping: around 3 hours or more works well — it takes a lot of concentration, and kids get easily distracted.
Don’t be afraid to tweak the recipe: as a cookie, this recipe is forgiving. Ingredients get substituted here often to suit dietary needs or whatever’s in the store cupboard.
Making It Your Own
Instead of all-purpose flour, spelt flour is used here — it works well as a direct substitute. The milk can also be left out altogether to turn this into a rolled biscuit, which is what’s usually done here, since it’s more fun for kids to cut and shape.
Getting Kids Involved
This has been a shared activity since a daughter was about 3 years old — rolling the dough, then letting her cut the shapes with a variety of cookie cutters, a horse shape being a longtime favorite. Now old enough to handle regular cutters too, she still enjoys cutting the cookies and helping bake the Christmas presents each year, right down to packaging them up for teachers and friends.
A Budget-Friendly, Personal Gift
Baking these as presents was also a practical choice one particularly tight year, after an expensive trip to India left little room in the budget. Homemade and handmade gifts have a way of rising above store-bought ones anyway — most people are already overwhelmed with too much stuff, and food makes for an easier, more personal present.
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Recipe Card
Christmas Orange Drop Biscuits
- Total Time: 72
- Yield: 20 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A decades-long Advent baking tradition — soft orange biscuits with a simple orange icing, made with spelt flour so no one has to miss out.
Ingredients
- FOR THE BISCUITS
- Juice and rind of 1 orange
- 200g butter
- 350g soft brown sugar
- 250ml milk
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 675g flour, sifted (spelt flour works well)
- FOR THE ICING
- Juice and rind of 1 orange
- 1 tablespoon butter (optional)
- 150g icing sugar
- A little water, to mix
Instructions
-
Preheat:
Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Line or grease baking trays.
-
Cream:
Cream together the butter and brown sugar.
-
Add the Orange:
Mix in the orange juice and rind, combining well.
-
Combine:
Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder, and add to the mixture alternately with the milk. Mix thoroughly.
-
Shape:
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared trays, spacing them about 3 inches apart. (Alternatively, roll the dough out and cut it into shapes — see the notes below.)
-
Bake:
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove and let cool.
-
Make the Icing:
Mix all the icing ingredients together until you reach a spreadable consistency, adding water if needed.
-
Finish:
Cover each biscuit with a little icing and let it set before storing in an airtight biscuit tin.
Notes
The milk can be left out to make this a rolled, cut-out biscuit instead — more fun for kids to shape. Spelt flour works well in place of all-purpose flour.
- Prep Time: 60
- Cook Time: 12
- Category: Biscuits
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 20
- Calories: 30
- Fat: 10
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