Spiced Tree Cookies

Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan) | 325F | gas 3. Grease and line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Melt the butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat once melted.

Sieve together the flour, ground spices, bicarbonate of soda and stir the melted ingredients into the dry ingredients to make a dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to 3 mm thickness. Use a Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter to cut out 24 shapes from the dough. Place them on the lined baking trays well spaced apart.

Use a sharp paring knife to cut thin strips from the centre of half of the pieces of dough, working from the base to about halfway towards the top.

Do the same with the remaining pieces of dough but work from the top down to the middle of them.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until set and starting to colour at the edges. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool on the trays for 5-10 minutes. Move to a wire rack to finish cooling.