Served fresh from the oven with a cup of hot chocolate spiced with cinnamon, these festive figures won’t last long. It is best to bake a double quantity and freeze one portion without the icing. Thaw shortly before serving, then ice and reheat briefly. Preparation time 1 hour plus 11⁄2 hours resting time
Cooking time 15–20 minutes per baking tray
Makes 14 1⁄3 cup (80 ml) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups (500 g) plain (all-purpose) flour
3⁄4 cup (200 ml) milk
10 g dry (powdered) yeast
1⁄3 cup (60 g) white (granulated) sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (extract) for decoration
a selection of cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts (filberts), poppyseeds and almonds for the glaze
12⁄3 cups (200 g) icing (confectioners’) sugar
1 tablespoon clear berry jam (jelly)
2–3 drops red food colouring
1 egg white 1 Use 2 baking trays. Line with baking paper. To make the dough, mix oil with salt and flour in a bowl. Heat milk until lukewarm. Stir the yeast, sugar and eggs into 2⁄3 cup (170 ml) milk and pour into flour mixture. 2 Knead to form a smooth dough, if necessary adding just enough of the remaining milk to make the dough soft and very slightly sticky. Shape dough into a ball, cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. 3 Knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface for about 5 minutes. Roll out dough to make 2 rectangles, each 15 x 30 cm. Cut out 14 triangles of equal size and place on baking trays. 4 Brush the dough triangles with milk. Decorate the faces using nuts and seeds. Cover and let rise for 30–40 minutes. 5 Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake cookies, one tray at a time, for 15–20 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a wire rack. 6 Combine 1⁄3 cup (50 g) icing sugar, the jam and the food colouring. Use to paint hats on the Santas. Beat egg white until stiff; beat in the remaining icing sugar until the mixture is very shiny and forms peaks. 7 Pour icing into a piping bag and pipe wavy lines for the beards and hat trim. Leave to dry at room temperature or in an oven heated to 70°C. Try this, too…
To make Dough Boys, make dough as for main recipe; roll out 2.5 cm thick. Cut out 4 dough boys. Decorate with raisins for the eyes, mouth and buttons. Brush with a mixture of 2 tbsp milk and 1 tbsp sugar. Bake as described in main recipe for 15–20 minutes. | 
