These Easy DIY Christmas Biscuits are made using Cantuccini and Amaretti biscuits & add some fantastic sparkle to your Christmas food.
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Kids love making these easy DIY Christmas Biscuits, (just make sure you buy more than you need to cover those kiddy munchies!) and they make super cute gifts.
They’re also super quick as I use premade biscuits bought from the Ciao Gusto Italian Deli at Ocado!
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What Are Cantuccini and Amaretti Biscuits
Cantucci biscuits are also known as Biscotti. They are a dry crunchy almond biscuit from Tuscany that are made without any butter or oil.
Amaretti biscuits are almond flavoured macaroons style biscuits that can be soft, chewy or crunchy depending on the recipe.
Ingredients For Easy DIY Christmas Biscuits
To make your Festive Cantuccini and Amaretti Biscuits you will need (I’ve linked to most things on Ocado)
- 1-2 bags of Sapori Soft Amaretti
- 1-2 bags of Sapori Cantuccini Toscani Almond
- 1 bar of good quality white chocolate (I used M&S)
- 1 bag of Sprinkletti – Unicorn Poop
- 1 pot of Scrumptious Sprinkles – Silver Pearl Mix
- 1 bag of Sprinkletti – Flower power (UK Amazon Sprinkletti Store)
- Greaseproof paper/parchment paper
- Small bowls to put the sprinkles in
You can of course change the sprinkles to suit your own taste but if your looking for fun colours do check out Scumptious Sprinkles and Sprinkletti. Their mixes are gorgeous!
How To Make Your Easy DIY Christmas Biscuits
How To Melt White Chocolate
First, melt your white chocolate slowly in a small bowl. I prefer to do it bain-marie style and put the bowl over a small pan of boiling water. It only takes a few minutes but you have more control. When the edges start to melt gently start stirring the chocolate with a wooden skewer. When about 3/4 has melted take it off the heat (and away from the boiling water) and keep stirring until all the chocolate has melted.
You can melt chocolate in a microwave but it’s easy to overheat and burn it if you’re not careful. To melt in a microwave use a low setting and heat in 30 second bursts. Checking and stirring each time. When 3/4 has melted remove from the microwave and stir gently until it has all melted.
Whichever way you choose to melt the chocolate, make sure you use an oven glove or tea towel to remove the bowl once the chocolate has melted. The bowl will get hot! Allow the bowl to cool until it is warm enough to touch.
The white chocolate may be too runny to start with so you will need to allow it to cool down and thicken. Once the chocolate is thick enough to not run off your biscuit you can begin the fun part!
Decorating Your Cantuccini Biscuits
I roll out a large sheet of parchment paper to work on.
Take your cantuccini biscuits and roll them in the white chocolate so that the whole of the top is covered. Use the back of a spoon or knife to spread the chocolate over any gaps.
Next, gently press the white chocolate into your sprinkles and place it on parchment paper to harden.
I tend to do them in batches of 4 or 5. So dip 5 in white chocolate and then dip them in sprinkles.
I added the big ball sprinkles separately so I could have a little control over where they went.
Decorating Your Easy DIY Christmas Biscuit
The amaretti biscuits are a little more fiddly to make. I tipped out some of the larger Scrumptious Sprinkles – Silver Pearl Mix into the lid so I could get more of an even mix of small and large balls.
For these dip half to a third of each biscuit in chocolate and then dip the top side in the silver balls, before laying them on parchment paper. Then pick some of the large coloured balls from the Unicorn Poop packet and place them into the silver balls and chocolate.
You can carefully move the balls around a bit using a cocktail stick to make room if you need to. And you can also use the cocktail stick to add a bit of extra white chocolate if the balls aren’t sticking.
I found putting the larger balls around the edge and towards made them stay in place more easily.
Your Finished Festive Cantuccini and Amaretti Biscuits
Leave them for a few hours for the chocolate to harden. The mix of creamy white chocolate sprinkles and almonds in the biscuits work really well together and they’re rather yummy eaten warm… just don’t tell the kids!
Ciao Gusto At Ocado
We love our Traditional Christmas Dinner, which is a mix of meat and vegetarian dishes. But we also love to indulge in our love of Mediterranean Cuisine. So I love that Ocado has the Ciao Gusto Italian Deli range as part of its food range. It makes picking your favourite authentic Italian food and drink super easier
For the first time, a simple tab brings together over 30 of Italy’s most popular brands, so you can find exactly what you’re looking for – and discover new and exciting ingredients – in just one click.
You’ll be familiar with many products, such as Riso Gallo, Filippo Berio, Giovanni Rana and Cirio who are joined by Less well-known products in the UK such as Valsoia dairy-free ice cream, Auricchio cheeses and Negroni charcuterie – everything you’ll find at the Ciao Gusto Italian Deli has been specially selected for its reputation as an authentic Italian favourite.
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