Tangerine Cream Speculaas

Ok, so it doesn't have to be tangerines - any christmasy festive citrus fruit will do (clementines, mandarins etc). I just like the idea of 80s electro biscuits for some reason.

Here's a fascinating fact to impress people with on Christmas day: "Speculaas" has the same etymological root as spectacle and speculum, the latin for mirror, because of the wooden molds (Speculaasplank) they were pressed into. The biscuit was a reflection of the mold.

• For the Speculaas
• 100g self raising flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp salt
• 50g soft brown muscovado sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 75g butter
• For the Tangerine Cream
• The zest of 5 tangerines (or mandarins, or clementines)
• A scant tbsp of tangerine juice
• 100g butter
• 100g icing sugar

Heat your oven to 180°C. Combine all the Speculaas ingredients together to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 mins.

Roll the dough out thinly (about 5mm) half at a time and stamp out disks with a 5cm cutter. Place on some baking parchment on a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 10 mins or until just beginning to colour. Take them out and cool on a rack. You will need to do several batches.

Combine the tangerine cream ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 5 minutes or so, until light and fluffy.

Spoon the cream into a piping bag and pipe little blobs onto half the biscuits, then press the rest of the biscuits on top.

There will be a lot of the tangerine cream left over (it's difficult to make a smaller quantity). Pop the lids off warm mince pies and add a teaspoon of it to really feel your arteries harden in that festive way.