Ingredients:

• 250g Butter

• 500g Plain flour

• 200g Light Muscovado sugar

• 2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

• 8tbsp Ground Ginger

• Handful of Almonds

• 4tsp Cocoa Powder

• Handful of Dark Chocolate chips

• 8tbsp Golden Syrup

To make these owl cookies you’ll need to mix up two different batches of cookie dough. One batch will have cocoa powder sifted into the flour to make it darker for the owl bodies, and the other will be plain without cocoa – this is for the centre of the faces.

Pre-heat the oven to 160˚/ gas mark 3 and line a baking tray with baking paper.

First make the lighter colour dough:

In a saucepan gently melt together 125g of butter, 4 tbsp of golden syrup and 100g of light muscovado sugar. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved.

In a bowl sift together 250g of plain flour, 4 tsp of ground ginger and 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda. Pour the melted ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until a soft dough is formed.

To make the darker dough repeat this but this time sift the three teaspoons of cocoa powder in with dry ingredients. Wrap up each ball of dough in cling film or baking paper and chill them in the fridge for 10 - 15 minutes.

Roll out the darker dough onto a lightly flowered surface to about 0.5cm thickness. Cut out circles using the circular cookie cutter. Using a spatula, carefully lift each circle onto your baking tray use. Use the heart cutter to cut out a heart shape slightly above the centre of each circle. You might need to use a small knife to gently lift out the hearts. Keep the heart shapes to one side as they can be baked alongside your owls.

Now roll out the lighter colour dough to the same thickness and cut out the same heart shapes. Fill the gaps in the Owl bodies with these lighter colour heart shapes. Use any left-over dough to make more hearts - so there’s no wastage 

Using the edge of your round cookie cutter make the indents of the wings on each side be careful not to cut right through.

Lightly press the end of a fork into the base of each circle to make the claws as pictured below.

Add chocolate chips for eyes and an almond for the beak, you could use sunflower seeds instead if you don't want to use nuts.

Bake in the oven until just turning golden brown - about 12-15 minutes.

Allow them to cool on the tray for five minutes then move onto a cooling rack the cookies will get crispier as they cool. Enjoy with a cup of cocoa and a cosy fire!