30 mins to prepare and 12 mins to cook, 4 hrs 00 mins to cool 36
Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a wide pan, place over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda.

Mix together the flour and cocoa powder, and sift half of this mixture into the sugar mixture. Add the beaten egg, stir to mix and sift in the remaining flour mixture. Stir until the mixture forms a soft dough, then spread onto a foil-lined baking sheet.

Flatten the dough into a large circle, cover and chill for 3-4 hours or until firm. Preheat the oven to gas 5, 190ºC, fan 170ºC. Cut the dough in half and roll out each piece on a floured work surface.

Using a 10cm (4in) tree cutter, cut out 36 trees and place on baking sheets lined with nonstick baking paper. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, then cool. To decorate, melt the white and plain chocolate in two separate bowls over pans of gently simmering water. Spread each mixture onto 2 large plates.

Dip one side of half the biscuits in white chocolate, then sprinkle over the dark chocolate sprinkles. Dip the other half of the biscuits in plain chocolate; sprinkle with white chocolate chips. Leave to set.