The surge of excitement that sweeps through the office when someone brings in sweet treats is undeniable. As it’s December – which is officially the time of indulgence – why not wow your colleagues with some delicious Christmas baking? Whether you’re having a festive bake-off, a secret Santa party or just want to impress your co-workers, cakes and biscuits are definitely the way to go. If you’re stuck for Christmas baking ideas, take a look at some of the recipes below.

Christmas tree cookies

Make your workspace all the more homely by decorating the mini office tree with some homemade biscuits. Using warming cinnamon and spicy ginger, these easy Christmas cookies are simply delicious. After mixing all the ingredients together, leave the dough in the fridge to firm up – you don’t want the cookies crumbling! After shaping and cooking them for around 12 minutes, use a skewer to poke a small hole in the top of each cookie as soon as you get them out of the oven. Once completely cooled and decorated as desired, loop a piece of ribbon through the hole and hang them on the office tree. Warning: you may see the tree lose its tasty decorations in a matter of minutes.

Gingerbread cake

The wonderful taste of gingerbread doesn’t have to be restricted to miniature men and houses! Our moist gingerbread cake features all the components of the classic biscuit, but comes in the soft and squishy form of a cake. The key to this gingerbread loaf recipe is a generous helping of a variety of spices. Ground ginger is of course the star, met by our special blend of cinnamon, coriander, caraway and nutmeg for an extra festive kick, while lashings of golden syrup gives it an indulgent sweetness. You’ll need to bake this cake for up to two hours and keep it for a week before eating – but trust us, it’s really worth the wait.

Mini Christmas cakes

These adorable mini festive cakes are sure to win over the hearts of even the grumpiest colleagues. Assemble the ingredients for a usual Christmas cake, including almonds, currants, raisins, sultanas, glacé cherries and zingy citrus peel. And what’s a fruit cake without plenty of spice? Add sweet nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice to bring your bakes to life. Once cooked, pour over a decent swig of brandy to keep it moist. When the cake is completely cool, cut it into four squares before brushing each one with tangy marmalade and gloriously thick marzipan. Now for the fun bit: Christmas cake designs. Try creating mini pieces of holly out of icing, constructing marzipan Christmas trees or simply wrapping them up in pretty ribbons.

Christmas biscotti

Busy bees will love this Christmas biscotti recipe, as you can make it well in advance. Dotted with delicious pistachios, these rich and creamy nuts will absorb the delicate flavours in our mixed spice seasoning, including festive cinnamon and nutmeg. Adding dried cherries into the mix will add a different texture to your biscuits, and zesty lemon lifts the flavours. To get that distinctive biscotti crunch, you’ll need to bake them twice at different temperatures. Once cooled and dusted with icing sugar, pop them into a tin until you need them. Dunk your pistachio biscotti into a mug of hot tea, dessert wine or eggnog – it is Christmas, after all!

Chocolate yule log

The classic Christmas log cake has its origins in Viking times, when families burned the most robust log they could find as a celebration of life and prosperity. Traditions evolve though, and today's version is somewhat tastier. With sweet cinnamon threading through rich chocolatey sponge, a yuletide log is a surefire winner for all tastes. The trick to getting your cooked sponge into a log shape is to pop it onto a sheet of greaseproof paper, roll while it’s still hot and leave it in the paper until it’s completely cool. However, if you do get a few cracks, don’t worry. Just smother the whole thing in icing – we won’t tell!