Method

• Prehead the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas Mark 4.
• Heat the butter and sugar in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the condensed milk and stir together.
• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a bowl and pour over the condensed milk mixture.
• Work the ingredients together with a spoon then with clean hands bring the mixture together into a soft dough.
• Roll the gingerbread out on a floured surface to the thickness of 0.5cm. Cut rounds out and place onto a baking sheet.
• Use a very small cutter or knife to cut out circles in the centre of the biscuits (about the size of a pound coin).
• Place the boiled sweets into a strong plastic food bag and holding the open end of the bag tightly closed smash the bag onto a hard surface (like a work top), to break the sweets.
• Place the broken sweets into the holes in the biscuits and make a small hole in the top of the biscuit with a skewer or cocktail stick.
• Bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes until just golden.
• Remove the biscuits from the oven and check that the small holes for hanging the biscuits are still open.
• Leave to cool completely before decorating with icing. Allow the biscuits to dry before hanging on the tree.

The biscuits will go soft if they're no kept in an airtight container, so for optimum crunch, hang on Christmas Eve.