Christmas is coming but the holiday season has already begun, so I decided to share with you a delicious festive recipe that will make your Christmas day even more special!
I’m talking about yummy cinnamon and ginger biscuits decorated with colourful icing: they are perfect as edible centrepieces during the holidays, they can be fantastic decorations hanging from the Christmas tree but you can even wrap them up as homemade gifts for your family and friends.
Yesterday I brought a tray full of them to my cousin’s birthday party and he was definitely satisfied with them.
I’ll give you a few hints and tips for the decoration but the key word in this recipe is: CREATIVITY! The only thing that matters is get dirty a bit and have fun!:)
So let’s get started!!!
Ingredient for about 30 cookies:
- 260 g plain flour;
- 125 g unsalted butter ( cold from the fridge);
- 50 g caster sugar;
- 2 spoonful of honey;
- a pinch of salt;
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder;
- 2 egg yolks;
- 2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon;
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger;
- a pinch of nutmeg;
- zest of 1/2 an orange.
Pour the flour, butter, salt, sugar, spices, baking powder and the orange zest into a food processor and blend them together until you get a sandy texture ( it’s really important that the butter is cold). Then add the yolks and honey and power the machine once again until you see your dough is coming together nicely. Now you can give it a rectangular shape and wrap it in cling film. Let it rest in the fridge for at least one hour ( it’s important that the gluten, developed by the flour, relaxes during the rest so that it will be easier to roll your dough out later).
Roll the gingerbread dough out 5 mm thick and cut your cookies out with whichever cookie cutter you prefer ( I’ve chosen a Christmas tree, a star, a snowflake, a boot, a gingerbread man and …. I wanna reveal you a secret: if you turn your gingerbread man cookie cutter upside down, you get an amazing reindeer shape that you can decorate in a funny way!)
Bake at 180°, in a preheated oven, for about 7-8 minutes or until they are golden-brown on the edges.
Ingredients for the royal icing:
- 1 egg white,
- a few drops of lemon juice;
- 150 g-250 g icing sugar ( the quantity depends on how thick you want it to be);
- food colourings.
Let your cookies cool down completely on a wire rack, meanwhile prepare the royal icing.
Whisk the egg white in a bowl, add the lemon juice and then gradually add also the sifted icing sugar, until you get a dense, glossy and white glaze. Yes, as simple as that!:) Pour the glaze into a piping bag with a small round nozzle and start decorating! Just let your fantasy guides you.
Let them dry out for 12 hours before putting them on a tray and serve them with a cup of tea.
So what are you waiting for? These cookies both smell and taste amazing. Make and enjoy them!
Merry Christmas!!!
