For the last few years, I’ve made these Christmas gingerbread cookies as gifts and they are always a hit. Gently spiced, these fragrant little bundles fit perfectly into little ones hands. The dough is simple to make and spreads a just little bit in the oven, keeping their shape well. The dough also takes a while to come together, but keep with it. It will form a slightly sticky ball of spiced goodness.
Ground ginger is obviously a key component, but the other spices are optional. I find swapping the allspice and cinnamon for nutmeg and cardamon changes things up. Play around with the flavours and find your ideal combination. Either way, they’re all beautiful and the house fills with the most wonderful smell. Get the kids involved, they will adore rolling the dough and selecting which cutters to use. The cookies are quick to cook and kids will love watching what they created come out of the oven.
Most cookie cutters are roughly 10 centimetres, but if you’re using bigger ones you will need to adjust the cooking time. While these say they’re Christmas cookies, these really can be made year round. I’m fond of making these on a blustery winters day, when the spices fill the house.
Ingredients
- 150gm butter, softened
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp treacle or golden syrup
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp boiling water
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cardamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees and line two baking trays. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and treacle together until pale and fluffy. In a little bowl, mix the baking soda and boiling water. Add to the butter mixture with the flour and spices. Mix together and combine. It will take a little while to come together. It will look a little dry for a while, but keep mixing. Eventually you'll have a slightly tacky ball of spiced dough. Roll the dough out to 5mm thickness, using a little flour to dust the roller if necessary (avoid using too much flour as this dries out the mixture). Cut dough into shapes using cookie cutters of your choice. Transfer on to the prepared trays. You'll need a little space between the biscuits for spreading. Form unused dough into a ball and roll and cut again. Bake until just starting to colour (about 15 minutes). Remove from oven and allow to cool on the trays; they will harden as they cool. Store in an airtight container.
