Christmas is almost upon us and with the month of December comes the season of baking delicious treats. Whether you need to whip up a batch of cookies for the kids or serve a holiday treat at a work party, make sure your kitchen is stocked with these must-haves.
Gingerbread cookies are a holiday staple. They are easy to make; there are just a couple of things to keep in mind while preparing the dough. It must be chilled for at least three hours and up to two days – so it’s advisable to make it in advance. The cookies can be prepared up to several weeks ahead, stored in an airtight container at room temperature. When the dough is rolled thin, it will bake crisp and almost cracker-like. Yet, when rolled thick (my preference), the cookies turn out plump and moist. In either case, the flavour will be complex and almost hot-spicy, thanks to the beautiful spices used in the recipe: cloves, ginger and cinnamon. You can even add some cardamom or allspice. I suggest you always use brown sugar for them – you can also use honey or molasses. You will also need royal icing for the decoration.
Cookie dough
- 350 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ginger
- ¼ tsp cloves
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp orange zest
- 115 g butter
- 30 ml honey
- 2 eggs
- 100 g brown sugar
Royal icing
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 to 2 ½ tbsp milk
- Food colouring – optional
- For the cookies, combine flour, salt and spices. Add sugar, softened butter, orange zest, honey and eggs. Combine, knead until the dough forms, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
- Take out the chilled dough and roll it out between two sheets parchment paper (about 5 mm thick). Cut out shapes with your cookie cutter and place them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180°C. Bake for about 15 minutes. Let cool completely before decorating.
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For the royal icing, combine powdered sugar with milk. You can add food colouring of your own choice, or leave it white. Put the icing into a piping bag or a plastic squeeze bottle and decorate the cookies. Allow the icing to dry (best over night). Once dry, you can stack the cookies between sheets of parchment paper in an airtight container at room temperature for several weeks.
