What is Christmas without baking ? The smell of the fragrant spices that turns the whole house into a magical place, it’s everyone’s guilty pleasure. So tonight, I’m sharing my favourite gingerbread cookies recipe with you, while testing out my new cookie cutters.
Ingredients :
380gr plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
110gr butter, room temperature
100gr white sugar
1 large egg
140ml date syrup
Start off with the spice mix. Ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. The recipe for guaranteed success.Add them to your flour and whisk well to evenly distribute the spices. A pinch of salt and some baking soda and we’re ready to bring out the food processor.
You can also do this by hand, but when you can, help yourself. In goes the room temperature butter, sugar, one large egg and some date syrup. You could use any other type of syrup or molasses, I had this at hand and it cuts down some of the refined sugar intake (but it still is sweet, so these are not diet cookies). When all is mixed in, add the flour and give it another blend to form the dough. Split in half and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180°C or 375°F.
Flour your counter top and start rolling the dough, moving it around constantly so it doesn’t stick. You should end up with a quarter centimeter thick dough. These cookie cutters looked cute, and I had a hard time finding a rolling pin with the decorations big enough to leave a nice print on the dough. I start by pressing the base to cut out the shape, then I press on the stick to leave the pattern print on the surface. They work out nicely, I’m very happy with my purchase. And I have four different patterns, so I’m ready to master the craft.
Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, depending on how soft or crisp you like your cookies. You could make some icing to decorate them, but I think the beauty of these cookie cutters is that they look adorable as is, and I don’t have to add more sugar on top. They are perfect with your coffee in the morning, with a cup of tea in the afternoon, or a glass of milk before bed.
The perfect Christmas gingerbread cookie.