GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Oh dear, I'm kinda late with Christmas recipes this year... I really wanted to put this recipe on my blog before the Christmas Eve as these are my favourite festive cookies I've ever done + I wanted you to try this recipe out, but then... Oh, well... Life happened. So, let's considerate this post as a Christmas diary entry thing? How about that?

Seriously though, these cookies are super soft, spicy and there's literally no way to mess them up.

INGREDIENTS:

300g plain flour ( + some extra flour to roll the dough)

150g honey

200g caster sugar

100g butter (cutted into small cubes)

1 large egg

1 egg yolk

1-2 tablespoons of gingerbread spice mix*

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Icing:

2 egg whites

150-200g icing sugar

sprinkles

*you can buy it or make your own spice mix by blending together 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of ground ginger, 1-2 teaspoons of freshly grated nutmeg, 1-2 teaspoons of ground cloves, 3-4 whole star anise seeds (ground), 10 coriander seeds (ground), 10 cardamom pods (ground), 1 teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, pinch of white pepper. Obviously, you can change the proportions on your wish or eliminate some of the spices, if you don’t like them at all.

METHOD:

First of all, preheat the oven to 170ºC.

Grab a saucepan, put honey and spice mix into it and bring the mixture to boil, stiring occasionally. 

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, sift the flour. Once the flavoured honey hits its boiling temperature, pour it into the bowl, trying to cover all the flour surface. Stir it thoroughly with a spoon and set aside for a couple of minutes. Then add the eggs, butter, sugar and bicarbonate of soda.

Now it’s time to get a lil’ bit messy! Work the dough with your hands until all the ingredients are well combined. The dough should be soft and a little bit sticky, but easy to roll once sprinkled with some extra flour.

Roll the dough to about 1-1,5cm thickness and cut out any shape you want your cookies to be. Mine are just simply rounded cookies ‘cause I’m a lame cookie conservative, don’t judge me. Remember though, that the bigger ones may need extra minutes to bake.

Put the cookies onto a tin covered with a sheet of parchment paper and bake for about 7-10 minutes or until they look dry and slightly golden on the surface.

Icing:

Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer and add the icing sugar spoon by spoon until thick ribbons form when the whisk is lifted. You can flavour the icing with some drops of lemon/orange juice or add any kind of extract of your choice.

NB. Be sure that the cookies are completely cool before you decorate them!

Conserve them in a jar or an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Song of the day: Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World