These cookies are soft gingerbread that takes minutes to cook. Grab some Christmas cookie cutters and make these cookies for gifts or the Christmas table. Don’t spend a fortune this year. Make it personal.
Christmas this year will be hard for most people all over the world. Costs are spiralling everywhere and I feel more personal touches are the go. I’ve been working on some cute cookies that are fun and look great.
What’s for Christmas?
These cookies!
In cute cookie boxes, they can be small make-ahead gifts. Cookies can also be part of a table setting for the whole family. Put them onto each place setting. You could also have them ready as a special treat when visitors drop around. I have been working with I love this shop . They have everything I ever need to make for Christmas baking
Gingerbread cookies- they don’t spread.
I am not sure what you expect of a gingerbread cookie. These are not very sweet. They are made for icing because, once the icing is added the cookies find their perfect balance. They’re made using honey, and there is no need to chill or rest the dough. It puffs a little but the cookies stay perfectly shaped without spreading. That means it’s a great dough for gingerbread houses, gingerbread people and Chritmas tree hanging cookies.
I’m not going to lie, you will need to have a little practice on baking paper before piping your cookies. I always do. Plan what design you want to draw and have a practice. For these ones, once the white filling icing is in place add the snow ( glitter or whichever you like) and then let the white base dry. Once just touch dry add the Christmas trees. This prevents to top colour from running
How to Make Honey Gingerbread.
Add the honey, spices and sugar to a pot
Bring to a boil
Add the bicarbonate of soda
Add the soft butter and set aside to cool a bit before adding an egg and whisking together
Mix the dough by hand or in a machine if you want. All of the flour will disappear and you will have a lovely honey-coloured dough
Roll the dough between two pieces of paper around 1 cm or 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes. If the dough is quite soft transfer it (paper and all) to a tray, and refrigerate briefly. This will make it easier to remove the dough without it stretching and becoming misshaped. The dough can be rolled out many times without becoming unusable, so you can use it all up.
The dough takes just 8 minutes to cook. It will puff up just slightly. Cool it and set it aside.
Making Royal Icing to pipe onto the Gingerbread
The cleanest easiest way to make royal icing is to buy a packet of powdered icing and follow the packet’s directions. Simply put it into the bowl of a planetary mixer and mix with the paddle attachment until it is thick and fluffy.
Once you have a thick and fluffy icing use 4 bowls to divide the icing, (2 white- one thick one thin, blue, and green) cover each bowl at all times as the icing will form a crust and dry up. There are two thicknesses of icing to use. One is a little thicker, to make the outside lines and the other is fractionally thinner to flood in the colour. Instructions are below. You can see the icing now with snowflake sprinkles below.
If you want to make the icing yourself you can find a royal icing recipe here
Gingerbread Snow Globe Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- Set the oven to 170C (340F). Combine the flour and salt and set aside
- Put the honey, caster sugar and spices into a pot. Melt the ingredients together and stir occasionally until the contents simmer. Simmer until it bubbles and then add the bi carbonate of soda. Take off the heat. Stir. The honey will thicken and bubble up.
- Stir in the butter a bit at a time. The mixture will deflate. Cool down enough to mix in the egg. (If you can put the tip of your finger into the mixture and hold it there for a few seconds and it only just feels warm, you will be able to add the egg) Whisk the egg in to the mixture in the pot. Pour the butter mixture into the flour, salt mix and stir until the mixture forms a dough. ( by hand or machine)
- Spread out a piece of baking paper on the benchtop and pour on the dough. Cover with another piece of baking paper and roll out to about 1 cm thick (1/4inch) You can use a little flour to dust if the mixture is sticky to roll out but it isn't usually. Use a cutter to cut shapes then a pallet knife to slip under and lift the cut pieces and put them on a tray lined with baking paper. If the shapes are hard to remove due to stretching and sticking, put the rolled out dough onto a tray (paper and all) and chill for a few minutes to make it easier to loosen the cut pieces without stretching and misshaping them
- Bake the biscuits for approximately 8 minutes or until slightly puffed and just starting to colour. Set aside to cool.
- Follow the packet instructions. Whip the royal icing until thick and fluffy. Separate the icing into 4 bowls. (or more if you want to make more colours. I like to keep it simple). I start with a smaller amount for the thickest outline colour, then the most icing for the white filling. I then set aside a small amount for blue and another small amount for green. Cover all the bowls with cling wrap
- The thickest outline colour will need to be thinned enough to be piped. Add just a small amount of water a few drops and stir well. (1/4 teaspoon at a time at most). Put the outline colour into a piping bag and snip a tiny amount from the tip. You will not need any piping tubes. Start with a small hole. Test by piping a line on a test paper to make sure it comes out of the tip well. If needed cut a little extra from the tip. The colour should squeeze out a bit like toothpaste (only a very thin line). Once all the outlines are drawn on the cookies, prepare the flood icing
- Add drops of water bit by bit to the next bowl of white icing until it resembles thickened cream. Always add water very slowly. Put this icing into another piping bag and cut a small hole. Test how quickly the icing flows out of the bag, then when happy start to fill the cookies. Sit for a couple of minutes before adding sprinkles or anything else you like to represent the snow of the snow globe. Let the white base dry. ( approx 20 minutes)
- Continue with the blue, making lines that look like base the snow globe would sit on. You will not need to add too much water as the colour will take the place of some of that water you would add if thinning. The green and the blue colours do not need to be as thin as the filling (flood) whiteNow finish with the green colour adding colour first to thin a little and add water if needed. Practice drawing the Christmas tree on the paper before beginning. Keep the design simple. Only pipe onto the dried white base.
- Add extra coloured balls and sprinkles if desired
Notes
I ordered from I love this shop. This post was supported by them however all ideas and content are my own. I receive no kickback from orders.
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