Gingerbread

Ever since I can remember, gingerbread has been part of my Christmas. We would make the dough with mum in the evening, leave it in the fridge and then make gingerbread house and biscuits in the morning. The smell and taste of gingerbread equals Christmas to me.

My dough recipe makes very soft gingerbread, so you can't use it for making a gingerbread house. But it is like the gingerbread I remember my grandmum would make.

Recipe

- 250g butter
- 200g sugar
- 2/3 cup syrup
- 2tsp clove
- 2tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 cup cocoa (if you want a bit browner biscuits)
- 2 eggs
- 3tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp salt
- 500g flour

Put the butter, sugar, syrup, cocoa and the spices in a pot and bring to boil. Let it cool and then start mixing it in a mixer. Add the two eggs. Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt to the flour. Then start adding this flour mixture into the dough slowly. After the dough is done refrigirate it over the night.

The morning after...

Get your dough and roll it flat with a rolling pin. Use plenty of flour. Choose your shapes and cut them out. Bake in 175 degrees about 7 minutes. I baked the first batch in 200 degrees and they burned really quickly, that's why I recomend to lower the heat a bit.

Let the biscuits cool and prepare your icing. I made royal icing.

To make royal icing you need

- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar
- food colour (optional)

Add the lemon juice into a bowl with one egg white in it. Whisk. Start sifting icing sugar in the mixture, whisking every once in a while. Add food colour in the end.

Then start decorating.

Remember to put a glad wrap over the royal icing when you're not using it. Let the icing dry for about 8 hours or over night.

Enjoy your taste of Christmas!

Next week I'll share some last minute gifts you can make super quick.