Making Christmas Gingerbread Cookies
Last week I did a {Retro Crash} to introduce you to a fabulous English trifle recipe just in time for Christmas. I thought I’d throw in another tried and tested Christmas delight. My good friend Sally from Heavenly Cakes gave me this gingerbread foundation recipe. I used it a couple of Christmases ago to make these:
I hope she doesn’t mind that I’m sharing the recipe with you here, because it rocks! If you’re in New Zealand and need a fabulous cake, look her up. They have sent their amazing creations all over the country.
Gingerbread Foundation Recipe
- 500g plain flour
- 1 Tablespoon of baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 Tablespoon of ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 125g soft butter
- 225g soft brown sugar
- 1 cup treacle or golden syrup
- Sift your dry ingredients into a bowl.
- Place butter / sugar / golden syrup into a pot and stir over a gentle heat until dissolved. Allow this to cool a little.
- Mix into the flour to make a firm dough
- Chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out and shaping as required
- Cook at 160 degrees Celsius for 10-15 minutes (It depends on how accurate your oven is. Be careful not to burn them or they will be ruined)
Use a mix-master to make the dough, or a food processor would be fine. (I did mine in batches in my small food processor).
This recipe makes a lovely smooth dough which rolls out really well. I used a variety of Christmas shaped cookie cutters.
How to make and use royal icing
I used the Joy of Baking site to learn how to make and decorate with royal icing.
Here’s the recipe:
Royal Icing Using Egg Whites:
- 2 large (60 grams) egg whites
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 cups (330 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
Royal Icing Using Meringue Powder:
- 4 cups (440 grams) confectioners’ (powdered or icing) sugar
- 3 tablespoons (30 grams) meringue powder
- 1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla, lemon, almond)
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup (120 – 180 ml) warm water
Refer to the recipe and tutorial for directions, because they are different for each version.
Decorating with royal icing
The two techniques you use to decorate with royal icing are borders and ‘flooding’. Sounds tricky, but not really (if I can do it . . . )
Check out the tutorial to learn how to do it. The most difficult thing is keeping your hand steady for the borders!
If you’re interested in how I decorated my cookies:
- Hearts – flooded with royal icing and sprinkled with raspberry jelly crystals
- Green trees – flooded with royal icing and sprinkled with lime jelly crystals
- Trimmed trees – stripes of royal icing and ‘decorated’ with coloured cachous
- Snowmen – flooded with royal icing with mini chocolate melts for buttons
- Stars – bordered with royal icing and sprinkled with dessicated coconut
My 5 top tips for not stuffing it up
- I rolled my dough quite thin because I like a crunchier cookie.
- If you use a cutter that is too detailed it often doesn’t cut out clearly and little bits get stuck inside the cutter (Ask me about my mini Santa cookies. Didn’t see them on the plate? There’s a reason!). Larger more simple shapes are best and easier to decorate.
- When piping the borders, touch down and then pull the piping tip away from the cookie so you are ‘laying down’ the icing rather than trying to squeeze it onto the cookie. You’ll get a smoother more even line. I learnt this after the first few wonky hearts ;)
- I used the end of a teaspoon to flood the icing, it makes it easier to push it out to the borders.
- Don’t eat too much of the dough! It is so yummy, but it makes you sick. Probably because I really did eat too much ;)
Good luck!
Have you made gingerbread before?
I’m linking up with Kate from Puddles and Gumboots where you’ll find lots of other great ideas for making Magical Christmas Memories
They look AMAZING!
Wow! So talented. My husband tells people I burn water, so I look at all you skilled baking types with inspiration (and slight envy!) :)
Lina@MothersLoveLetters’s last post..WIN: $50 Hamper Gourmet Cookies, Made With Love.
Lina, I am so sure I replied to your comment, but it’s not here! I burned a lot of cakes and wasted a lot of ingredients in my time. My mum even banned me from the kitchen when I was young! Now with the help of Google, I’ll give anything a go ;)
I’m not traditionally a fan of ginger bread cookies.. too gingery for me.. but a friend of mine has a modified one that’s equal amounts cinamon and ginger with a little nutmeg to boot… and they are DELICIOUS!
I’m sure she woudn’t mind me sharing the recipe! I made some a couple of weeks ago… AWESOME! and it makes a HUGE amont of cookies if your cutters (like mine) aren’t too large.
My number one tip… when rolling the dough out.. put it between sheets of baking paper.. then you don’t need to flour the bench and the roller.. and for me it made for much more uniform biscuits and also much less mess :-)… Less mess + yummy cookies == happy mummy!
The Not too gingery-Gingerbread recipe:
Ingredients:
400g plain flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
120g butter, softened
150g soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 large egg
100g golden syrup
Method:
1. Sift together all the dry ingredients.
2. Using an electric beater, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla.
3. Beating slowly, mix in the egg and golden syrup.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients and beat slowly until all ingredients are combined.
5. Tip the mixture out onto a work surface and mould together.
6. Press into a disc and cover with plastic wrap.
7. Refrigerate for one hour.
8. Preheat oven to 180oC.
9. Sprinkle work surface with a little flour then roll out the dough to 5-6mm thick. (or just put mixture between two large pieces of baking paper and roll out (trim at the sides and add at the end if you’re going to go past the edge of the paper!))
10. Cut into desired shapes.
11. Place on a lined baking tray.
12. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
13. Allow to cool on tray for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
14. Have fun decorating!!
p.s. sorry for bloating the comments!
So great to see the not too gingery recipe in the comments because I love ginger in Thai food and Indian food but not in my cookies.
Icing instructions are fab and your tips super handy, thankyou. I’m terrible at making food look pretty, its all about practicality for me. So glad to have some tips :)
Marita’s last post..Autism Hero Highlights
I wasn’t always a fan of ginger in my sweet treats, but this one is quite mild. I’m not brilliant at decorating. The hardest is having a steady hand for the borders. The rest is easy!
Great variation! Thanks for the tips re rolling out between baking paper too.
I love gingerbread cookies. My preference is not too sweet but quite spicy. I printed about five recipes two Christmases ago and bastardised each recipe slightly and tested until I got what I wanted but for the life of me, I can’t remember which I used as a base. This one is as good as any to try. Thanks for sharing.
Veronica @ Mixed Gems’s last post..Will I miss not having my boy?
This one probably is more on the sweeter side, especially if you use golden syrup rather than treacle. They are extraordinarily yummy though ;)
we made plain gingerbread cookies 3 years ago and the girls had a lot of fun – they want to make our own gingerbread house this year (i prefer a kit) so maybe making decorated ones will be a compromise. thanks for the recipe.
Deb @ Home life simplified’s last post..Can you ever take the city out of the girl?
I have seen some great gingerbread houses around. I’m tempted, but know I already have enough on my plate! We will probably make the cookies again though.
OOh we love gingerbread cookies, each year our Elf brings the kids gingerbread cookies! I will have to try this recipe now!!
Kirsty @mummytofive’s last post..New Christmas Tradition — Book Presents Style!
Clever little Elf! Can he bake too? Then you can put your feet up and wait for the yumminess ;)
They look gorgeous!
Thanks Anna. They were a lot of fun!
Im having a few girls over tomorrow (5 and 7yr olds) and am going to let try out this recipe. I may even let them eat some :)
kirri’s last post..The things I know – Sometimes lying keeps us safe
Ok…we made them and they ARE Amazing…also the ‘warning’ about not eating too much cookie dough…to be taken seriously :)
kirri’s last post..The things I know – Sometimes lying keeps us safe
I am so pleased you made them, it has really made my day Kirri! I told you so about eating the dough ;) Did you take any photos? If so, please add them to the Facebook page, I’d love to see them!
The gingerbread cookies look amazing!! Mmmm I am really weak when it comes to gingerbread, I will definitely be giving this recipe ago….thanks!
I just love making gingerbread men with the kids, but haven’t tried fancy icing! I will have to give it a go! Thanks for linking up :-)
Kate @ Puddles and Gumboots’s last post..A Christmas Visitor Has Arrived
Hey,
What a cute ginger bread cookies it is!
You make interested shape for the children. And it’s really fit to make a quality time family on the christmas event celebrating.
They look so amazing, thanks for posting the recipe, will definitively try it out.
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There are few photos of the cookies made by other readers on the FB page. Lots of fun!