I love biscuits (cookies) and I especially love making them. There's something satisfying about bunging a load of seemingly random ingredients together, and seeing them turn into something awesome that just brings me joy.
Holiday season/Christmas to me means baking. When I was a kid, it started in early November, making the Christmas fruit cake with my Gran. We'd soak the mixed fruit overnight in a healthy glass of Brandy before mixing it into the fantastically rich cake mixture. No pre-made mixes or boxed cake in our house. The cake would then cook for what seemed like forever and then be set out to cool, before placing it in an air tight tin. (Tin, not a tupperware box) Then once a week up to Christmas eve, on a Sunday we'd get it out of the tin and pour more booze over it. There was enough Brandy in that beast to launch a cruise ship. Christmas eve, we'd make (not buy) Marzipan and Fondant Icing and then cover the cake and make holly leaves and berries and all sorts of fancy little trimmings to go on top of the cake.
As well as cake there were biscuits and Trifle and sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, mini quiches, Jam tarts, Fairy cakes. to name a few.
I love the smell of Christmas baking, Cinnamon, Ginger, nutmeg, mixed spice, it makes you feel warm. One of my favourite ways to 'get into' the season is to bake Gingerbread biccies. Gingerbread men are great, but I've never been one to conform, so why start now. My brother bought himself one of those 3d printers and has been making me cookie cutters, it would be rude not to use them. This year I made Ninja bread men and Sharks. Not particularly traditional, but they tasted great! I also played around with a set of star cutters and made Gingerbread Ponsettias, placing a smartie (M&M) in the middle. Those were great, The biscuit was soft in the middle and had a nice crunch to the outside and the burst of chocolate from the smartie finished them off nicely.
Here's, my recipe.
350g - Plain Flour (12oz - 1 1/2 cup)
1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
2 Tsp Ground Ginger (yeah so I didn't stick to this, I more or less opened the spice jar and poured, go by your own taste on this)
110g Butter, cubed (4 1/2 oz - 1/2 cup)
175g Light brown sugar (6oz - 3/4 cup)
1 egg
4Tbsp Golden Syrup
Sieve Flour, Bicarb and Ginger together. Rub in butter till it resembles bread crumbs.
Add Sugar.
Add Egg and Golden syrup and bring together to form a dough.
Knead well then wrap with cling film and chill in fridge for 20 minutes. While not essential, this makes rolling it so much easier. Especially if like me you suffer with warm hands. Warm hands and baking are not great bedfellows. I cut the dough into quarters then roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Then using your chosen cutters, cut shapes and place on a lined baking sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes at 190C/375f
Allow to cool then decorate (or grab a warm one and eat it while no one is looking!)
Holiday season/Christmas to me means baking. When I was a kid, it started in early November, making the Christmas fruit cake with my Gran. We'd soak the mixed fruit overnight in a healthy glass of Brandy before mixing it into the fantastically rich cake mixture. No pre-made mixes or boxed cake in our house. The cake would then cook for what seemed like forever and then be set out to cool, before placing it in an air tight tin. (Tin, not a tupperware box) Then once a week up to Christmas eve, on a Sunday we'd get it out of the tin and pour more booze over it. There was enough Brandy in that beast to launch a cruise ship. Christmas eve, we'd make (not buy) Marzipan and Fondant Icing and then cover the cake and make holly leaves and berries and all sorts of fancy little trimmings to go on top of the cake.
As well as cake there were biscuits and Trifle and sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, mini quiches, Jam tarts, Fairy cakes. to name a few.
I love the smell of Christmas baking, Cinnamon, Ginger, nutmeg, mixed spice, it makes you feel warm. One of my favourite ways to 'get into' the season is to bake Gingerbread biccies. Gingerbread men are great, but I've never been one to conform, so why start now. My brother bought himself one of those 3d printers and has been making me cookie cutters, it would be rude not to use them. This year I made Ninja bread men and Sharks. Not particularly traditional, but they tasted great! I also played around with a set of star cutters and made Gingerbread Ponsettias, placing a smartie (M&M) in the middle. Those were great, The biscuit was soft in the middle and had a nice crunch to the outside and the burst of chocolate from the smartie finished them off nicely.
Here's, my recipe.
350g - Plain Flour (12oz - 1 1/2 cup)
1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
2 Tsp Ground Ginger (yeah so I didn't stick to this, I more or less opened the spice jar and poured, go by your own taste on this)
110g Butter, cubed (4 1/2 oz - 1/2 cup)
175g Light brown sugar (6oz - 3/4 cup)
1 egg
4Tbsp Golden Syrup
Sieve Flour, Bicarb and Ginger together. Rub in butter till it resembles bread crumbs.
Add Sugar.
Add Egg and Golden syrup and bring together to form a dough.
Knead well then wrap with cling film and chill in fridge for 20 minutes. While not essential, this makes rolling it so much easier. Especially if like me you suffer with warm hands. Warm hands and baking are not great bedfellows. I cut the dough into quarters then roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Then using your chosen cutters, cut shapes and place on a lined baking sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes at 190C/375f
Allow to cool then decorate (or grab a warm one and eat it while no one is looking!)
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