The lovely Marianne asked me to do some cookies for her beautiful little girls’ second birthday. The general theme was pink but other than that she allowed me free reign!
I used gingerbread as it works well with sugarpaste. I often use gingerbread as its quick and easy to make and holds shapes well.
Here’s the recipe:
Gingerbread cookies
Ingredients
3 oz (75 g) soft brown sugar, sieved
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 tablespoon black treacle
1 level teaspoon cinnamon
1 level teaspoon ginger
1 pinch ground cloves
finely grated rind ½ orange
3½ oz (95 g) butter or margarine
½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
about 8 oz (225 g) plain flour
about 2 oz (50 g) currants (optional)
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C)
Method
Put the sugar, syrup, treacle, 1 tablespoon of water, spices and rind together in a large saucepan.
Then bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time. Now remove the pan from the heat and stir in the fat, cut into lumps, and the bicarbonate of soda.
Next stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth manageable dough – add a little more flour, if you think it needs it.
Now leave the dough – covered – in a cool place to become firm, approximately 30 minutes. Now roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick and cut.
Arrange them on the lightly greased baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the biscuits feel firm when lightly pressed with a fingertip.
I double the amount of ginger as i dont feel the recipe has enough of a gingery kick, but its easy to experiment with quantities until you get them just how you like them.
I’d also advise watching carefully how these bake, as they burn very easy. You should adjust the baking time depending on the size of the shapes you are cooking and the thickness of the cookie.
I used heart cutters, flower cutters, and my stencils to decorate the gingerbread hearts in lots of different patterns.
Here’s the finished cookies, Marianne seemed very pleased and B just loved all the attention!
Mixed heart gingery cookies
