Christmas is my favourite time of year and I don’t believe there is such a thing as ‘too early’ when it comes to Christmas foods. Why should we restrict ourselves to 4 short weeks to enjoy all the wonderful flavours of Christmas?!
So, with that – and the abundance of Christmas adverts coming on TV this week – I felt it was the perfect time to make some gingerbread. With the addition of Cinnamon, All Spice, and orange the humble gingerbread is taken to a new Christmas-y level.
Makes 25 biscuits. Takes 30 minutes plus baking and cooling time.
Ingredients:
- 350g plain flour
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground all spice
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 50g dairy free butter (I used Pure Sunflower)
- 50g Trex (or other solid vegetable fat)
- 175g light muscavado sugar
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- Icing sugar and gel colours for decoration.
- Combine the butters, sugars, syrup and zest in a saucepan over a low heat. Slowly bring to the boil. Once boiled for 1 minute, turn off the heat and leave to cool until cold.
- Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices in a bowl. Add the sugar syrup mix and the egg to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until you have a stiff dough.
- Chill the dough until completely cold (minimum 30 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees fan and line two large baking trays with non stick baking paper.
- Roll the dough out to about the thickness of a £1 coin. Stamp out shapes of your choice – the more Christmas-y the better! – and place them on the prepared trays. The biscuits will expand as they bake, so leave enough room around them on the tray.
- Bake for 10 – 12 minutes for a softer chewy gingerbread. If you like yours with more of a crunch, bake for 14 – 16 minutes. Cool on a wire rack once baked.
- Make up your icing in colours of your choice and pipe onto your Christmas Gingerbreads.
- Try not to eat them all at once!
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