Skip to main content

Christmas Baking Season Officially Open!

The first batch of edible season decorations is ready, and I must admit that the temptation to eat them rather than put up, is really strong! After long hours of kneading, cooling, and rolling the brittle gingerbread dough, which was incredibly adamant in falling apart, there was a fair bit of icing and decorating, but it was worth it. So far, the flat is filled with Christmas smell, and I can't wait to put the cakes up!

To make gingerbread cakes you need:

2 and 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 egg
5 tbsp soft butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
3 ground cloves
1 tbsp cocoa powder (if you wish for a darker shade)

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, soda, and spices. Melt butter on a hob and add honey and stir until they blend, then pour into the bowl with other ingredients and crack in the egg. Knead until the dough is smooth. Cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
On a floured surface flatten the dough with a flour-dusted rolling pin. Cut out shapes and place on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Leave spaces between your cakes, as they will grow during baking. If you want to hang them on the Christmas tree, make a hole on top of each cake - plastic straws are best for that, but a toothpick can do the job too. Bake the cakes in 180C from 7 to 13 minutes (depending how thick they are). When they're ready place them on a rack to cool.




For the icing you need:
1 egg white
about 1 cup icing sugar 
cake sprinkles or other decorations

Separate an egg white into a bowl, add icing sugar and stir vigorously until they combine into a thick, smooth liquid. I find whisking most effective at this stage. It usually is quite runny, so you shouldn't cover the entire cake, but leave the edges free, otherwise the icing will leak off them. If your icing is too runny stir in more icing sugar. Distribute your icing on the cakes with a brush, sprinkle the decorations and leave to dry. Then the big question comes - to have the cake or eat it? ;-) As you can see in the last photo, at least some of my cakes made their way onto the tree.
The good thing about gingerbread is that it keeps so well, and apparently, it becomes better, the older it gets, so the cakes will be even better when you take them down, after Christmas!




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Gingerbread Layer Cake

This Christmas I decided to "pimp up" my gingerbread a bit, after a last minute inspiration. I saw a photo of this cake, literally a day before making the cake and decided it's an absolute must this Christmas. I really like how the cake combines gingerbread and gateau type cake features, it's both presentable and delicious. The cake (4 layers): 150 g honey (liquid) 200 g butter or margarine 500 g plain flour 3 yolks 4 tbsp milk 1 tbs purified soda 100 g sugar 1 tbsp ground ginger 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp ground cardamon 1tsp ground cloves a pinch of ground black pepper Combine the ingredients in a large bowl - as it's really hard to do, you may be best off using dough whisks on a food mixer. Cover the bowl with cling film and put into the fridge for 24 hours. After that time, divide the dough into 4 parts, place on a baking paper-lined baking tray and bake in 180C for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool.   The cream: ...

Home made pasta

I got a pasta maker for my birthday and we seem to be eating nothing but pasta since! Though the every first attempt was far from successful, I quickly sussed it out. The fact that I naturally tend to start with the most complex things, didn't help here, either. Instead of taking baby steps and making simple spaghetti or tagliatelle first, I had a go at making ravioli :-) Well, I ate my humble pie and next time I made simple soup pasta. Successfully! :-) It reminded my of the childhood days when my gran would make a delicious soup with home-made pasta when I stayed with her. Of course, I keep hearing questions, like: why bother making something you can buy in every single shop? Well, I bother as the home-made pasta is incomparably better! :-P To make basic pasta dough you need: 1 cup of flour 1 egg a pinch of salt a dash of olive oil water if the dough is to dry more flour - if the dough is to sticky, also to sprinkle on the worktop The proportions above are enough fo...

Pork with Gorgonzola

I came across this meal in one of my mags, and it looked cool enough to give it a go. Worked so well that it has become one of our staple dishes since. Though the original recipe had Gorgonzola cheese in it, we've tried it with a variety of other blue cheeses and it worked equally well. Also, the first time I made it I used rose, instead of white wine, and must say that it probably worked even better. You need: about 0.5 of boneless pork chops 3 cloves of garlic salt pepper some dry basil and thyme a handful of fresh parsley leaves 3 tbsp of oil 5-6 slices of Gorgonzola 200 ml of wine (white or rose) Slice the meat and season it, sprinkle the herbs on top. Pre-heat the oil on  a frying pan, seal the chops on both sides (fry about 1 minute on each side, or until it turns golden brown), then move into a bake dish. Peel and finely chop garlic and parsley, place them on frying pan and fry them on a small heat in the remainder of the oil from dealing the meat. Pour in ...