There is nothing like the smell of spices and orange zest that start to make me feel like it’s Christmas time. The last few weeks we spontaneously decided to move out from our home so to be honest I have not thought about or done any Christmas related events, nor have I done any Christmas shopping. So last Friday I decided it’s cookie making time. So much fun to make at home and they are great as little gifts for friends. Bake these soft, chewy gingerbread cookies and you will definitely get into the christmas feeling!
These cookies are spicy and a friend actually recommended to add a little bit of black pepper which I think could be a really interesting touch to the dough mixture – I will definitely try that out next time!
Ingredients
380 gm wholemeal spelt flour (you can use plain white or white spelt, but I really am a fan of using earthy flours that bring more depth to baked goods)
125 g unsalted butter softened
150 g honey
90 g coconut sugar
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
Method
- Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and using a hand blender or stand mixer whip the ingredients together for around 7 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Use a spatula to scrap down any bits on the side, until the mixture is quite consistent in texture.
- Add the honey, spices, zest and bicarb soda with apple cider vinegar (place the bicarb soda in a tsp and pour the vinegar over so the bicarb fizzes up, this way you won’t taste the bicarb soda at all) Beat the rest of the mixture until nice and consistent.
- Refrigerate for at least 40 minutes. You want the dough to be quite firm and cool when you roll it out.
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius.
- Slice the dough into 4 pieces and start with one whilst putting the other 3 into the fridge to remain cool.
- Working with the first piece of dough, shape it into a ball and roll it out between two pieces of baking paper till the dough is approximately 3mm thick. You can make it thicker if you wish! I like quite thin cookies.
- Use your choice of cutter, I used different ones like a gingerbread man, a snowflake cutter and a christmas tree cutter. Cut with the sharp side into the dough then using a palette knife remove the dough around. Place into the fridge again. This is important! You want the shapes to be really cool and firm so that you can then spread them out nicely on a large baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Repeat the process and once you have enough to fill a large tray then place in the oven for around 20 minutes (depending on the thickness of the dough).
- Bake repeating the process until all cookies have been baked! They will be nice and crunchy at first and then the next day they will be chewy and soft.
- Enjoy!! They are so good I am making them again tomorrow because we finished them quite quickly!
Anastasia
