Sugar and spice cookies
These pretty sugar and spice gingerbread men and heart-shaped cookies make a great Christmas treat. Make them into special but cost-effective gifts for your friends and family.
makes: 20
preparation time:1 hour
cooking time:20 minutes
total time:1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. runny honey
30g unsalted butter
60g light muscovado sugar
250g self-raising flour (to convert plain flour into self-raising flour, add two teaspoons of baking powder to each cup of plain flour)
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
finely grated zest of1 lemon, plus 2-4 tbsp. juice
60g ground almonds
1 large egg
To decorate:
50g icing sugar, sieved
silver balls
You will need:
parchment paper and baking sheets
5cm biscuit cutters
small plain piping nozzle
paper piping bag
Preparation:
1. Put the honey, butter and sugar into a small pan and stir over a low heat until the butter is melted.
2. Sieve the flour, ginger and cinnamon into a bowl. Add the lemon zest and ground almonds.
3. Pour the egg, melted mixture and lemon juice into the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together.
4. Knead the mixture on a lightly floured surface for a couple of minutes, then wrap in cling film and pop in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up.
5. Set the oven to Gas Mark 4 or 180°C. Roll out the dough to a 5mm thickness, on a parchment-lined surface, and stamp out the biscuit shapes. You should be able to get about 20. Push the tip of a tiny plain piping nozzle near the top edge of each biscuit, and lift out to make a hole.
6. Put the biscuits on to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes until pale golden. Cool on a wire rack.
7. To decorate: Mix the icing sugar with 4 tsp. hot water, to make a smooth icing. Spoon into a paper piping bag with the nozzle. Pipe icing on the biscuits and decorate with silver balls. Leave to set.
OUR TIP: To give it as a gift thread ribbon through holes in biscuits. Wrap in cellophane. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
| spice | spezia |
| gingerbread men | omino di pan pepato |
| heart-shaped | a forma di cuore |
| cost-effective | economico |
| runny | sciolto, troppo liquido |
| unsalted | non salato |
| baking powder | lievito in polvere |
| ground ginger | zenzero macinato |
| ground cinnamon | cannella macinata |
| finely grated | grattuggiato finemente |
| zest of lemon | buccia di limone |
| ground almonds | mandorle macinate |
| sieved | setacciato |
| biscuit cutter | stampo per biscotti |
| piping nozzle | bocchetta (per sac a poche) |
| to stamp out | qui: tagliare |
| tip | punta |
| to lift out | tirare fuori |
| hole | buco |
| to store | conservare |
| airtight container | contenitore a chiusura ermetica |
