Christmas recipes encore

Country Beehive: Cookie making and decorating

 with Christmas around the corner unearthing some favourite tried and tested recipes

Here we go!
 Best gingerbread ever!!
and Scandinavian Pepparkakor ( very spicy gingerbread)

 ( we are virtually wheat free for over a year now but I may take a risk and experiment with Einkorn flour )
Pepperkakker 

Recipe adapted
Prep time: 15min. (plus chilling), baking: 8-10min.
.
Ingredients (yield: ~4 trays):
150g molasses (or sugar beet syrup, date syrup)
110g butter
100g brown sugar (e.g. demerara)
375g flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg

In a small pan heat molasses, butter and sugar, stirring every now and then. Let it boil moderately until all sugar crystals have dissolved (I failed to do it with my first batch, therefor little crystals have manifested on the cookies' surface, but these do neither diminish their taste nor the cookies' look). Let cool off for at least half an hour - if you're impatient like I am, luke-warm is cool, pun intended.

In a large bowl sieve the flour together with baking soda, spices and salt. Form a hole in the middle and add the egg as well as the molasses mixture and knead together with your food processor - kneading by hand may be a very sticky experience. Add a little more flour if the dough appears too sticky, you should be able to shape it into a ball. Tightly cover it with cling film and let rest in the fridge until firm, mine took two hours.

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Cut off smaller portions of the dough and roll it out (the thinner the better) on a slightly floured wooden board or nonstick silicone baking mat, then stamp out your desired cookie shapes. Bake on a parchment paper or baking mat lined tray for 8 to 10 minutes or until they just start to get some color on the very edges. Be careful, the thinner they are, the faster they burn! The ones where I used sugar beet syrup overall had a nicer darker color, while the date syrup ones turned out brighter and a little softer in consistency. Keep in an air-tight container for as long as you can resist, they get better day by day.