I haven’t baked in a while, I have been having withdrawal symptoms to be honest.  But is there any better excuse to bake than Christmas? My parents spent the festive period with us and they do like a sweet treat to have with their endless cups of tea.

I decided to try Gingerbread, I’ve never made this before and its great for dunking in a nice steaming hot cup of tea.  Though the big question is… crunchy or chewy…I thought I’d let the oven decide!

I used this recipe by Bakerella, which was easy but made loads, I have actually frozen half of the dough for another time (not sure if you can actually do that but only time will tell!)

Gingerbread Men

Ingredients

5 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 cup butter, slightly soft
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses

• Sift flour, soda, salt and spices together in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add egg and mix until combined.
• Add molasses and mix until combined.
• Gradually add in flour mixture and mix until combined and a dough forms.
• Divide dough into four sections and shape each into a flattened disc.
• Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
• When ready to bake preheat oven to 350 F degrees (180 C)
• Roll out each disc between two sheets of parchment paper using a rolling pin.
• Flour the sides of the paper that will touch the dough to make it a little easier to release.
• Cut out shapes and remove excess dough to reuse.
• Leave cut-outs on parchment paper and transfer to cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes. Cool on cooling rack
  

The recipe made so many gingerbread men, big and small, I needed to do something with them, so I made Ginger Cupcakes and topped them with the little ‘uns

Ginger Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

110g Self Raising Flour
110g Caster Sugar
110g Margarine
2 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Frosting

225g Icing Sugar
100g Butter
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp Milk

• Preheat the oven to 160 C
• Line a Muffin Tin with 12 Muffin or Cupcake cases
• Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl
• Add butter and egg
• Using a mixer beat everything together until fluffy and light
• Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake in the oven for 20 mins
• For the frosting beat together the icing sugar, butter and cinnamon until light and fluffy, using the milk to loosen the mixture as required.
• Once the cupcakes are ready leave them to cool on a rack.
• Once cool, you can decorate with the frosting which ever way you want!
  
  

Next I decided to make Lemoncello cupcakes, I love Lemoncello, reminds me of good times in Italy and it would be a nice break from the other gingery treats!

Lemoncello Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

110g Self Raising Flour
110g Caster Sugar
110g Margarine
1 tsp baking powder
2 Eggs
Zest of 2 lemons
1 tbsp Lemon Juice

Filling

2 tsp Lemon curd
1 tsp lemoncello

Frosting

225g Icing Sugar
100g Butter
2 tsp lemoncello

• Preheat the oven to 160 C
• Line a Muffin Tin with 12 Muffin or Cupcake cases
• Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl
• Add butter and egg
• Using a mixer beat everything together until fluffy and light
• Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake in the oven for 20 mins
• For the frosting beat together the icing sugar, butter and cinnamon until light and fluffy, using the milk to loosen the mixture as required.
• Once the cupcakes are ready leave them to cool on a rack.
• Once cool, you can decorate with the frosting which ever way you want!

And finally… you cant have Christmas without a mince pie or two, but instead of the usual type I spied this recipe by Chef Jae on Preheat The Oven.  Simple, tasty and a little bit different

Mince Pie Twists

Ingredients

375g ready-rolled puff pastry
200g mincemeat
25g dried sweetened cranberries
grated zest of 1 orange
1 egg yolk

• Preheat the over to 190C (180C fan)/375F/Gas Mark 5 and line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper
• Combine the mincemeat, cranberries and orange zest in a bowl and set aside
• Mix the egg yolk with two teaspoons of water and set aside
• Unroll the pastry and make a note of the dimensions (should be about 35 x 25 cm). With the shortest side running parallel to the edge of the work surface, spread the mincemeat filling evenly over the top half of the pastry
• Fold the bottom half of the pastry over the filling and re-roll the pastry back to the original dimensions, take care the filling doesn’t pierce the pastry or squeeze out the sides.
• Trim the edges with a sharp knife to make a neat rectangle
• Cut the pastry ‘sandwich’ in half length-ways and then in twelve width-ways to create twenty-four slices
• Take one slice, brush both sides with the egg wash and twist a few times into a spiral, then transfer to one of the lined trays
• Repeat with eleven of the remaining slices, spacing evenly on the same tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed up and golden all over.
• Do the same with the remaining twelve slices and arrange on the second baking tray while the first batch are baking
• Allow the twists to cool on the tray for a few minutes before serving, otherwise transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then store in an air-tight container.

Needless to say after all this my parents went home happy, full and on a sugar high! I think diets are on the cards for everyone this new year!