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You are here: Home / Recipes / Baking (sweet) / Gingerbread cookies for Easter

Gingerbread cookies for Easter

by Jeanne Horak on March 28, 2013 12 Comments in Baking (sweet), Book reviews, Recipes

GingerbreadCookiesTitle © J Horak-Druiff 2013

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  There are two types of people in the world – bakers and non-bakers.  Bakers tend to be those with an eye for detail – the kind of people who are not at all fazed by recipes requiring “2.5 egg yolks”;  who are willing to spend as much time frosting and decorating a christening cake as the child’s mother spent being pregnant; and who can write you a short essay on the relative merits of buttercream v ganache cake frosting. And then there are the rest of us – who are blissfully ignorant of the difference between (or even existence of) French and Italian meringue;  who own digital scales but more often measure their dry ingredients in cups because they are too lazy to take out the scale; or who believe that if God had intended us to make our own puff pastry She would not have allowed the invention of ready-rolled puff pastry.

 

Oops –  have I said too much??

 

Gingerbreadcookiescutouts © J Horak-Druiff 2/013

 

That’s not to say that I *never* bake – it’s just that when I bake, I tend to stick to fairly straightforward projects when I do (I can safely say you will never see a croquembouche coming out of my kitchen!).  So why did I find myself a week or so ago baking cookies from a book filled with the kind of meticulous baking that I usually never do?  Because the book in question was written by a good friend and fellow-blogger Sarah of Maison Cupcake! Sarah is ten times the baker I’ll ever be and last year she published an adorable little book called Bake Me, I’m yours – sweet bitesize bakes ,a collection of 25 recipes for bite-sized baked goods for all ages and levels of baking expertise to enjoy. The book opens with a photo and explanation of all the basic equipment that you will need for the baking projects – a list that serves as a great guide for anybody looking to kit out their kitchen for baking.   This is followed by a section of basic recipes that are used as the basis of more complicated projects later in the book; and then a series of specialist chapters on fondant fancies, mini cupcakes, cute cookies, little tiers, and petit fours.

 

GingerbreadCookiesBaked

 

 

BakeMeImYours

 

The books is small – not exactly pocket-sized, but petite as befits a book on bitesize bakes.  I loved the girly styling and colour scheme of the book to – like a tea party in print format complete with bows and polka-dots.  I enjoyed Sarah’s conversational style and the very clear step by step instructions that explain each recipe – particularly the photographs for the trickier projects like fondant roses. Apprehensive bakers like me will also like the fact that some of the recipes are simpler than they appear at first glance – mini Victoria sponges for example are cupcakes cut in half and sandwiched back together with jam.  Clever! Most of all, i think novice bakers will like the fact that Sarah makes everything in the book seem eminently achievable rather than impossibly fiddly. This would make a fantastic gift for a newbie baker looking to expand their repetoire into miniature party bakes.

I played it safe and chose to make Sarah’s gingerbread cookies which were easy enough for a child to make and delicious enough for an adult to devour.  If you want to give them a super-indulgent twist, sandwich 2 cookies with Nutella spread for an Easter treat.

 

HAPPY EASTER!

 

 

GingerbreadCookiesFinal

 

 

Gingerbread Easter cookies
 
Print
Prep time
45 mins
Cook time
10 mins
Total time
55 mins
 
These cookies are easy to make and can be cut to any shape to suite the appropriate festive occasion.
Author: Jeanne Horak-Druiff
Recipe type: Cookies
Serves: 40 cookies
Ingredients
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 40g caster sugar
  • 40 g soft brown sugar
  • 72 g golden syrup (or treacle)
  • 100g plain flour plus extra for rolling
  • 3ml bicarbonate of soda
  • 5ml ground ginger
  • 2.5ml ground cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter, both sugars and golden syrup/treacle together in a medium-sized saucepan. When melted, set aside.
  2. Sift the flour and spiced together into a large bowl. Pour the melted butter and sugar mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well to form a dough.
  3. Knead the dough lightly (add a few drops of water if it is too dry to come together). Divide the dough in two, wrap each half in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes (do not leave it for longer as the dough hardens too much).
  4. Halfway through the chilling time, pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease baking sheets and line them with baking paper (or skip the greasing and line them with silicone baking mats).
  5. Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface and on your rolling pin and roll out the first half of the dough to an even 5mm thickness. Cut out your cookies using shaped cookie cutters of your choice (I found these adorable Easter themed ones on Amazon). Place then 3-4cm apart on the baking sheet as they do spread while baking.
  6. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
  7. TIP – for a sinful treat, use Nutella spread to turn these into chocolate-ginger sandwich cookies!
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  1. Jamie says

    March 28, 2013 at 8:14 am

    Funny isn’t it that I just made a recipe requiring 3.5 eggs and it did not phase me in the least. Just whipped out my digital scale 🙂

    Yay Sarah!! Pretty little book and adorable cookies! I don’t like ginger but I do love a good ginger or gingerbread cookie and these look perfect! And yay for Jeanne for baking them!

    Reply
  2. My Kitchen Stories says

    March 28, 2013 at 9:28 am

    Cute little cookies. I adore ginger and ginger bread and well. perfection. hppy Easter

    Reply
  3. Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

    March 28, 2013 at 9:57 am

    I don’t think I’ve even seen a recipe that calls for 2.5 eggs although I admit I have weighed egg white on digital scales. I must make this gingerbread again sometime as I often make the vanilla and chocolate versions but haven’t revisited gingerbread for a while. It looks so lovely in bunny shapes! Thanks very much for your help testing the lemon tarts when I was writing it.

    Reply
  4. Kit says

    March 28, 2013 at 10:40 am

    I guess that makes me a non-baker who bakes! Fiddly things are not me and I don’t own a digital scale… only a dodgy. cheap mechanical one. Never made puff pastry either, but I do love unfussy baking. Crunchies and muffins and biscuits and cakes, except my icing skills are limited to butter icing decorated with Smarties. Having said that I think that anyone can bake, just that everyone has their own style and needs recipes to suit. Maybe we should put together a non-bakers book of forgiving recipes that will work even if you don’t micro-measure your ingredients!
    Sarah’s book looks lovely and it’s great that there are recipes simple enough for kids to get started with. My pet hate is kids’ recipe books that have recipes in that don’t work because they’ve been over simplified.

    Reply
  5. Yohann says

    March 28, 2013 at 11:30 am

    These are perfect for children! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  6. Ren Behan says

    March 28, 2013 at 11:41 am

    Gorgeous! Happy Easter Jeanne xxx

    Reply
  7. Brian @ A Thought For Food says

    March 28, 2013 at 2:50 pm

    HAHAHAHAHA! Yup! I fall under the second grouping of people… the ones who rarely take their digital scales out.

    These cookies are so wonderfully festive… and I imagine they taste just as great as they look!

    Reply
  8. Rosa says

    March 28, 2013 at 6:07 pm

    Cute cookies and a perfect Easter treat/gift item. I love those spices.

    When I’m baking I always weigh or measure my ingredients. But, of course that doesn’t stop me from adding a little flour, baking powder, salt or spices if I decide that there’s not enough to my taste…

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  9. Krista says

    March 29, 2013 at 9:10 am

    You make me laugh so hard, Jeanne. 🙂 You rock. 🙂 I only JUST got a digital scale and have never made a croquembouche or puff pastry. I do fancy a bit of bread baking and the odd tart or two, but other than that, I’m VERY happy to leave it to the professionals and eat the fruits of THEIR labors. 🙂 Sarah’s book sounds and looks so cute and approachable. So glad you liked it. 🙂

    Reply
  10. Meeta says

    April 3, 2013 at 12:53 pm

    I do not think I have ever seen a recipe that calls for 2.5 eggs anywhere. I have seen recipes that weighs the eggs in grams.

    So proud when I saw Sarah’s book at your place recently. Great job and do not forget to send me the recipes I selected so i can bake from her book too!

    Reply
  11. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

    April 6, 2013 at 3:32 am

    I want your cookie cutters, those little bunnies and chicks are absolutely adorable!

    Reply
  12. Coreen Koenig says

    April 15, 2022 at 2:56 pm

    I had purchased an overabundance of carrot gummies, so I plan on topping the cookies with frosting and carrots
    telling the kids to be sure to eat their vegetables.

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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