Christmas Gingerbread Cookies, My Mum's Traditional...

A community recipe by AnLi

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

Introduction

I posted a "borrowed" recipe for Gingerbread cookies in an earlier thread, and promised to add my family's traditional recipe as soon as I could find it. This is traditional in the sense that we always bake these at Christmas, and part of the tradition is the frenzied hunt for the clipping containing the recipe (my mum cut it out from a magazine about 35 years ago). We tend to use it as a bookmark in whatever cookbook is closest - and by the time Christmas is upon us again nobody remembers where it was used last... Well, I dug it out a week ago, and now it's safely in a plastic pocket among the rest of my recipe collection (I made a copy for mum).

Ingredients

Serves: 30 - 50

For the Base

5¼ fluid ounces golden syrup or light corn syrup (light or dark)
9 fluid ounces superfine sugar
7 ounces butter
2 small eggs

For the Dry Spices

2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1½ teaspoons baking soda
8 - 9 dl fine wheat flour

Method

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies, My Mum's Traditional... is a community recipe submitted by AnLi and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

Melt together the syrup, sugar and butter, let cool a bit, then stir in the eggs and spices, and then the bicarbonate and flour. This will make a loose dough. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate at least overnight. After that it will be easy to bake.

When baking, roll out a little at a time, use cookie cutters for the shapes you want, and bake in 200 degrees centigrade for a few minutes.

The cookies might be soft straight from the oven, but "stiffen" as they cool.

Additional Information

The thinner the cookies, the more careful you have to be, I like them paper-thin, and baked fairly dark. The rest of my family likes thicker cookies baked lighter.

It helps to dust the rolling-pin and the surface lightly with flour, keep the unbaked dough cool so it doesn't go sticky.

Traditional shapes: Among others; Pigs, hearts, stars. We bake a lot of other shapes as well...