Gingerbread Melting Moments

These are a cross between a melting moment and a gingerbread biscuit and if I do say so myself, they are very good!

Like regular gingerbread biscuit the flavour improves over a day or two. You can mix up the spices if you like, but I highly recommend having a variety of spices like those in the ingredients list.

These would make a nice gift, however they are equally nice just to have in the biscuit jar at home for something to nibble on in the lead up to Christmas.

Gingerbread Melting Moments

Ingredients:                                       

300g unsalted butter, softened

100g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

450g plain flour

1.5 tsp ground ginger

1.5 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cardamom

Ingredients for the filling:

80g unsalted butter, softened

200g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cardamom 

Method: 

Preheat oven to 145 degrees Celsius, and line three large baking trays with baking paper. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla  until creamy.

Add the flour and spices to the creamed butter, and mix on low speed until a dough forms. 

Roll teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on the prepared trays (you should end up with 40-44 individual dough balls/biscuits) leaving a little space in between each. Then lightly press down each ball with the back of a fork so they flatten out a little. Dip your fork in flour if it is sticking to the dough.

Bake for 25 minutes. They will be cooked when the undersides of the biscuits are lightly golden. To ensure a even bake, rotate the baking trays in the oven around half way through. 

Allow to cool on their trays.

Once the biscuits have cooled make the filling by beating all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment or by using a hand held mixer. Mix until light and fluffy and everything is well combined. 

Pair up the cooked biscuits, and turn one from each pair over so the underside is facing up. Spread or pipe the filling on to the underside of one biscuit in each biscuit pair, then gently sandwich the paired biscuits together.

Leave the biscuits for half an hour or so for the filling to firm up a bit (you can do this in the fridge in warmer weather). Biscuits will store well in an airtight container for a few days. 

Makes about 46 individual biscuits and 23 sandwiched biscuits. 

Christmas Gingerbread Trifle with Red Currant & Cranberry Jelly

I had this idea for a Gingerbread Trifle at least a year ago, around Christmas. I didn’t have time to make it, but I was determined to try it the following year. 

So this year was the year to make trifle, and while I almost didn’t make it (it’s lovely, but yes a bit of effort is required), I am so glad I did. I am loving the distinct layers and being able to use some of the currants I had frozen from last Christmas (plus we’ve owned this gorgeous glass trifle dish for years and never used it, so I’m glad I’ve finally put it to good use!).

I’ve actually never made a trifle until now, to be honest I don’t really like traditional ones. I absolutely hate that the cake used is soaked in some kind of alcohol, to me that just ruins the whole thing.

So I have made this trifle alcohol free, and the gingerbread cake used really doesn’t need to be soaked in anything. You can of course add some alcohol if you wish.

I have used red currants for the jelly, and decoration. I love them and the tart flavour they add. They come into season just before Christmas here in Australia, and I always buy a couple of punnets and freeze some too. I have used my freezer stash of currants for this trifle, but raspberries could also be used for the jelly and decoration. I think pomegranate juice could also be used instead of cranberry in the jelly as well, and then decorated with pomegranate arils. 

It is best to start this recipe the day before. I made the jelly and cakes the day before, then just whipped the creams and assembled before serving the next day.

Try to use a glass trifle dish with straight sides like the one pictured. If not, use one that is also 4L capacity, and keep in mind that you may have to trim your cakes more to get them to fit. 

A note on the jelly: Making jelly with red currants using the below method will create a slightly cloudy jelly. This is what happens when currants are pushed through a sieve to create a puree, rather than leaving them to gradually drip through muslin overnight on their own. I couldn’t think of anything worse than this recipe taking a whole day more just to wait for 55g of red currants to slowly strain overnight, so I opted for a slightly cloudy jelly instead. And in all honesty, once the trifle is all assembled, I can barely notice the difference. 

Red Currant & Cranberry Jelly 

Ingredients:

800ml water

350g caster sugar

16g gelatine sheets (I used titanium strength)

120ml cranberry juice

55g + 60g red currants (fresh or frozen)

Method: 

You will need a 4L capacity (22-23cm in diameter) trifle dish for this recipe.

In a large saucepan add the water and sugar. Place on the stove over high heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. 

Place 55g of the red currants in a food processor and blitz until a puree forms. Strain the puree into the cranberry juice, discarding the seeds etc. 

After 10 minutes, remove the sugar syrup from the heat and set aside to cool a little. 

Place the gelatine sheets in a shallow bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for 3 minutes, then remove from the water, squeezing out any excess water. 

Add to the sugar syrup, and whisk until the gelatine has dissolved. Then add the cranberry juice and red currant puree and whisk until combined. If the jelly has formed lots of foam from all that whisking, try to scoop as much of it off as possible. I find if it isn’t removed the jelly will set with most of this foam remaining on top. 

Pour about 750ml of the jelly into your trifle mould, and the remainder into a small plastic wrap lined container. 

Scatter in 60g red currants over the jelly in the trifle dish, then place both jellies into the fridge to set overnight. 

Makes about 1180ml jelly in total. 

Gingerbread Cake 

Ingredients: 

375g unsalted butter, softened

300g brown sugar 

3 eggs

465g molasses 

345ml water

615g plain flour 

1.5 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp bicarb soda

1.5 tsp ground ginger

1.5 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground all spice 

1 tsp ground cardamom 

canola oil spray, for greasing

Method: 

Grease and line two 22-23cm round cake tins (use round cake tins that are closest in diameter to your trifle dish). Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, spices and baking powder. Sift in the bicarb soda and whisk to combine.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy using the paddle attachment. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Then beat in the water and molasses on a low speed (to avoid the water sloshing out of the mixing bowl!). 

Add the flour mixture and beat on a low speed until the flour begins to combine, then increase the speed a little and mix until combined (you can also do this by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula if you wish). 

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared tins, and bake for about 1 hour. The cakes probably won’t fit on the same oven shelf, so swap them over about half way through the cooking time to ensure they both cook evenly. The cakes will be ready when a skewer inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Cool for at least 20 minutes in their tins, before turning onto a cooling rack. 

Once the cakes are cooled, they can either be used immediately in the trifle if ready, or wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in an airtight container. 

Christmas Gingerbread Trifle 

Ingredients: 

Red Currant & Cranberry Jelly, as above

Gingerbread Cake, as above

550ml pouring cream

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

1.5 tsp vanilla bean paste

red and white currants, to decorate (fresh or frozen)

Method: 

N.B. If you are making this on a fairly warm day, you may want to place the trifle back in the fridge in between some of the below steps to ensure all the layers keep their shape and remain cold. 

Just before serving, take one of the gingerbread cakes, and even out the top if necessary. Trim the sides to fit into the trifle dish if necessary. Place the layer of cake on top of the jelly layer. 

Whip 300ml of the cream with the maple syrup, and using a piping bag pipe a nice edge of the cream on the outer rim over the cake layer. Fill in the remaining layer with the cream, and smooth it out if necessary to ensure it is fairly even. 

Take the second gingerbread cake and even out the top if necessary. Trim the sides of the cake to to fit into the trifle dish if necessary. This cake layer should sit right up to the top edge of the trifle dish. Place the cake on top of the layer of maple cream.

Whip the remaining 250ml of cream with the vanilla, then using a piping bag (just cut a small opening at the bottom of the bag, you don’t need to use a piping tip if you don’t have one), decorate the top of the trifle. 

Remove the remaining jelly from its container, and cut into squares. Don’t worry if some of it breaks, I didn’t find I wanted to use all the jelly to decorate the top of the trifle anyway. Decorate the top of the trifle with some of the cut up jelly (any excess jelly can be placed back into the container and stored in the fridge, or added to each serve of trifle separately on each plate), and finish with some extra red and white currants. 

Serve immediately, and store any leftovers in the fridge.

Serves about 12.

Vintage embossed spoons from The Coastal Marketplace

Unfortunately Trifle doesn’t look so great once served!

Spiced Christmas Biscuits (Refined Sugar Free)

These biscuits are vastly similar to the previous recipe I have posted, except that I have used unrefined sugars to create a softer chewier Christmas biscuit than a gingerbread. 

I had the idea for these biscuits, as I have been experimenting a lot with date syrup this year, and wondered if it would make a good substitute for the golden syrup I usually use in my gingerbread biscuits. Sticking with the unrefined sugar theme, I swapped the brown sugar for panela sugar which I love adding to lots of my baking. 

The biscuit comes out slightly more chewy than my usual gingerbread biscuits, and has a slightly deeper flavour thanks to the date syrup. I also used a few teaspoons of a Christmas spice mix called St Nicholas Spekulaas from the spice shop Gewurzhaus. I found this shop whilst I was in Melbourne, only to discover later that I had probably walked past the Sydney store in the Strand Arcade many times! 

A substitute for this kind of festive spice mix would just be to add the same spices from my gingerbread biscuit recipe which are 1 tsp each of ground cloves, all spice, cardamom, cinnamon and ginger.

I am really loving my panela and date Christmas biscuits, and similar to their gingerbread cousin, the dough freezes well so you can make the dough in advance and bake later (just defrost in the fridge overnight). 

Refined Sugar Free Christmas Cookies using Grounded Pleasures Panela Sugar & Gewurzhaus St Nicholas Spekulaas Spice Mix

Spiced Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter, softened

120g panela sugar (I used Grounded Pleasures)

170ml date syrup/molasses

1 egg yolk

390g plain flour

5 tsp Spekulaas spice mix (I used St Nicholas Spekulaas from Gewurzhaus)

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In medium bowl whisk together the flour and spice mix. Sift in the bicarb soda, whisk to combine then set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and panela sugar until it is pale and creamy. Add the date syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined.

Add the flour and spice mixture and combine on very low speed for a few seconds. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and finish the remaining mixing using a large wooden spoon or spatula. 

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and briefly knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. If making double quantities separate the dough into two discs. 

Once the dough has rested, you can freeze the dough to use at a later date. Defrost in the fridge overnight before using. 

Dust your work surface with more flour, then roll the dough out to around 2 mm thickness and cut biscuits out using festive biscuit cutters. Place each biscuit on to the prepared trays. Make sure you leave space in between each biscuit as they will expand as they bake. Re-roll excess dough and cut out more biscuits until it is all used up.

Bake for around 10-12 mins, rotating the trays in the oven to ensure everything cooks evenly. When the biscuits are done the edges will begin turn golden. Allow to cool on wire racks or on their trays.

Makes about 70 small biscuits or 36 medium as pictured in this post (yield will depend in the size and shape of your biscuit cutters). 

Christmas Gingerbread Biscuits

This has recipe has been a festive favourite of mine for a few years now. I originally found it on Phoodie, and have loved it ever since. In my family, shortbread has always been the biscuit of choice for Christmas, so I never really had a go to Gingerbread recipe. I do recall making some from a DK Kid’s Cookbook, but I was never much into the taste of ginger so I generally preferred shortbread. The process of resting the dough in the fridge also put me off I think, as when it comes to biscuits, I have always been after quick and instantly gratifying recipes. None of this resting the dough, and waiting around. 

Now I’m older, I understand the importance of refrigerating biscuit dough and allowing it to rest. I’m sure I’m slightly more patient now too! It also makes more sense to give your biscuit dough a chance to firm up a bit, if you like me, are making these during a warm Southern Hemisphere Christmas. 

I sometimes ice these with a royal icing, like this one, or one from a packet mix. One time I made batches and batches of these over Christmas for a cafe I worked at, and iced and decorated them all. If I can give you any advice, if you are making lots of these, don’t worry about the icing. They taste great on their own, and it often ends up being rather a stressful exercise, during what can already be a busy and stressful time of year. I haven’t iced mine in years, and I don’t miss it at all!

I find I can make a few batches of these during December, as they are enjoyed by all and make great gifts. They are also really useful for decorating other festive desserts like this pavlova I made a few years ago. 

My Christmas Biscuit Cutter Collection

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter, softened

120g light brown sugar

170ml golden syrup

1 egg yolk

390g plain flour

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cardamom 

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In medium bowl whisk together the flour and spices. Sift in the bicarb soda, whisk to combine then set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until it is pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined.

Add the flour and spice mixture and combine on very low speed for a few seconds. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and finish the remaining mixing using a large wooden spoon or spatula. 

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and briefly knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. If making double quantities separate the dough into two discs. 

Once the dough has rested, you can freeze the dough to use at a later date. Defrost in the fridge overnight before using. If making double, I usually pop one lot of dough in the freezer now, and continue baking the other.

Dust your work surface with more flour, then roll the dough out to around 2 mm thickness and cut biscuits out using festive biscuit cutters. Place each biscuit on to the prepared trays. Make sure you leave space in between each biscuit as they will expand as they bake. Re-roll excess dough and cut out more biscuits until it is all used up.

Bake for around 10-12 mins, rotating the trays in the oven to ensure everything cooks evenly. When the biscuits are done the edges will begin to turn golden. Allow to cool on wire racks or on the their trays.

Makes about 70 small biscuits or 36 medium (yield will depend in the size and shape of your biscuit cutters). 

Festive Gingerbread Pavlova (Gluten Free)

Up until about a week ago, I wasn't feeling festive at all. Christmas not only felt a while away, but the previous one still felt so recent. So recent, I wasn't feeling in any way inspired to create or bake something new for Christmas. All I could think of was the gingerbread cake I made last year, which I really liked and the many pavlovas I made made in the years previous to that (the most recent Christmas Pav being this one). So, after mulling this over for a little bit, and starting to slightly freak out that Christmas would come and go without me posting any Christmas related recipe here, it suddenly dawned on me that the perfect Christmas dessert this year would be a combination of my favourites from previous years. And thus this Gingerbread Pavlova was born. 

I am so happy with it, and have almost single handedly eaten most of it myself (calories don’t count at Christmas, right?). I know I have a few Pavlova recipes floating around on the blog, but the base of this recipe (my Grandma’s) is very special to me, and I seem to never cease to come up with new adaptations of it. Pavlova was something my Grandma often made at Christmas, and was her go to Summer time dessert. For me, despite not having too many family Christmas traditions, Pavlova is definitely a dessert that must be on the table for it to be actually Christmas for me. 

My only other Christmas food traditions (or requirements) are a ham, some gingerbread biscuits and a rather large quantity of white cherries. The only other traditions we have that I can think of are that whether the presents are from Santa or not, and whether we are actually adults now or not, the ‘Santa’ presents can only go under the tree after we go to bed on Christmas Eve. None of this being very organised and putting them out early. Like the time, a decade ago Mum and I were away for Christmas and Dad put the presents out a day early. My brother was extraordinarily unimpressed and still to this day mentions how Dad did it all wrong. It’s funny how the things we grow up with still mean so much later in life and have become a family tradition, whether it makes sense or not!

I really enjoyed hearing about the Christmas traditions of others on the most recent My Open Kitchen podcast (series 2 episode 2). I listened whilst baking and it definitely got me thinking about my family’s traditions and got me feeling much more festive. If you have some time before the big day, I definitely recommend giving it a listen. I also really enjoyed Nigella Lawson’s ‘Seasonal Sound Bites’ Christmas podcast series. I never tire of listening or watching Nigella talk about food, and her eloquent musings on Christmas were definitely no exception. 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and a great new year! Thanks for following along with my kulinary adventures this year, see you in 2017 - happy baking!

Gingerbread Pavlova

Ingredients: 

4 egg whites

250g golden caster sugar (or caster sugar)

1 tsp white vinegar 

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste 

1 tsp ground ginger

1tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp all spice 

1/4 tsp maple essence

20g cornflour 

To decorate: 

300 ml pouring cream 

1 tsp ground cinnamon 

1 punnet red currants 

4 small star shaped gingerbread biscuits, optional. I used this recipe, which will make about 70-80 small star shaped biscuits.

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a large baking tray with baking paper, and trace a circle approx. 26 cm in diameter (I used a dinner plate). 

In a clean dry bowl, beat the egg whites for 5-6 minutes, whilst gradually adding the sugar. Add the vinegar, vanilla and maple essence and beat until the mixture is stiff and glossy. 

Sift cornflour and spices over the mixture, and gently fold to combine. 

Place mixture onto the tray in the middle of the drawn circle. Push the mixture around to form a circle, leaving a small border around the edges. Try to keep the edges a little higher than the middle so any filling can sit comfortably in the middle later. 

Turn the oven down to 125 degrees Celsius, and cook undisturbed for 1.5 hours. 

After 1.5 hours, turn the oven off and leave the pavlova to cool completely in the oven (or overnight). 

If decorating as pictured you will need to create a gingerbread man stencil. Do so by tracing a medium/large gingerbread man biscuit cutter on to a piece of baking paper (big enough to cover the surface of the pavlova). Cut out the inside of the gingerbread man, so you are left with the piece of baking paper with a gingerbread man shaped hole in the middle. 

Just before you are ready to serve the pavlova, whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Fill the centre of the pavlova with the cream, and smooth the middle a little. Place the gingerbread stencil over the cream, with the gingerbread man centred in the middle of the pavlova. Carefully sift the cinnamon over the cut out, then carefully remove the stencil. Use three red currants to give the gingerbread man some buttons, then use the remaining red currants to decorate the rim on the pavlova (where the edge of the cream and pavlova meet). Add the gingerbread biscuits and serve.

Festive Gingerbread Cake

This cake is guaranteed to bring lots of Christmas cheer to your Christmas Day feast, with minimal effort. If you are going all out with your main course for lunch or dinner on the big day, an easy and festive cake like this one could be just what you need to make the Christmas preparation a little easier. 

I have been using this recipe for a few years now, after a good friend of mine showed me the original recipe about three years ago. The original recipe is for gingerbread cupcakes with a maple cream cheese icing. I go back to it again and again, as it is easy and just a little different from other cupcakes I tend to make. And at this time of year, it makes a great festive addition to any occasion.  

This year I decided to adapt the recipe a little, and make it into a larger cake. I love how the cake has turned out, as with the addition of red currants, it looks a little like a Christmas pudding and very festive! I know red currants can be hard to find (I was just lucky to come across them), so you could substitute them for smaller cherries or cranberries. I also used maple extract in the icing (which I found a few months ago at Salt Meat Cheese), but maple syrup (the pure kind) would work too, you might just have to up the amount of icing sugar you use. 

I hope everyone enjoys the holiday season! Let me know what you bake, I’d love to see photos of what you create to celebrate the holidays! 

And if you are still looking for some Christmas baking inspiration, here are some links to a few older posts, including my Epic Pavlova from last year, that might help you decide what to bake this holiday season!

Epic Christmas Pavlova

Gingerbread Biscuits

White Cherry Frangipane Tart

Festive Gingerbread Cake

Ingredients: 

250g softened unsalted butter

200g brown sugar 

2 eggs

310g molasses 

230ml water

410g plain flour 

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground all spice 

canola oil spray, for greasing

Ingredients for Icing: 

160g (approx.) icing sugar

1-2 tsp maple extract

red currants, to decorate 

Method: 

Grease a large bundt tin (around 2 litre capacity, approx. 24-26cm diameter) with the canola oil spray and pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Then beat in the water and molasses. 

Sift flour, baking powder, bicarb and the spices and add to the mixture. Beat on a low speed until the flour begins to combine, then beat on a medium speed for 2 minutes or until mixed well. 

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 20-30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, then turn the oven down to 160 degrees Celsius for a further 20-25 minutes (this should prevent the cake forming a ‘peak’ on what will be the base of the cake), or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the tin, before turning onto a cooling rack. 

For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then add the maple essence one teaspoon at a time, stirring well. The icing should have a nice smooth consistency. If the mixture needs more liquid add a little water and mix well. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cake, allowing it to fall over the sides. Decorate with red currants. 

Reference: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/gingerbread-cupcakes