Gingerbread Cookie Stars

The most delicious gingerbread cookies you will ever eat!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you're having the most wonderful day filled with family, friends, food, and festive cheer!

In honour of this glorious day, I thought I'd release a BONUS recipe - my gingerbread cookies!

As I've previously mentioned, I love making a gingerbread house each Christmas, and this recipe has got me through a lot of houses!

Last Christmas I got so carried away I made a gingerbread village..!

However, this year I just haven't had the time, so some delicious and super quick cookies will have to do!

My recipe can easily be made dairy free and vegan by simply swapping the butter for Stork baking spread.

This is the recipe that inspired my cupcakes, so if you liked them, you'll love these. They're soft and full of delicious flavour, whilst still also perfect for bigger cookies like a house. If you are attempting a house with these then I suggest baking the larger slabs for around 10 minutes to give them more structure.

Another easy tip I always use, is to pop the cut-out biscuits in the fridge for 5 minutes before baking as this will really help them keep their shape.

In amongst the Christmas festivities, these gingerbread are a quick bake to do with big payoff that are a lovely addition to any gathering.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas Day and let's get Caking It!

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Recipe

200C (170C fan)

Yield: 20 - 30 stars depending on size

Prep: 5 mins

Bake: 5-8 mins

Assembly: 5 mins

Ingredients

Dough

100g unsalted butter OR Stork Dairy Free

75g light brown sugar

1 tbsp treacle

2 tbsp golden syrup

250g gluten free white flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

Frosting

250g icing sugar

1 egg white OR 2 tbsp lemon juice

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Method: dough

Don't forget to wait until all the ingredients are room temperature before starting.

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Line 4 baking sheets with baking parchment.

2. Place the flour, bicarb, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a bowl and give a quick mix to incorporate.

3. In a saucepan place the butter, sugar, treacle, and golden syrup and heat on medium-low until the butter is fully melted.

4. Add the butter mix to the flour mix and incorporate fully until it becomes a soft dough.

5. While still hot, place on a surface dusted with flour and roll out to one inch thick.

6. With various sized cutters, cut out your cookies and place on the baking sheets. Keep similar sized cookies together so that they bake evenly. If the mixture starts to become dry after lots of re-rolling, add cold water in 1 tsp increments until a sticky and pliable consistency is formed.

7. Place in the fridge for 5 minutes to set and then bake in the oven for between 5 to 10 minutes. Small ones (under 5cm) will take about 5 minutes and larger ones (around 10cm) may take 8 minutes. Anything bigger may take up to 12 minutes.

8. Leave on the baking dish for a couple of minutes and then place on a cooling rack until fully cool.

Method: Frosting

This royal icing sets like rock so is great for icing your gingerbread cookies.

1. While the cookies are cooling, move onto the frosting.

2. Sift your icing sugar into a bowl then add your egg (or lemon juice) a teaspoon at a time until you achieve the right consistency.

Assembly

1. Making sure the cookies are completely cool, you can begin to pipe.

2. Go wild with your piping and feel free to go crazy with sprinkles, chocolate chips and sweets.

3. Enjoy!