Brrrr… it’s so cold. But it’s the best kind of cold in my opinion… The sky is blue, the air is crisp and the past two mornings there’s been a frost on the ground. I had a crunchy, frosty walk this morning down by the river which was so idyllic. The sun was low, most of the trees now bare. I had a real sense of winter coming, and with it a wonderful wave of festive warmth. These biscuits are a full expression of that warmth for me. Making them with the kids, the wonderful smell of them cooking, the heat and buzz of the oven, and their spicy snap when eaten! Lovely… So here’s a recipe for you. I’ve used coconut oil instead of butter because that’s what I had (but absolutely go ahead and use the same measure of butter if that’s what you have!)…
Ingredients (makes around 18 stars, depending on your cutter size):
80g Coconut oil
60g light brown muscovado sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
220g plain flour
3 tsp ground ginger
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. In a large mixing bowl cream together the coconut oil and sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Add the egg yolk & maple syrup and mix thoroughly.
3. Add the dry ingredients (flour, ginger & bicarb) and mix to form a ball of dough.
4. The dough is dryer with the coconut oil than butter, but can still be rolled out carefully on top of a sheet of baking paper to around 1/2cm thickness.
5. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray, cut out the stars and place on the sheet.
6. Place the stars in the oven for around 8-10 minutes or until they begin to gently brown.
7. When cool these are a hard gingerbread biscuit.
A few years ago my daughter was bought a kids cooking book called ‘Cakes & Cookies’. which is where the original recipe came from… but over the years emergency baking has led to making this recipe without the ingredients and substituting for others, which is how our recipe has evolved!
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