It´s that time of year again. Christmas time. Time to decorate, enjoy the cosy times in front of a log fire with a mug of mulled wine or "glögg", and to fill the house with the lovely scent of ginger cookies baking. I started my "baking career" early. At a very early age (4-5)when my mother introduced me to the yearly ginger cookie baking, I just loved it and could not be stopped...the problem was just that I used my children's baking tray and utentils previously used with play dough, they were uneatable...My mother (may she rest in peace) did not have the heart to stop me...
My grandmother taught me to do the big hearts and to add the icing. It was she who started the tradition of adding names of friends and family on them. To start with we hung them in the Christmas tree. Since in England the climate are more humid than in my native Sweden, they tend to brake and fall off the tree, so we now put them on the Christmas table. Looks nice and give a wonderful spicy scent. So, I have now got over 50 years of experience of the ginger cookie baking. This year I decided to be part of my local town, Chipping Campden, Christmas Market and see how it would be and how I would do. This is how it was done! Above, I make the dough the night before to let it rest overnight. It needs to be rolled out thinly (with some flour underneath) and then cut in different shapes. I have a big collections of shapes of cookie cutters, from cars to pigs to heart and angels. Every year I chose a bit different, but the most used ones are stars, hearts, Christmas trees, angels, Father Christmas and the Swedish Dala horse. My latest favourite is the elgh! Put them on a greased oven tray and bake. |
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