Christmas flavoured cookies

With Christmas coming closer every day I though of sharing something a bit different with you. I know how difficult it is to come up with Christmas presents and frankly, store bought cookies and sweets just won't do the trick. And as home-made presents are in this holiday season I decided to make a huge batch of Christmas flavoured cookies and give them as presents. Trying to make the cookies taste of Christmas, I made white chocolate and cranberry cookies, dark chocolate and orange cookies and dark chocolate and mint cookies. So far all the feedback I've received has been positive. I have to admit that I did munch on quite a few cookies before wrapping them up and they honestly were delicious and most of all they made me feel very Christmassy. Of course, they are also perfect to be enjoyed with a nice cup of tea or coffee and they make a great snack. 


Obviously, feel free to play around with different tastes - try different flavoured chocolates or add nuts to the cookies. Also, the quantities here are not fixed, I just noted down what I added to my Christmas flavoured cookies. And when it comes to presents and baking in general don't forget the magic ingredient - make them with love, because it does make a difference. I wrapped them up in a see-through wrapping paper but there are amazing biscuit tins and jars and gift bags out there, which means that each and every present can be unique.

Ingredients

(Makes approximately 40 cookies)

- 950ml flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt- 150g unsalted butter, melted and cooled down
- 480ml packed light brown sugar
- 240ml white sugar
- 2 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract

- 1/2 orange zest, grated

- 100g white chocolate, chopped (or   use chips)

- 100g good quality dark chocolate, chopped (or use chips)

- 30g cranberries 

- 100g After Eight, chopped 

Directions
Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a bigger bowl mix the melted butter, brown and white sugar. Then beat in the egg and egg yolk and lastly add the vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until evenly moistened. Divide the dough into three and place in different bowls. Add white chocolate chips and cranberries to one bowl, dark chocolate and orange zest to another bowl and after eight pieces into the third bowl. Mix well until well combined



Roll the dough into balls and press down the cookies on the baking tray with your palm to make them flat.

Then bake them for 5-7 minutes for smaller cookies or 12-15 minutes for larger ones or until the edge looks golden brown and the middles don't look quite set. Bake them for a bit longer if you prefer your cookies crunchier (I like mine a bit soft inside so I take them out a bit sooner).

 

Gingerbread cookies

I know that it is not December yet, but few days ago I got the urge to bake gingerbread cookies. I'm back home in London for a week and the chilly weather really made me want to fill the flat with the smell of freshly baked gingerbread cookies.

I can't remember a single year in my life when I did not bake gingerbread for Christmas. For as long as I can remember it was something I really looked forward to. Until I moved to London I always used the gingerbread dough that my great aunt had prepared for us and very rarely resorted to the store bought versions and I can say that nothing beats the homemade stuff. However, with moving to London it was a bit difficult to get hold of my great aunt's gingerbread dough and I really haven't seen ready made doughs in shops over here, so the only option I was left with was to prepare the dough myself. As it was something I had never seen how it was made I was a bit scared in the beginning as I though that it would be incredibly difficult and time-consuming. Fortunately, I was proven wrong and this recipe is probably one of the easiest cookie recipes that I have made.

As I have given you the recipe way before Christmas there is no excuse whatsoever to resort to the store bought versions of gingerbread men and in addition to getting the most delicious and crunchy home-made cookies, your home will be filled with the amazing smell of freshly baked gingerbread. They are great for nibbling or even giving as gifts, especially as home-made presents are gaining popularity right now.

Ingredients
(Makes approximately 100 small cookies)
- 350g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger (or more if you wish)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (or more if you wish)
- 125g butter, room temperature
- 175g light soft brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp golden syrup

- Various cake decorations or icing to decorate

Directions
Sift together the flour, soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour the mixture into food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together and add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Take the dough out and knead until smooth, wrap it in clingfilm and place in the fridge for around 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C and line baking trays with baking parchment. Roll the dough out on a floured surface and use cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. For some cake decorations, you can put them on the gingerbread cookies before putting them into the oven, but for others you can't.  Depending on the size of your cookies, bake them between 7-15 minutes and make sure that they don't burn. When they have cooled down decorate them with icing and cake decorations.

Recipe from BBC Food