These cookies are wonderful to make with children. The dough has a similar texture to play dough, so you children can easily play with it, roll it out and cut out shapes. If you have more than one child, you can have everything ready on the table before they start. Cake cutters, rolling pins, a plastic bowl with flour and baking trays with parchment paper on top. You can write their names on the parchment paper, because trust me after you bake the cookies there is no way you will recognise who’s is who’s.
I made a few star cookie cut outs, while helping all my friends with their cookies. I had planned to take pictures of them for the blog, so I wanted them to look really nice. I nipped out of the room for 2 minutes and two rascals had made holes in nearly all of them! Holy moley! Kids! Got to love them!
These gingerbread cookies are great for decorations. Just make a small hole on the cut out shapes and when it’s been baked (and cooled down) thread a beautiful red bow through.
This recipe is from the Icelandic Cake Bible, Köku bók Hagkaups.
Icelandic ginger bread cookies
Ingredients
- 200g white sugar
- 200g syrup
- 6 tbsp water
- 500g flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 100g butter (room temperature)
- Cookie cutters
Instructions
Place all the ingredients in a kitchen aid bowl and slowly mix together. When the dough has come together, stop the mixing right way otherwise the dough will become sticky.
Put the dough in a plastic bag and place in the fridge, preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Sprinkle flour onto a surface and roll out the dough thinly with a rolling pin. Cut out shapes, with cake cutters. If you want to hang up the cookies make a small hole on the cut out shapes.
Place a baking parchment on a baking tray and line up all the cut out shapes. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes (bigger cut outs need longer).
