So, this weeks blog is Christmas themed. My take on a Christmas centre piece, a gingerbread Christmas tree. You know when you see something and think I could do that, that’s what happened when I went into Lakeland. Always a dangerous decision because I always end up coming out with something. I saw the Christmas cookie set and knew I wanted to have a go at it. Of course with it being nearly Christmas I had to make gingerbread. It was one of the first things I made when I came back from uni and I went a little overboard with it. Not only did I make a gingerbread tree I also made a gingerbread cheesecake and some snowflake baubles. I had no idea how much gingerbread I was going to need so I started out making one batch and went from there. For the tree I used treacle and the snowflakes I used golden syrup.
For the gingerbread, I started by beating 175g butter with 170g brown sugar. Once this was combined I added 190g treacle, I’ve never baked with treacle before. I added some vanilla extract and 1 egg. I mixed this together and once it was all incorporated I added the dry ingredients. This consisted of 420g plain flour and one teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. The most important part of the biscuit is the spices, I added cinnamon and ginger both 1 teaspoon and then some nutmeg and mixed spice. I love the smell of gingerbread and you know it’s officially Christmas when I start baking it in our house. I bought the dough together once it was all mixed and wrapped it in cling film to chill for 30mins. The chilling helps the gingerbread hold its shape when it’s baked. With all my baking stuff at uni I had to make do with the tins I had, I lined a baking tray with baking paper and I improvised and used a pizza tray. I didn’t have a rolling pin so used a bottle instead (you can understand my surprise this turned out as well as it did). I rolled the dough out a bit at a time and baked 2 of each size biscuit, starting with the smallest.
The smaller sizes baked for around 7-8 minutes then when I got to the bigger sizes they took around 12 minutes. I took mine out as they started to darken in colour. I didn’t have enough dough to make all 20 but I thought even 18 would be enough. I let them cool completely, they didn’t take long at all. Then I could start decorating them. I used a 10inch cake board which was the perfect size. I used the gingerbread spread as glue. I rolled the icing out thinly and used the cutters again to cover the stars. Each gingerbread was topped with spread so the icing had something to stick to. The larger ones took the most time but once they got smaller I was on a roll. I alternated the biscuits as I towered them as you can see. At each corner I added a silver ball. The star on the top rested against a little ball of icing. I dusted the top star in rose gold glitter after it was covered in fondant. Then it was finished the perfect Christmas gift for those gingerbread lovers.
I had a lot of fun taking photos capturing this tree, as you can see I couldn’t chose a favourite. I also made a gingerbread cheesecake using 180g crushed Biscoff biscuits along with 100g melted butter. For the topping I used 450ml double cream, 550g cream cheese, 100g icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of gingerbread spread. I added a teaspoon of ginger for an added touch. I let it set and topped it in some left over gingerbread stars and gold glitter.
For the snowflakes, I used a different recipe. I heated 50g butter with 100 golden syrup and brown sugar together until it was all dissolved. I let this cool slightly so it wasn’t boiling. In a separate bowl I added 225g plain flour, ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg. Honestly I just tapped some into the bowl and didn’t measure it. I almost forgot to add the bicarbonate of soda. I added the butter mix to the dry ingredients and mixed it together. I cut out different snowflake sizes. I poked a hole in them so I could string a thread through them. I tried to decorate them but I liked their rustic appearance.
I certainly went overboard on gingerbread, two trees, a cheesecake and countless snowflakes. I loved how the photos turned out and they just looked Christmassy. They were very well received by the people they were for. You can’t not have gingerbread at Christmas. I really enjoyed making these and writing this blog. You might get another Christmas blog before Christmas because I made an Igloo cake I’m really proud of. I hope you have a lovely week, I’m off to wrap some presents ready for Christmas.
Lots of love
Hannah xx
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