Sweet & Spooky Gingerbread Skulls

Happy Hallowe’en everyone!

I re-use this gingerbread recipe every couple of weeks. It’s delicious, and it is so easy to work with. Just a dream come true in biscuit form. So I am using it here with just a few flavour tweaks.

I wasn't really going for "spooky"

You don’t have to use skull cutters. If you are more of a free-hand person, then you could cut out circles and then ice those without the “guidelines.” And even if you use cutters which come with cut out indents, you aren’t forced to copy those shapes, you can always get creative and add your own patterns over the top.

I have a slight obsession with holiday baking. And there is something hugely therapeutic about icing buns in an intricate and ridiculously detailed manner. This is how I spend my Sunday evenings and it’s so much fun. Edible hobbies are the best kind.

Spooky Cookies

I am having SO MUCH FUN.

I love Hallowe’en. Everyone should love Hallowe’en. It’s spooky and fun and has some of the BEST songs. If you’ve never listened to Werewolf Bar Mitzvah then stop what you’re doing and watch it on Youtube. You won’t be sorry. I’ll wait.

Right, back to the matter in hand. Delicious biscuits! I tried a new recipe for the “sugar cookie” biscuit base upon which my pumpkins rest. And I re-used the best gingerbread recipe in the world and repurposed them for the season – as scary skeletons! The cookies are lovely and soft which is how I like them, but feel free to cook for slightly longer and roll out slightly thinner if you prefer a thinner biscuit. Also, feel free to make the skeletons with the plain biscuit recipe below, I just had a hankering for gingerbread too (greedy)!

I’m gonna hold my hands up. I’m not the best decorator. I get impatient and I’m not a good at drawing and really I’d rather just have the foodstuff in my mouth. But I tried really hard. I asked my honest-to-a-fault boyfriend if they looked like a 4 year old made them and he said, “no, they’re way better than that. ..Like a 12 year old maybe.”

FRIGHTENING!

Anyway. This is the most fun I’ve had in the kitchen in ages. I’ve eaten 4 cookies and I feel sick and accomplished. Come, join me.

Gingerbread Men - 100th Post Christmas Special!

Let’s hear those sleigh bells ringing!

I love Christmas. Christmas really and truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I love that everywhere gets decked out with lights, I love singing Christmas songs, I love watching Christmas movies with loved ones, and I most especially love cooking Christmas treats.

Christmas, for me, is a time for tradition and comfort, I like watching the same films and wearing the same dodgy jumpers. I also like eating the same things! Having said that, I am always on the lookout for things to add to my festivities: Four years ago I saw It’s a Wonderful Life for the first time, and now it is an unmissable part of the season for me.  Three years ago, my boyfriend and I traipsed to IKEA in Christmas jumpers and got meatballs and a whole bunch of Julmust, and now we do it every year. Even just last year was the first time I’d made ham in coke, and now it has been added to my festive menu!

I’ve never had that “perfect” recipe for gingerbread.. Until now. And wouldn’t you know it, Mary bloody Berry strikes again! I was initially sceptical about the recipe, I’ve never added syrup to a biscuit recipe, but damn it was good.

I’ve made a few adjustments to the spicing, just to amp it up a notch.  Her recipe also was for larger gingerbread people, wheras I’ve gone with a mix of teeny Christmas shapes and the larger people. The small Christmas shapes were a present from my mum and are my new exact favourite thing.

To me, the smaller ones are very similar to Swedish “pepparkakor” in that they are dark, crisp and spiced. The larger ones are that gorgeous, chewy gingerbread cookie that is just delectable.