Equipment
- star shaped cookie cutters (various sizes)
Ingredients
- 500 grams flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 3 teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamon
- 150 grams butter, softened
- 175 grams brown sugar
- 150 grams golden syrup
- 1 egg
Icing
- 1 egg white
- 240 grams icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
- Silver Cachous, to decorate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
- Beat the butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the golden syrup and egg. Beat until combined.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarb and spices into the butter mixture and beat on a low speed until the mixture is combined. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until 4mm thick. Use different size star cutters to cut out as many stars as possible. You want at least 3 of each size. Make additional small stars to use for decorations.
- Transfer the cut-out stars on to sheets lined with baking paper. Bake similar sized stars together until light golden brown. For smaller stars bake for 5-7 minutes, for larger stars bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the cooked stars from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Mix the icing sugar and egg white together, until combined.
- Start with the largest stars, use the icing to glue the next star on at an offset. Continue stacking stars on in decreasing size, stacking 2-3 stars of each size.
- Finish by sticking a small star upright to the top with icing. Use additional icing to glue on cachous as decorations. Dust with icing sugar to add a snow effect.
Gingerbread is always a Christmas favorite. With this gingerbread tree, layers of star shaped gingerbread are stacked together to make a Christmas tree that’s guaranteed to be a show stopping piece at your next Christmas celebration.
Preparing the Dough
Preheat the oven to 180 °C and then proceed to making the dough.
Start the dough by using an electric mixer to cream together the butter and brown sugar. Next, stir in the golden syrup and egg. Lastly, sift the flour, baking powder, bicarb and spices into the butter mixture and stir on a low speed until everything is incorporated.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 4mm.
Cutting out the Gingerbread
Using star shaped cutters, cut out 3 stars of each size from the dough. Use a small-shaped cutter to cut out as many stars as possible from the remaining dough.
Place similar sized stars together on to a tray lined with baking paper. Bake the smaller stars for 5-7 minutes. The larger stars can be baked for 8-10 minutes. Each star should be baked until it is a light golden colour.
Allow the cooked stars to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to complete the cooling.
Assembling the Gingerbread Tree
Add egg white and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl, stir until it’s incorporated. The icing mixture will act as a glue when assembling the tree.
Start with the largest stars, use a knife to spread some icing into the middle and then stack the next star on top at an offset.
Continue stacking and gluing the stars in decreasing size, until the tree is stacked to the desired height. Using 2-3 stars of each size can help with creating height to the tree. One last small star can be glued upright to the top
Finish the tree by using the icing to decorate the tree with cachous. Leave the tree to set for at least an hour before dusting with icing sugar to serve. The remaining small stars can be tied to look like small presents around the tree.
