These Spiced Christmas Cookies really are Christmas in a cookie! Think gingerbread but softer, spicier, zestier and with a texture between biscuit and cake. Easy to make, they store well and are perfect as they are or decorated with a little lemon icing or just some sifted icing sugar.
I really love these cookies and prefer them to gingerbread any day, in fact gingerbread seems quite dull in comparison!
This is partly because of the mix of FIVE different Christmas spices, namely All Spice, Ginger, Cloves, Cinnamon and Nutmeg. All Spice in particular brings a unique earthy tone to the party.
Add to that orange and lemon zest, treacle, honey and the richness of dark muscovado sugar and you can just imagine the depth of flavour you get in these cookies.
They really are quite special and I hope you enjoy them as much as me (and my family!) do.
Spiced Christmas Cookies are delicious plain or with a simple decoration.
To decorate mine I simply drew round a star cutter on some greaseproof paper, then popped it onto the cookie and sifted over some icing sugar. Reverse this to get a clear star in the middle.
Or you can icing them with some lemon icing made with sifted icing sugar and fresh lemon juice. Keep adding lemon juice just until the icing is gloopy and spreadable. I then sprinkled over some sugar nibs.
Other Christmas cookies on Ella's Better Bakes are these popular Cranberry and Pistachio Shortbread.
Or if you are like ginger fan you might like to try this Jamaican Ginger Cake or Sticky Toffee and Ginger Pudding with some gorgeous Proper English Vanilla Custard.
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Why are these Spiced Christmas Cookies just so amazing?
Gingerbread, meets ginger cookie with FIVE Christmas spices✔️
Dark black treacle and dark muscovado sugar for rich flavours✔️
Made in 3 simple stages✔️
Can be decorated or served plain✔️
Dough can be made in advance✔️
Top Tips for Perfect Spiced Christmas Cookies
Cookie Dough Tips
Cut your butter into small pieces so that it melts more quickly and therefore the melted ingredients do not become too hot.
Butter your tablespoon so the treacle slips off it easily.
Melt your butter, sugar and treacle gently so that none evaporates and keep stirring to aid the melting process. You do not need to wait for the sugar to dissolve, in fact if you do you will find the whole mixture becomes really stiff and tar like! This will mean your baked cookies are quite tough.
Make sure your hot mixture has cooled before adding the egg otherwise it will partially scramble the egg when added.
Do not knead your spiced Christmas cookie dough, stop mixing as soon as all of the dry ingredients are incorporated as kneading will produce a rubbery texture.
Before baking
For added depth of flavour, refrigerate the dough for a few hours (or overnight) before baking. There are so many lovely spices and flavours that you really want to give them time to get to know each other. That said, I am usually too impatient and usually only leave them an hour maximum!
Chill your spiced cookies before baking as an issue with cookies is that they melt and spread very quickly once they hit the heat of the oven. This results in very flat, thin cookies. Chilling them sets the butter in the cookie dough meaning it does not melt too quickly and your cookie retains its shape.
Bake in batches of one tray at a time if you want uniformity (this I have to say appeals to my OCD but is not a must!).
To give your Spicy Cookies a uniformly round appearance take a large cookie cutter and place it over the cookie as soon as it comes out of the oven and whilst they are still on the baking sheet. Next, move the cutter in a circular movement to reshape the edges and give you a nice even circle.
Ingredients and Substitutions
See the Recipe card below for the exact quantities
- Dark muscovado sugar
Muscovado sugar works really well in these cookies due its deep and rich flavour full of molasses, spice and a hint of caramel. You can however use dark brown sugar as a substitute. - Unsalted butter
Salted butter will be fine, just omit adding extra salt. - Black treacle
Adds to the depth of flavour in these spiced cookies. Can be replaced with golden syrup. - Ground almonds
Almonds are a key ingredient for flavour and texture. You can use whole almonds (skin on or not) and grind them down. Ground pecans or walnuts will also work well. I tend to use my Nutribullet to grind nuts down as far as possible. - Plain flour
Also know as all-purpose flour. We don't use self raising flour because it contains too much baking powder meaning the cookies will rise too much. We just need a bit of baking powder, hence why it is added separately. - Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Always a necessity when making cookies, bicarbonate of soda helps to give a slight chewy texture which is a must for a good cookie!
- Allspice, ground ginger, ground cloves, fresh nutmeg and ground cinnamon
You can replace any of these as you fancy, such as Mixed Spice in place of All Spice (though All Spice is a single spice and Mixed Spice is a blend of spices, so despite the name they are not the same thing). You can use ground nutmeg instead of fresh. Be carful with the ground cloves they are very strong so just a little is needed. - Fine salt
Helps to bring out the flavours in the cookies, but can be omitted. - Lemon and Orange zest
Add a lovely fruity flavour to the Spicy Cookies, but can be omitted. - Egg
An egg is added to bind all of the ingredients together. The egg should be at room temperature so that it blends well with the rest of the ingredients. - Cocoa powder
This one is optional. Adding it just adds another depth of flavour.
Instructions
See Recipe card for exact instructions.
Over a gentle heat, melt together your muscovado sugar, butter, honey and treacle. Keep stirring and once all of the butter has melted remove from the heat to cool to room temperature. Stir every so often as it cools so that it does not set.
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Meanwhile, sift together your flour, spices, cocoa, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and set aside.
Once the wet mixture has cooled mix in your orange and lemon zest. Then add a room temperature lightly beaten egg and mix until incorporated.
Add your sifted dry ingredients and fold in. Then stir in your ground almonds.
Ensuring everything is full mixed together, cover your cookie dough and refrigerate for 2 hours at least, preferably more or overnight to allow the flavours to intensify.
Weigh your cookie dough out into equal amounts and depress them in your palm to a width of 2.5 inches. Bake your cookies in a preheated oven for about 12 minutes.
Leave your Spicy Cookies on the baking sheet to cool for about 10 minutes they remove to a cooling rack. Decorate however you fancy!
Storing your Christmas Cookies
These Spicy Christmas Cookies are even better the day after, they become softer and stickier. Absolute heaven.
They should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature and will keep for up to a week.
You can freeze the dough, it is advisable to do this in balls of 50 grams. They can then be baked from frozen but will take about 22-25 minutes to bake through.
FAQ
All is not lost if you find your cookies and flattened and/or become misshapen having baked. Simply have a large cookie cutter to hand and, leaving them still on the baking sheet, place over the cookie shuffle it in a circular motion to realign the cookie shape.
Bicarb is a crucial ingredient when making cookies because the carbon dioxide it releases during baking ensure they rise and gives the cookie its soft texture.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Spiced Christmas Cookies
Here's what you'll need...
- Medium heavy based saucepan
- Round cookie cutter or pint glass optional
Ingredients you'll need...
See blog post for suggested SUBSTITUTIONS if you do not have all of the ingredients listed below
Stage 1 - wet ingredients, melt together
- 200 g Dark Muscovado Sugar
- 150 g Honey
- 100 g Unsalted butter cut into chunks so that it melts quickly
- 1 tablespoon Dark treacle Tip - butter your tablespoon first, to ensure your treacle slides off it easily
Stage 2 - add to cooled wet ingredients
- 1 Large egg at room temperature and lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon Lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon Orange zest
Stage 3 - dry ingredients, sift everything together except almonds
- 240 g Plain flour
- 1 tablespoon Cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
- ¼ teaspoon Fine salt
- 1½ teaspoon All Spice
- 1 teaspoon Ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon Nutmeg preferable freshly grated, otherwise use ground nutmeg
- 110 g Ground almonds
Here's what we do...
- Add your stage 1 wet ingredients to your heavy based medium sized saucepan and melt over a low heat whilst gently stirring just until the butter has melted and no lumps of sugar remain. Do not overheat, otherwise the mixture will be come heavy and tar like.
- Set aside to cool to room temperature. Stir every so often to ensure the mixture does not set.
- Meanwhile, sift all of your stage 2 ingredients together and set aside.
- To your cooled wet mixture, mix in your orange and lemon zest and then your beaten egg. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until everything is incorporated.
- Next add your dry sifted ingredients and fold in.
- Then fold in your ground almonds. The mixture will be quite stiff.
- Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.
- Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
- Weigh out 50 grams of the spiced cookie dough and flatten in the palm of your hand to a width of about 2.5 inches.
- Place your cookies on the baking sheet leaving a gap or around an inch and a half around them as they will spread when baking. You may have to bake them in two batches.
- Refrigerate the cookies again whilst your oven heats up.
- Heat your oven to 350°F/200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 4 and bake the cookies for 15 minutes. When ready they should be crackly on top.
- To give a uniform circular shape, use a large cookie cutter or a pint glass which is just a bit bigger than the baked cookies and, with the straight side down, put it over the cookie and spin it around a few times.
- Leave the spiced cookies to cool on the baking tray for 5-10 minutes (this also helps to set the cookie base) and then remove to a cooling rack.
- Once cool, decorate with icing made from sifted icing sugar and lemon juice or sift over some icing sugar.
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