The Smell of Christmas

 

When I was blog hopping I saw mention of Cinnamon Applesauce decorations and went googling to see what they were:

• 1 1/2 cups ground cinnamon
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup white glue
• Bowl
• Plastic food wrap
• Rolling pin
• Wax paper
• Cookie cutters or a knife
• Ribbon or yarn for hanging

1. Mix cinnamon, applesauce, and glue together in a bowl. The dough should be as thick as cookie dough. Add a bit of water if the dough is too stiff.
2. Remove from bowl and knead. Put it back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for at least a half hour.
3. Remove the dough, knead again to make sure it's smooth. Flatten/roll the dough between waxed paper until it's between 1/4" thick and 1/8" thick.
4. Cut out desired shapes, use a straw to punch a hole for the ribbon to hang. The circle of dough will pull out with the straw.

Gently place the shapes on a piece of clean wax paper. They will take 3-5 days to dry, and you will need to turn them over a couple of times a day for them to dry evenly and flat.

So I made some as I had some apples and a pot of cinnamon lying around and I have to say they smell DIVINE!!! I plan to add them to my christmas cards as decorations!

Anyway my children weren't very impressed with my FAKE biscuits- they smell was so delicious! So I have made REAL gingerbread men to keep the kids happy.

I found a lovely recipe HERE on the BBC website:

• 350g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for rolling out

• 1 tspbicarb of soda

• 2 tsp ground ginger
  

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 125g/4½oz butter or marg

• 175g/6oz light soft brown sugar

• 1 free-range egg

• 4 tbsp golden syrup

1. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.

2. Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together, add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead briefly until smooth, wrap in clingfim and leave to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

4. Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread men shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them. For decorations, use a skewer to make a small hole in the top of each biscuit.

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling. When cooled decorate with the writing icing and cake decorations.

I changed the recipe slightly-I used 3 tbsp of golden syrup and 1 tbsp of treacle.

Here they are all cut out ( I made about 30 large gingerbread men):

They cooked beautifully and smell DIVINE. I had to do a taste test of course and they taste as good as they smell!

Whether they will get a chance to be iced I don't know- I think they are going to be eated pretty quickly!!

So If you want a quick taste and SMELL of christmas think about whipping up a batch of these gingerbread men!!

Happy Crafting!
GlitteryKatie xxx

Comments

[Erika]

I think my kids will enjoy making both of these.
Erika.

[Katherine]

Oooo feeling hungry now..will have to give them a go :)

[jayne]

OOOH i think i can smell them from here :)
Thanks for the links x

[Eleanor]

I love a good food processor recipe and this one will be tried out this weekend, thanks!
Elx

[Lynne V.]

Oh, how lovely.
Thanks for the links.

[Gabrielle]

My son LOVES gingerbread so we'll definitely be giving this a try! Thank you for sharing!

[Debbie]

Sounds really delicious, wondering if I will find the time to make some before Christmas x

[Mandy]

Gingerbread men are really popular in our house and it'll be fun to try a new recipe!
Mandy