I’m not about to get full festive on you (yet) but I did bake some cookies last week that were delicious and left the house with a pretty cosy-holiday vibe.
Okay I’ll say it! The house felt festive! The cookies tasted of christmas! If I hadn’t been baking them in a half-finished kitchen renovation I would have been beside myself with joy and reaching for a bit of Buble.
Is it too soon? It’s too soon.
These are gently spiced cookies. You know how some Christmas cookies smell great but feel a bit like you’re eating a candle? Not these guys. These are delicate. Soft, chewy, worryingly moreish… and my children devoured them.
Enough of the preamble. Here’s the recipe.
Ingredients
(Using cup measures because alongside my unfinished kitchen and broken dryer, my kitchen scales need a new battery. Could it get any worse around here?)
1 cup sugar (I used a mix of brown and caster/granulated sugar)
1 cup butter (softened)
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses / black treacle
2 cups all-purpose / plain flour
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp baking soda / bicarbonate of soda
1 heaped tsp cinnamon
1 flat tsp ginger
1 generous pinch of ground cloves
Method:
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg. (Don’t panic if it splits / looks a little lumpy, all will be fine).
Add the molasses/ treacle; mix.
In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, spices).
Slowly add the dry ingredients to your sugar/butter/egg mix.
Refrigerate the mix for an hour (or overnight)
Remove from fridge, roll into balls and gently squash onto a baking paper lined tray.
Either freeze for future smug OR bake in a preheated oven at 180C / 350F for 8-10 minutes. Remove when they are still soft but slightly golden – and darker on the bottom. Bake longer if you want these to be a little firmer but I found the chewiness pretty delightful.
Enjoy! With a cup of tea and, let’s face it, a bit of Michael Buble.
The face of a man who would appreciate a gently spiced cookie.
Enjoy! More non-festive festive posts coming soon.
tMatM x