Christmas is coming... - 4th advent Sunday

So here we are! It´s the last Sunday before Christmas: all the presents are under the tree, the family has reunited, all the decorations are done, the menu for our Christmas dinner is set, and the jolly atmosphere  is filling my apartment. 

Whilst I am blogging right now, I am watching Nigella´s Christmas Cooking on tv... WOW! I would love to be able to cook like she does. If you are still clueless for your Christmas feast, have a look at her blog.

Anyways, we are here now for the fourth and last recipe of my Xmas cookies: the gingerbread snow flakes. I must be honest with you. . . I´m not fond of gingerbread  ☺ so these cookies were for my neighbours, who really appreciated!

Ingredients: 

400 gr. plain flour

180 gr. butter

125 gr. brown sugar

1 egg

125 gr. honey

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

For the icing:

water

icing sugar

lemon juice

For the icing I don´t follow a particular quantities. I simply take a bowl, pour some icing sugar in it, a little little little bit of water and a couple of drops of lemon juice. Then I stir and according to the consistency of it I either add water or sugar. It doesn´t have too bee too thick nor too liquid.

Procedure:

1. Sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer and cream on slow speed until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat in the egg and honey. 
2. Turn the mixer back down to slow speed and slowly add the flour mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time, stopping often to scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl. Once an even dough has formed, take it out of the mixer, divide into 3 and wrap each piece in cling film. Leave to rest for at least a couple of hours. 
3. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 170°C. Take the dough out of the fridge and leave it to soften for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of about 4 mm. Cut out shapes with your cookie cutters. Arrange the cookies on the baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 10–15 minutes. 
4. Leave the cookies to cool slightly. If you want to use them simply as a decoration you can start decorating right away. If you also want to eat them I recommend you leave them overnight in a tupperware with two halves of an apple.

Enjoy ♥

Martina

P.S.: thank you dear followers!