When I think of Christmas, my mind immediately goes to gingerbread. It’s one of those childhood sweet treats that that just encapsulate what Christmas is. Associated with comforting tastes, scents, and stories, gingerbread is perfect when made around Christmas time, and also make perfect gifts! Here, I’ll show you how to make gingerbread, and how I packaged them for gifting ideas for anything baked or sweet!

Recipe used from Honeysuckle Catering.

Ingredients

3 cups plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 ground cloves

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup molasses

2 tsp vanilla

Extra flour for dusting

Method

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon and ground cloves together. Set aside. In a large bowl, place butter, dark brown sugar and the egg, and mix it on medium speed with a stand mixer or hand mixer until it comes together. Add molasses and vanilla and continue mixing until fully combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients mixed together earlier while mixing until a dough forms. Take dough from the bowl and split it in half. Place each half in plastic wrap, flatten a bit and place in the fridge for 1-2 hours to firm up. Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F/180°C fan forced. Take one dough package and sprinkle flour on the top and bottom. Roll dough out to desired thickness. The thinner the dough, the crispier; and the thicker the dough, the softer and chewier the gingerbread will be. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters and place on a lined baking sheet about 2-3cm apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, then take out of oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack. When fully cooled, you can decorate with buttercream, or traditionally, royal icing like I’ve done.

I actually made a huge batch of gingerbread for gifting almost three weeks ago, and I packaged them just like this. I was super proud, but so tired that I forgot to take photos for the blog. I was actually so devastated, so I had to put this post on hold for a while…until I made some more only to gift some more!

Christmas is all about spreading holiday cheer, and honestly, nothing feels better to me than baking and blessing everyone with yummy treats. It honestly makes me happier than receiving anything, knowing that my hard work might make a few people happy.

Also, how adorable are these tags? They’re by Creative Index in the Kraft variety. I love how some of them have silver glittery accents. They’re definitely my most used gift tags this year, along with the ones that I mentioned above. I just love them so much!

And they’re all ready to be gifted! I know that those I gave the first batch to loved them. If you make them, I hope that the people you give them to in your life love them too! If not, the smell that it fills your kitchen with once you take them out of the oven is enough in itself. I’d bake gingerbread just to have my kitchen surrounded by that gorgeous smell.

Hope you are having an absolutely lovely day/night wherever you are, and my post put you in the holiday spirit and made you look forward to the holidays! If not, hoping that you at least got something out of this – whether it’s gift packaging ideas, heaps of festivity or the craving for some gingerbread!

I’m off for now! Sending you happiness, festive cheer and the smell of freshly baked gingerbread;

– Jess x