Gingerbread Miffy

Happy Easter, Everyone. 

I know chocolate eggs are the usual Easter treat, but how about these gingerbread Miffy biscuits?

Great wee pressie for Miffy lovers. :) 

Ingredients

• 350g (12oz) plain flour 
  
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2tsp ground ginger
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 125g (4oz) butter, cubed
• 175g (6oz) light muscovado sugar
• 1 egg
• 4Tbsp golden syrup

 Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Line two baking trays with nonstick baking paper. In a food processor, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon. Add the butter and pulse until it has been incorporated. Add the sugar and pulse a further 3-4 times.
2. In a bowl, put the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter with your fingers. Mix in the remaining ingredients with a wooden spoon, before bringing the gingerbread dough together by hand together the egg and golden syrup with a fork. (Alternatively put all the ingredients into the food processor and whizz until the mixture comes together in sticky clumps.) Shape the dough into a ball and wrap in clingfilm; chill for 30 minutes.
3. On a large sheet of lightly floured, nonstick baking paper, roll out half the dough to roughly the thickness of a pound coin. Using a biscuit cutter, (I found a Miffy biscuit cutter on eBay) stamp out some shapes. Arrange on one of the prepared trays and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Ginger Cupcakes

Somehow..... I like to eat warm gingerbread with a very milky cup of tea on a cold day. 

Well, these cupcakes are not in the shape of a gingerbread cake, but they are moist and spicy with all the goodness of gingerbread cake, but in a lovely little cupcake shape. I decorated them with lemon icing.  

They would be really nice with chopped apples, raisins or stem-ginger in the batter.  Yum. :) 

Ingredients  (8 cupcakes)

• 140g low-fat margarine
• 100g dark brown mascovado Sugar
• 70g caster sugar 
• 40g golden syrup
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 200g plain flour 
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

1.     Preheat oven to 180 °C.

2.     Melt the margarine, sugar and golden syrup in a bowl in a microwave.

3.     Sieve the flour, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon into a mixing bowl.

4.     Stir in the milk, beaten egg and cooled liquid mixture.

5.     Mix everything together gently and then pour the mixture into the muffin cases.

6.     Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Here are my "apple ginger cupcakes."
I grated 1 apple and mixed them into the wet mixture before adding the dry mixture.
This time, I decorated them with lemon and ginger icing.  (icing sugar + ground ginger + lemon juice)

They really are very moist.  :)