Colourful mini gingerbread biscuits made in the Thermomix® are one of the few Christmas bakes where waiting is genuinely rewarded. The icing makes them bright, and the mini format makes them practical. But what really makes them good is the resting time in the fridge: 4 hours minimum, overnight is better, and a week is best.
The Thermomix® handles three steps here that would be time-consuming by hand: chopping almonds, chopping cranberries, then warming 200 g of honey and 80 g of butter to 60°C without the sugar catching. The result is a firm, aromatic, spiced dough that can be pressed onto 40 mm wafer rounds and holds its shape well during baking.
Colourful Mini Gingerbread Biscuits, Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 13 ✓
- 200 g almonds
- 50 g dried cranberries
- 200 g honey
- 100 g soft brown sugar
- 80 g butter
- 260 g flour
- 3 tsp gingerbread spice mix
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp ammonium bicarbonate
- wafer rounds, 40 mm
- 150 g sugar
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- food colouring
Instructions 0 / 8
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1
Chop the almonds.
Add the almonds to the mixing bowl and chop for 6 seconds / speed 6, then set aside.
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2
Chop the cranberries.
Add the cranberries to the mixing bowl and chop for 6 seconds / speed 7, then add to the almonds.
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3
Heat honey, sugar and butter.
Add the honey, sugar and butter to the mixing bowl and mix for 5 minutes / 60°C / speed 1. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
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4
Knead the dough and leave to rest.
Add the flour, gingerbread spice mix, cranberries, almonds, egg and ammonium bicarbonate and knead for 2 minutes / kneading mode to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 4 hours.
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5
Preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 180°C top and bottom heat (fan 160°C, gas mark 4).
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6
Shape and bake the gingerbread biscuits.
Cut the dough into thick slices, roll into logs, cut off pieces, shape into balls and press onto the wafer rounds.
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7
Bake the gingerbread biscuits on the middle shelf of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, keeping a close eye on them. They must not darken. Leave to cool for 10 minutes. Rinse the mixing bowl.
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8
Ice the gingerbread biscuits.
Meanwhile, add the sugar to the mixing bowl and grind for 10 seconds / speed 10. Scrape down with the spatula, add the lemon juice and mix for 10 seconds / speed 4. Divide between three cups and add food colouring of your choice to two of them, then stir. Coat the gingerbread biscuits with the icing and leave to set.
Tip: You can also use chocolate couverture to coat the gingerbread biscuits.
Video
Nutrition per serving
The maturing trick: why patience pays off
Gingerbread is one of the few bakes where freshly baked is not the best it will be. This comes down to how the spices work: the cinnamon, anise, cloves and cardamom in the gingerbread spice mix need time to meld with the honey and brown sugar. Straight from the oven you can taste each note separately. After 2 to 3 days in an airtight tin, the dough begins to mature. After a week, the flavour is rounder and deeper. Overstated? We don’t think so. The difference is clearly noticeable in the bite.
If you are planning the gingerbread biscuits for Christmas, we recommend baking them the week before. Apply the icing shortly before serving or giving as a gift. This keeps the icing fresh and gives the biscuits underneath time to mature.
Mini format: more icing per bite
On a 40 mm wafer round, the sugar icing has a much better ratio to the dough base than on large gingerbread biscuits. That means more icing per bite, more colour on the plate, and visually a tray of 20 colourful mini gingerbread biscuits looks far more festive than ten large ones in plain brown.
We make the icing straight after baking, while the biscuits are still cooling: grind 150 g of sugar to icing sugar at speed 10, then stir in 4 tbsp of lemon juice. We divide the mixture between three cups and add food colouring to two of them. Sprinkle edible glitter onto the still-wet icing for an even more festive effect.
Ammonium bicarbonate: why no substitute works
Ammonium bicarbonate is not a substitute for baking powder. It is a different leavening agent with different behaviour. It releases CO2 and ammonia, but only in the heat of the oven. This means the gingerbread rises during baking without absorbing moisture from the dough beforehand. The result is a denser, firmer bite than you get with baking powder. The ammonia smell during baking is normal and disappears completely.
Regular salt is not a substitute, and bicarbonate of soda noticeably changes both the flavour and texture. We buy ammonium bicarbonate in the baking aisle at the supermarket. It costs under 1 euro and lasts for several baking seasons.
Keeping them soft: the tin and the bread trick
Gingerbread biscuits go hard when they lose moisture. An airtight tin slows this down. For a further step: place a small piece of white bread in the tin. The bread releases moisture slowly, the biscuits absorb it and stay soft until the bread itself dries out. Simply replace it when that happens. This keeps the biscuits moist for up to 2 weeks.
The dough can also be frozen, wrapped airtight, for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then shape and bake as usual.
If you want even more gingerbread flavour during the Christmas season, we recommend our Gingerbread Liqueur, Thermomix®. And if you also bake classic Christmas shortcrust biscuits, you will find all the recipes in our shortcrust biscuits collection.
Goes well with: Mulled wine.
