The desire to nosh on something sweet isn't just limited to us commoners during the holiday season. Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth has a notorious sweet tooth. Of course, we're all itching to know what her favorite Christmastime treat is. Just as she is in many other areas of her life, the Queen is traditional when it comes to holiday treats: She likes to serve gingerbread biscuits (cookies to those of us in the States) throughout the Christmas season.
You'd expect that the royal pastry chefs would keep the Queen's favorite recipes under lock and key, but she's given them her blessing to share this particular sweet treat. In a recent blog post, the royal pastry chefs dished on what it takes to make a cookie so sturdy that you can allegedly use them as ornaments on the tree, too!
Scroll through to learn how to make the Queen's favorite cookies yourself.
Queen Elizabeth is definitely in the holiday spirit!
As the palace gets beautified for the holiday season, we're sure the Queen is looking forward to spending some time away with the rest of the royal family at Sandringham House, where they celebrate Christmas every year as per tradition.
Like most people during this season, the Queen's holiday wouldn't be complete without a delicious meal.
The Queen has a notorious sweet tooth, so you know the dessert spread will be plentiful.
In fact, the Queen has allowed her pastry chefs to write a blog post about her favorite holiday treat, gingerbread cookies!
Here's what you'll need to make 10 2-inch royal-approved gingerbread cookies:
- 1 1/3 cups (200 grams) self-rising flour
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. mixed spice
- 3/8 cup (75 grams) dark brown sugar
- 7 tbsps. (100 grams) unsalted butter, diced
- 3 tbsps. (45 grams) milk
- 2 tbsps. (25 grams) granulated sugar, for dusting
- Icing for decorating
First, sift together the flour, brown sugar, ginger, and mixed spice. Add the diced butter and crumb together with your fingertips.
Add milk and combine to form a paste. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least two hours. Ideally, the chefs recommend to let it sit overnight.
When you're ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Then roll out the dough to approximately 3 mm. Cut out your desired shapes, lay on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
The royal pastry chefs recommend freezing the cut-out cookies for at least an hour so that they maintain their shape well.
Keep an eye on the cookies, baking until set.
While you're waiting for the cookies to bake and cool off, you can start brainstorming your decorating ideas on paper, just like the royal pastry chefs do!
Completely cool the cookies before decorating. Voilà!
It's lovely to think of the royal family together at the holidays, enjoying this special treat! We wonder if the great-grandkids ever get to help whip up a batch.
