These honey gingerbread hearts are a must in the run-up to Christmas. The dough is prepared a day in advance and then left to rest overnight so that all the flavours of the cloves and oranges can develop. A real treat!
For the pastry:
400 grams butter
300 grams honey
300 grams golden syrup
1 kilogram wholemeal spelt flour
2 organic oranges, zest grated
5-8 cloves, ground
15 grams potash
6 teaspoons of water
For the icing:
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons orange juice, freshly squeezed
5 tablespoons honey
100-250 grams sugar sprinkles, coloured
1. Melt the butter, honey and golden syrup in a pan over a low heat and then leave to cool to room temperature.
2. Add the finely grated zest of the untreated oranges to the flour in a bowl with the crushed cloves and mix.
3. Stir the honey-syrup-butter mixture into the flour.
4. Dissolve the potash in a little water, add to the dough and knead well.
5. Cover the honey gingerbread dough and leave to rest for 24 hours.
6. Roll out the dough on a floured work surface to a thickness of 1/2 centimetre using a rolling pin and cut out hearts of 5-7 centimetres in size.
7. Place the hearts on greased baking trays and bake in a preheated oven at 180° on the middle shelf for 12-15 minutes.
8. Leave to cool on the cake rack.
9. Brush with a glaze made from melted butter, honey and orange juice.
10. Sprinkle with colourful sugar sprinkles.
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