gingerbread, paying attention + squishy hands

I held my daughters hand today, we walked along chatting and I tried to capture the moment with her tiny hand in mine. She’s six, but her hands are still squishy, and dimpled.
I soaked up her voice, and her hand and the way she giggled at herself, and her jokes. 
My littlest one grabbed my cheeks today, our noses almost touching, her weet-bix breath whispered, “Love you mama”.
My eldest climbed on top of the covers this morning, still warm with sleep, every day surprising me with his affection.

My days are laced with moments like these, but I’m rarely so attentive. 
This week though, I’ve stared at them longer, hugged them tighter and today we spent  making magic with gingerbread and icing and way too many lollies.

This is my recipe for gingerbread in the thermomix. It’s quick, easy and one batch made three little houses. Christmas tradition.

Thermomix Gingerbread

125g butter
90g brown sugar
1 egg
310g plain flour*
1tsp bicarb soda
1tbsp ground ginger
2 tbsp honey

Measure all ingredients into your mixer bowl.
Mix 15 sec, speed 5/6.
Closed lid position, knead for 1 – 1 1/2 minutes, or until you have a nice dough.
Turn out onto cling wrap, and gather together to form a ball. Wrap, and chill for 30 minutes, or overnight.
Divide into portions and roll out to about 3mm thickness.
Cut shapes and bake at 180C got 10-15 or until golden.
Will crisp on cooling, so don’t overcook!

* I changed my original recipe, I found that the combination of plain and self-raising flour made the gingerbread rise too much and become too puffy. Just plain flour works much better, I think.

xx