Crispy ginger cookies filled with pumpkin pastry cream. What could be better on a cold winter afternoon?
OMG, yaaaaaaaay it’s December 1! I am just so freakin’ happy!!! I am listening my all time favorite Xmas playlist and it’s just so festive!! Christmas season is here!!!
Okay I have to calm down, I am just too excited. So, deep breath... And now let’s talk about my „little” surprise. This year I am doing Twelve days of Christmas here, on the blog! I am going to share one recipe every second day till 24th of December. That’s a lot of christmasy stuff.
I think this time of the year is all about to spread love and happiness on your own way. My way is through baking and sweets. I just love to see the giant smile that a bite of something sweet and delicious I made, can cause. If you feel the same way, you will love the recipes I am going to share.
Now let’s talk about the first recipe. If you followed the blog last November, the crispy ginger cookies can be familiar. It’s basically the same but this time I made it with Pepperoni who is the expert of these cookies. And as you can see they turned out perfect! (not the ones I made :D)
Making crispy, spicy ginger cookies and filling them with an incredibly delicious pumpkin pastry cream is probably the best idea ever. Pastry cream is delicious as it is, but with pumpki puree?! Mind blowing.
Christmas time is all about the cookies. This one is a perfect beginning, I think. It still has a little bit of fall/ Thanksgiving vibe with the pumpkin, but the ginger cookie makes it really cozy and christmasy.
Happy first day of December aka the most wonderful time of the year!
P.S.: That's mine and Pepperoni's hand on the photos ;) !
Ginger Pumpkin Cookie Sandwiches
Prep Time: 30 min. Baking Time: 10 min. Total Time: 1 hour Portions: 8-10 cookie sandwiches
Ingredients:
Ginger cookies:
100 g all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon all spice
50g brown sugar
50g butter (room temperature)
2 and 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 egg white
extra brown sugar for sprinkling
Pumpkin Pastry Cream:
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup pumpkin puree* (not pie filling)
40g granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice**
2/3 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
*I made my own pumpkin puree. I cut a whole pumpkin into two halves.Cover a baking sheet with aluminium foil. Put the halves on the baking sheet and bake on 410 F or 210 C for around 1 hour or until it’s soft everywhere when you push a fork in it. Let it cool down and then peel the skin off. Put them in a food processor and blend until it’s creamy.
**I made my own. Mix together 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, ½ teaspoon ground cloves, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg.
Directions:
Ginger Cookies:
Preheat your oven to 375 F or 190 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and the spices into a large bowl. Then mix them together and add the sugar except 2 teaspoons.
Cut the butter into small cubes than add it to the flour mixture. Crumble them together with your hands or you can use a fork.
Then add the honey and mix it together with a wooden spoon or a spatula.
Make a bit smaller than 1 inch balls. You should get around 16-20. Put them on the baking sheet and leave around 1,5 inches space between them. With a glass flatten them around 0,3 inch thick.
Whip the egg white with a fork. Brush the cookies whit the egg white and sprinkle the 2 teaspoon saved sugar ont the top of the cookies evenly.
Bake them for around 8-12 minutes and let them cool down.
Pumpkin Pastry Cream:
In a medium sized bowl whisk the egg yolks, pumpkin puree, sugar, flour, spice mix together.
In a saucepan warm up your milk until it’s hot but not boiling.
Slowly pour the hot milk to the egg mixture while constantly whisking. Make sure you only add a little milk at time so your egg yolks don’t get cooked. When all the milk is mixed in pour the whole mixture back to the pan.
Put it back to the stove and cook while constantly stiring for 2-5 miutes or until it thickens. It should be almost like a pudding.
Stir in the vanilla extract and let it cool down before filling the cookies.
Assembling:
Fill the cookies with around 1- 1 and ½ tablespoons filling. You should get around 8-10 sandwiches. I used a spoon to fill them, but you can put your cream into a piping bag with a round nozzle.
If you try the recipe use the #12daysofxmasbybakinggym hashtag and tag me, so I can see your creations!
