One of the sweetest and most fragrant Christmas recipes, perfect to make with kids!

Difficulty: Easy
Preparation: 45 minutes

Ingredients for 20 cookies and 5-6 cups

• 120 g Optimus butter
• 80 g sugar
• 80 g brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 5 eggs
• 300 g flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 100 g honey

Method

For the cookies:

In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar in a bowl until you get a creamy mixture. Then, add the honey and, if you have it in your pantry, 1 teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to slightly color the mixture. Next, add the flour, eggs, baking soda, a pinch of salt, cinnamon, and ginger.

You will get a firm compact dough which should be rolled between two sheets of parchment paper and let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour. This is one of the most fun recipes for kids, so before proceeding, make sure your little ones are all gathered around the table to choose the Christmas-shaped cookie cutters!

Once chilled, take the dough and create, with the help of the kids, lots of small shapes: stars, trees, balls, or the most classic and famous ones, gingerbread men, using a specific cookie cutter.

If you want to keep some cookies to hang on the Christmas tree, make a small hole at the top (so you can fill it after baking with a stick and then add a string). Bake the gingerbread cookies in a convection oven at 180°C (350°F) for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool.

For the mascarpone cream

Whisk the egg whites from 4 room temperature eggs until stiff using an electric mixer.
In a separate bowl, whisk the 4 egg yolks with the sugar until you get a fluffy and creamy mixture (this should take 2-3 minutes).

Meanwhile, soften the mascarpone by stirring it with a spoon. It is recommended to take it out of the fridge 15 minutes before using it. Gently fold the mascarpone into the beaten egg yolks, stirring from the bottom up. Then, add the beaten egg whites, stirring gently with a wooden spoon for a few minutes so that all the ingredients blend well together.

Let the cream rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Serving

Prepare the cups on a tray. Place one cookie at the bottom of each cup. Cover it with the mascarpone cream (if you prefer, transfer the cream into a piping bag for a more uniform and precise distribution) until the cups are three-quarters full. Just before serving your Christmas dessert, finish the cups with 2 or 3 gingerbread cookies on top (if you add them earlier, they will get soggy) and dust with cinnamon or cocoa powder.