Il Christmas It's in the air, with its load of magic, sparkling lights and…sweet temptations!
This year, why not give a special touch to your Christmas recipes with a natural and versatile ingredient like honey?
Honey, a precious gift from nature
Honey is a extraordinary food, rich in beneficial properties and with an unmistakable flavour. Its natural sweetness makes it perfect for replace sugar in many preparations, giving a unique aroma and a touch of authenticity.
We like it because:
- it is a food design, which does not require particular conservation techniques;
- can be used as sweetener;
- from immediate energy: a perfect ally, therefore, if consumed before intense physical activity;
- è highly digestible;
- is full of Vitamins, mineral salts and amino acids;
- in the kitchen it can enhance many preparations;
- Is a great one ally in case of colds and sore throats: consumed alone and/or with a teaspoon and inside herbal teas, hot milk and syrups, it can relieve the symptoms of colds and help us feel better (even if it clearly cannot replace a medicine!);
- its sweetness is irresistible!
Honey Spiced Cookies: A Delicious Idea for Christmas
Here is a quick and easy recipe, to be made with children too, to use honey in a typical Christmas recipe: spiced honey biscuits.
Ingredients:
- 300 g 00 flour (you can also mix it with rice flour and oat flour)
- 1 egg yolk
- 50 gr honey
- 15 gr ginger powder
- 120 gr butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
image: Pexels.com
Preparation: soften the butter at room temperature and when it is ready pour it into a bowl together with flour, ginger powder, cinnamon and honey, egg yolk. Mix well to obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for thirty minutes.
After this time, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to obtain a sheet of about half a centimetre and then cut out with the Christmas cutters you have at home.
Place the biscuits on a baking tray lined with baking paper and put in a static oven preheated to 200 degrees for 10 minutes. When the biscuits have cooled, place them inside a glass jar or a tin box.
The icing to decorate the biscuits
Honey can also be used to prepare the classic white icing which lends itself to decorating spiced Christmas biscuits: here is the recipe to obtain it!
- 180 g of icing sugar
- 2 teaspoons of honey
- water to taste
Sift the icing sugar and mix it with honey and water until you obtain a thick, white mixture without lumps.
Proceed with the decoration of the cookies by pouring a little icing on each cookie in a teaspoon. Wait for the decorations to cool and transfer the cookies into bags or boxes.
image: Pexels.com
A special tip
For an even more special result choose a natural and organic honey, as the Honey from the Cigno Estate: its genuine flavour and superior quality will make your Christmas recipes even more special.
Format: 400 gr glass jar.
The Italian organic honey from Tenuta del Cigno è a one hundred percent artisanal product, hand-made, which crystallizes over time; it is important to underline that this process indicates the good quality of the product. When the honey crystallizes It means that it has not undergone industrial treatments and is therefore natural and authentic.
It comes with beautiful intense yellow color, warm and close to gold, to underline its sweetness. It has a delicate flavor, which surprises for its genuineness, with notes of lavender, wild flowers and thyme. The scent is vaguely floral, with hints of acacia flowers, the flavor is sweet and delicate.
Furthermore, the Cigno Estate Honey it's organic and it is not subjected to high-temperature processes: once the beekeeper has extracted the honey, i.e. removed from the comb, it is cold-processed without heating the honey and consequently altering the product. In this way all the nutritional characteristics are preserved and the product does not undergo any filtration process before being placed in the jar.
The honey from Tenuta del Cigno tells the story of its land of origin, the scents and flowers of the place where the bees have gathered their honey: the fifteen hives of the farm they are in fact surrounded by four hectares dedicated to the cultivation of the first and only organic Lavanda di Modena®, with a registered trademark, and by a French-style vegetable garden dedicated to the cultivation of aromatic and medicinal herbs. All these essences, these perfumes and these aromas “contaminate” the honey of the farm and the well-being of the bees, giving this product notes of wild flowers and aromatic herbs such as thyme.
It is possible to purchase honey and farm products by contacting the farm: info@tenutadelcigno.com, tel. 059 465063 (Monday/Friday 09/13 – 14.30/18)
Merry Christmas and…sweet creations!