Ninja Ginger Bread

I heart Japan. A lot. That's really all I can say.

If you remember my post about Beautiful Japan couple weeks ago, you may also notice about the links of charity funds I listed and encourage people to lend a hand in times of needs. Australian Red Cross organised the event "Tea for Tsunami Appeal" and gave many great ideas on how we can contribute. I am proud to say that my workplace was part of this event. It was a great feeling to see people participate, how we can help to others in every way we can. 

Few weeks after I came back from my Japan holiday, I found this cute Ninja Ginger Bread cutter from Typo. How cute are they?.. I was originally going to bake Green Tea Cookies but I bought wrong kind of Green Tea powder in Japan. How disappointed. So, I moved to plan B instead..

While enjoying Ninja Ginger Bread and zipping a hot drink, please also check out the links of charity funds below and find out how we can make a difference. 

Japanese Red Cross Society
World Vision
Japan Animal Welfare Society
Tea for Tsunami Appeal

Ninja Ginger Bread



Ingredients
400g Plain Flour
3/4 teaspoon Bicarbonate Soda
2 teaspoon ground Ginger
2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Salt

180g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

125g Dark Brown Sugar

1 Egg

125g Black Treacle

Method

1. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt in bowl. Set aside.

2. Put the butter and sugar in a mixer and cream on slow speed until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat in the egg and treacle. scrapping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

3. Turn the mixer back down to slow speed and slowly add the flour mixture a couple of tablespoon at a time. Once an even dough has formed, take it out of the mixer, divide into 3 and wrap each piece in a clingfilm. Leave to rest for few hours.

4. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 170º.

5. Take the dough out of the fridge and leave to soften for about 10 minutes. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out of the dough to a thickness of about 4mm with a rolling pin. ut out the shapes with ninja biscuit cutters.

6. Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Royal Icing

Ingredients
1 Egg White
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
310g Icing Sugar. sifted
Food Coloring

Method
Beat the egg white and Lemon Juice together in electric mixer. Gradually start adding the icing sugar, mixing well after each addition to ensure all sugar is incorporated. Whisk until stiff peaks. Stir in couple of drops of food coloring. Once the cookies are completely cool, decorate them.