3 Super Easy Winter Treats To Bake This Season

Winters are absolutely incomplete without loads of delicious treats and eats throughout the season of festivities, glad tidings and joy. It is a time for family, friends, and of course, treats! Whether it’s a homemade gift, going out for dinner, or grabbing something from the store, there is always something to indulge in this time of year. There’s no doubt that Christmas is one of the most wonderful times of year. Families come together, friends get together and everyone celebrates with some delicious food.

Apart from the usual Christmas cakes, lunches and dinners, there are a few treats that you could bake and keep ready for this time around, maybe for those sudden family visits or to simply give your loved ones a box full of your homemade eats.

Let’s check out the easiest recipes for 3 such interesting winter treats you could bake at home in minutes and stock them up to eat and share all throughout the season!

Eggless Gingerbread Man Biscuits

We all love gingerbread man biscuits, but where did they originate? The story behind gingerbread man biscuits is a fun one!

It all started in medieval England, when bakers would decorate their biscuits with colorful shapes and designs. Bakers created some designs that resembled humans or animals to give them a fun and festive look. These became known as gingerbread men because they looked just like a man wearing a suit of armor. The symbols represented different good luck wishes for different seasons of the year. The most common symbol was the fish symbol. This symbolized fertility and abundance because fishermen often caught large numbers of fish at the same time.

A traditional gingerbread man biscuit is made from a spiced cake dough that is cut into shapes and then baked. Although you can bake gingerbread biscuits in any shape you like, as a tradition, people use special ‘Human’ shaped cookie cutters to shape these.

Let’s look at a simple recipe to make these!

You’ll Need

250g all-purpose flour 100g packed brown sugar 6 tbsp butter room temperature 2 tbsp full fat curd ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground clove ¼ tsp ground nutmeg ¼ tsp ground ginger powder 1 tsp ground cinnamon Icing for decoration

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda,salt, ground cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. Whisk everything together and set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar together; using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand-held mixer on low speed just until combined. Beat in the yogurt..

3. Using a spoon or silicone spatula, mix in the flour mixture. Stir and mix everything together until dough forms.

4. Roll out the dough on a baking paper and place on a baking sheet. Place rolled out dough in the freezer for 7-10 mins.

5. Using your gingerbread man cookie cutter, start cutting out the shapes of the cookies and place on a baking sheet. Repeat this until you have no cookie dough left. You should get approximately 12 biscuits.

6. Bake cookies for 10-13 mins or until fully cooked throughout. Once biscuits are done baking, set aside and wait for them to cool before decorating.

Rum & Raisin Brownies 🥮

These delicious chewy brownies will blow your mind away with its richness. Every bite shall fill your mouth with the chocolatey goodness and those rum soaked raisins. Yes, the prep takes a bit of time as the raisins have to be soaked in rum for at least 48 hours for best results.However,trust us when we say that it will truly be worth it. 

Let’s bake some amazing brownies!

You’ll Need

-230g melted butter -2 tablespoons vegetable oil -180g brown sugar -220g white sugar -4 eggs (room temperature)

-142g all purpose flour -115g good quality cocoa powder (unsweetened) -1 teaspoon salt -200g chocolate chips -150g Yellow raisins (soaked in rum for 48 hours) -4 teaspoons vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 

2. Line an 8×8 inch baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

3. In a bowl add the melted butter, oil, white & brown sugars, eggs and vanilla essence.

4. With an electric mixer, whisk for 5 minutes at high speed until the mixture becomes thick. 

5. Over the same bowl, sift in the flour and cocoa powder. Slowly fold the dry ingredients into the wet until JUST combined. Fold in half of the chocolate chips & all the raisins.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, then smoothen the top. Sprinkle the top with the remaining chocolate chips.

7. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the center of the brownies no longer jiggles and is JUST set to the touch.

8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before removing from the baking tray and slicing into 12 brownies.

NEVER use cheap cocoa powder or sweetened cacao powder (drinking chocolate) to make brownies. Always opt for unsweetened high quality cocoa powder. 

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies 🍪

What could be better than a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie? How about one that is freshly made and has a dash of mint to compliment the chocolate? These Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies are perfect for any time of the day!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of the most popular cookies on the planet! They are so delicious that even people who don’t like chocolate love them. To top it off, they are easy to make and can be made in so many different ways. Many people hate mint chocolate chip ice cream because they mistakenly think that it tastes like toothpaste. However, the cookie version is really tasty and does not taste like toothpaste at all!

There are lots of different recipes for these cookies, but they all contain the same basic ingredients. Let’s bake some!

You’ll Need

-120g Maida (All Purpose Flour) -20g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder -3g baking soda -3g cornstarch -3g salt -85g Butter

-68g brown sugar -50g white sugar -1 large egg -2 tbsp vanilla essence -Mint Essence (a few drops) -100g chocolate chip

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

2. In a big bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cornstarch and salt.

3. In another bowl, mix together the eggs with melted butter, both sugars, mint & vanilla essence. As mint essence is usually potent, add it a drop at a time as per your liking.

4. Gradually incorporate flour mixture and fold in chocolate chips.

5. Using a deep spoon, take equal portions of dough and place on the prepared baking sheets, 1 inch  apart.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes until slightly crispy on the edges. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until the cookies are firm enough to remove, probably another 5 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!

All the mentioned ingredients in the recipes can be easily ordered via the Milkbasket app which then will be delivered conveniently to your doorstep by 7 AM, the very next morning! 

Bake these 3 winter time treats easily at your home and enjoy these with your friends and family or gift them to your loved ones to make their season a blissful one!

☃️Happy Baking!❄️