London-based purveyor of awesome cakes and cupcakes and YouTube sensation Jemma Wilson (aka Cupcake Jemma) has just released her first cookbook Crumbs and Doilies (RRP $49.99)
Jemma Wilson has been teaching the world to bake through her hugely successful YouTube channel for almost a decade. In her new book, Jemma and her team unlock the secrets to their imaginative cakes, bakes, cookies and traybakes and give you all the tips and tricks to make them at home.
Mouth-watering recipes include:
- Cookie cheesecake
- Ferrero Rocher cupcakes
- Ginger creams
- Apple and blackberry cupcakes
- Cereal and milk cupcakes
- Cereal fun bar
- End of the world chocolate cake
- Miso caramel cupcakes
- Tiramisu cake
- Vegan biscoff cookies
A while back, Nikki made these Ginger Creams and brought them in for everyone as a treat, resulting in days of ‘are there any more of those cookies?’ and weeks of ‘when are you making those cookies again?’. Just spicy enough, soft with a slightly crunchy bite, thanks to the demerara sugar, and filled with smooth cream cheese icing, these sandwich cookies will make you forget all about the ones at the supermarket.
Read more: Penguin’s Top Cookbooks for 2023
Ginger creams
Makes 15–18 Ginger cookies
- 140g unsalted butter, softened
- 150g soft light brown sugar
- 70g golden syrup
- 1 egg
- 225g plain flour
- 1 1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1⁄4 tsp ground cloves
- 150g demerara sugar
Cream cheese icing
- 70g unsalted butter, softened
- A pinch of sea salt
- 115g cream cheese, at room temperature
- 395g icing sugar, sifted
For the Ginger Cookies
In a large bowl, bring together the butter, light brown sugar and golden syrup with a spatula or an electric hand mixer until well combined. Add the egg and mix through until smooth, then add all of the dry ingredients, except for the demerara sugar, and fold through until you have a soft, squishy dough. Cover and place in the fridge for around 1 hour to firm up.
Preheat your oven to 190°C (170°C fan) and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Weigh out 20g nuggets of the dough and roll between your hands to make neat balls. Roll each one in the demerara sugar to completely coat them. Pop them onto the baking sheet 10cm/4in apart, to allow for spreading.
Bake for 10 minutes, then leave to cool down completely.
For the cream cheese icing
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a medium mixing bowl, beat together the butter and salt until pale and whippy. Add the cream cheese and beat together on a high speed for 1–2 minutes. Add the icing sugar in two stages, beating for a couple of minutes after each addition until you have a light, smooth, luxurious icing. Pop this into a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle.
To finish
Pair up the cookies and turn half of them over, ready to fill. Pipe 5–6 small blobs of icing (about the size of a 50p piece) around the middle of the cookies, 1cm/½in from the edge. Place the other cookies on top and gently press down to allow the icing blobs to spread a bit and reach the edges of the sandwich. Place in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.
Team tip
Putting them in the fridge for a while will help the icing firm up. Actually, we all prefer them the day after they’ve been in the fridge overnight!