Three delish Christmas classic recipes you must try

Gingerbread House
Serves: 10
Prep time: 6 hrs

Ingredients
3 cups hot honey
6 ½ cups flour
4 tsp cinnamon powder
6 tsp ginger powder
¾ cup brown sugar
4 tsp all spice
2 cups icing sugar
5 tsp white vinegar
½ cup egg white
Method
Mix flour, cinnamon powder, ginger powder, brown sugar, and all spice powder together in a bowl. Add warmed honey to the mix, and knead it all into a dough. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
Next day, remove the dough and set aside till back to room temperature.
Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a thin sheet and cut into shapes of your choice.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Bake the cut gingerbread in the oven for 45-50 minutes till golden in colour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Add icing sugar, vinegar and egg whites to a bowl and mix to form a paste. Place in a piping bag and use the paste to construct the baked gingerbread into a house.

Cinnamon Star Cookies
Makes: 20
Prep time: 45 mins

Ingredients
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup marzipan
10 eggs
2 cups almond powder
2 tbsp cinnamon powder
2 tsp cocoa powder
½ lemon peel
Method
Mix sugar and marzipan well; then, add eggs and mix to form a paste.
Combine almond powder, cinnamon powder, cocoa powder and lemon zest together.
Add the above mixture to the marzipan paste and knead to form a dough.
Cover the dough with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
Next day, roll out the dough into a thin sheet with a rolling pin. Cut star shapes out of it using a cutter and arrange on a tray.
Preheat the oven at 170°C and bake the cookies for 10 minutes till golden brown. Decorate as desired. Serve.

Stollen
Serves: 8
Prep time: 2 hrs
Ingredients
1 ½ tbsp dry black cherry
1 tbsp black currant
1 tbsp red currant
1 ½ tbsp golden raisin
1 ½ tbsp tutti frutti
1 ½ tbsp dry prunes
1 ½ tbsp dry apricot
1 tbsp cashew nut
220 ml orange juice
4 tbsp butter
2 tsp sugar
½ cup flour
0.1 tsp cinnamon powder
0.1 tsp ginger powder
0.1 tsp all spice powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp fresh yeast
Zest of ¼ lemon
2 ½ tbsp milk
10 tsp marzipan
2 cups clarified butter
7 tsp icing sugar
Method
Take all the nuts and fruits, cut them into pieces and soak them in orange juice for a couple of hours or overnight.
Add softened butter and sugar to a bowl; mix well.
In another bowl, mix flour, cinnamon powder, ginger powder and all spice powder.
Combine well with the prepared sugar mixture.
Add fresh yeast and lemon zest. Finally, add milk; mix well and set aside.
Roll marzipan into a cylinder. Flatten the stollen dough, and arrange the marzipan in the centre of the dough.
Cover with the dough, forming a half-moon shape with the edges resembling lips.
Place the stollen on a tray, cover with plastic, and place this on top of a bowl of warm water to activate the yeast and keep the stollen soft.
After an hour, preheat the oven at 170°C and bake the stollen for 20 minutes; remove and keep aside.
Dip the baked stollen in clarified butter and cover with icing sugar. Serve.
Recipes by: Cihan Kucukcavdar Executive Chef, Teatro, Towers Rotana Dubai