Gingerbread People Holiday 2002 Recipes

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE HOLIDAY COOKIE PROJECTS: WHITE SNOWFLAKES, DREIDEL TRIOS AND ORNAMENTS

Steps:

• Make the Gingerbread: In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix. Add the eggs and mix. Add the molasses and vanilla and mix.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves together. Working in batches and mixing after each addition until just combined, add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture. Shape the dough into a thick disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease 1 or 2 cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out 1/4-inch thick and cut out with desired cookie cutters.
• To make the Royal Icing: In a mixer, blend the confectioners' sugar, milk, and egg white together. Add more sugar to get a pipe-able consistency.
• To make Gingerbread Men and Women: Use gingerbread man and woman cookie cutters and cut out the cookies, re-rolling the scraps as needed. Decorate them with raisins and white chocolate chips for eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons down the front. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan.
• Meanwhile, add some festive colors to your icing with food coloring and lay out colored sugars in small glass bowls with spoons. Using a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe a few colorful borders or white borders and coat with sanding sugar. When set, add more lines of icing in white.
• To make snowflakes: Use a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, re-rolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make holes in the cookies about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake and puff up a bit. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Using only white icing and a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe thin lines from the center of the cookie out to the points, like spokes of a wheel. Connect the spokes with thin lines between them, making a spiderweb effect to give it the look of a snowflake. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.
• To make ornaments: Use any holiday-themed cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, re-rolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make holes in the cookies about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake and puff up a bit. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Meanwhile, color some of your icing in festive colors with food coloring, or use colored sugars. Using a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe a few colorful borders and decorations on the cookies. When set, add more lines of icing in white. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.
• To make dreidel trios: Use a dreidel cookie cutter and cut out 3 cookies. Lay 1 on a greased sheet pan. Fanning out at an angle, with the handles overlapping at the top, lay 2 more dreidels next to the first one (it will look like a paper-doll effect). The handle is now 3 layers thick; press on it gently to thin it slightly and make it larger. Repeat with the remaining dough, re-rolling the scraps as needed.
• If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make a hole in the cookies about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the hole will shrink as the cookies bake and puff up a bit. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Color some of your icing blue with food coloring, or use blue colored sugar and white icing together. Using a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip, pipe Hebrew letters or stars of David on the cookies' faces. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses, egg, vanilla and lemon zest. In another bowl, whisk flour, ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cloves; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 4-in. gingerbread man cookie cutter. , Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake until edges are firm, 7-9 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE

Steps:

• Combine first 4 ingredients. Beat all remaining ingredients except powdered sugar and water in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Refrigerate 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness; cut into gingerbread shapes with 4-inch cookie cutter, rerolling trimmings as necessary. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray.
• Bake 10 to 12 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 3 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Mix powdered sugar and water until blended. Use to decorate cookies as desired.

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE

Steps:

• Melt the sugar, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan, then bubble for 1-2 mins. Leave to cool for about 10 mins.
• Tip the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl. Add the warm syrup mixture and the egg, stir everything together, then gently knead in the bowl until smooth and streak-free. The dough will firm up once cooled. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 mins.
• Remove the dough from the fridge, leave at room temperature until softened. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line two baking trays with baking parchment.
• Roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin, then cut out gingerbread people with a cutter. Re-roll the excess dough and keep cutting until it's all used up.
• Lift the biscuits onto the trays and bake for 10-12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through cooking. Leave to cool on the trays for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Use the icing to decorate the biscuits as you wish, and stick on chocolate or sweets for buttons. Leave to dry for 1-2 hrs. Will keep for up to three days in an airtight container.

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and corn syrup until smooth. Beat in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice; stir into the creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1/2 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until icing is stiff. Add food coloring if desired and pipe onto cooled cookies. This icing can also be used as a glue to affix candy decorations.

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE HOLIDAY 2002

Steps:

• 1. In a medium bowl, using a fork, stir flour with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and cloves until very well blended. Using an electric mixer, beat butter on medium speed until creamy. Beat in brown sugar and molasses until well blended. Mixture may appear curdled. Beat in egg. On low speed, add flour mixture, a third at a time, beating just until combined. 2. Using floured hands, remove dough from bowl and divide in half. Place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten into a disc shape and wrap. Refrigerate dough until firm, at least 2 hours. 3. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). 4. Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. On a floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, roll out dough to ¼-inch (5-mm) thickness. Cut out cookies using gingerbread people cutters (or your favourite shapes). Place on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2-inches (5-cm) apart. Bake in centre of preheated oven until cookies appear set, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and leave on baking sheet 1 minute. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Cookies can be decorated with royal icing and decorations once they are completely cool. Cookies will keep well in an airtight container for 5 days. Royal Icing Traditionally, royal icing was made by beating raw egg whites with icing sugar. However, given the concerns about eating raw eggs, make it easy on yourself and buy a royal icing mix - available in bulk food stores. All you do is add water. Or use meringue powder, also available in bulk or cake-decorating stores. Simply follow the instructions on the package, adding warm water 1 tsp (5 mL) at a time if it's too stiff.