Gingerbread Snowflakes
Saturday December 24, 2011
I meant to post this recipe earlier in the week. I meant to do a lot of things earlier this week, but somehow I ended up working every day and having so much holiday baking projects that I set out to complete that my blog posts got put on the backburner. Next year I will be more organized (I feel like I say that every year).
I love gingerbread. I make these snowflakes once a year becuase they are so beautiful when decorated and so festive for the holidays. The snowflake cookie cutter is very uni-holiday and therefore you can enjoy them at ANY time in the winter!
Recipe: Gingerbread Snowflakes
Makes - A LOT! (depends on the size of your cookie cutters - I made about 100 with this recipe!)Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients:
6 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 cups unsulfured molasses
1 cup unsalted butter*
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
* at room temperature OR unsalted margarine
Decorate:
with royal icing and sanding sugar (recipe below)
Method:In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Set aside. In an electric mixer, combine butter and sugars and mix until fluffy. Add the eggs and molasses and mix until combined.
Gradually add the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until cold (~ 1 hour or overnight).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough on a silpat or a lightly floured work surface until 1/4 inch thick. Use your favourite cookie cutters. If the dough heats up too much you can refrigerate it again or throw it in the freezer for 5 minutes to stiffen it up.
Place on cookie sheet (fairly close together as they don't spread much) and freeze for 10 minutes.
Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes (depending on size) until crisp. Let cool on wire racks.
When cool, decorate with royal icing or your choice of decorations or sprinkles (Royal icing recipe below).
Recipe: Royal Icing
Makes enough to frost 1 batch of gingerbread snowflakes (double it if you are flooding the snowflakes with the icing too).
Ingredients:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tbsp meringue powder
2 1/2 tbsp water
coarse (sanding) sugar for decorating
Method:
Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low with the whisk attachment until it loses its sheen and is a consistancy that will be useable for piping. (I go by the icings ability to drip slowly off the whisk when lifted - you don't want it too liquidy or it will muddle your decorations). You also may need to whisk in more water to get it to the right consistency (just add it slowly!).
Use a rubber spatula to pour the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small open tip attachment. The frosting dries very quickly so be sure to scatter the coarse sugar on quickly after you are done the decoration!
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1 tbsp meringue powder
2 1/2 tbsp water
coarse (sanding) sugar for decorating
Use a rubber spatula to pour the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small open tip attachment. The frosting dries very quickly so be sure to scatter the coarse sugar on quickly after you are done the decoration!
