Ahh, November was an ephemeral month. Between constant exams and then Thanksgiving, it was a whirl wind of a month. Gone before I even knew it and now it's almost mid December...
You would have thought that I would have blogged SOMETHING over the holiday break. I hosted Thanksgiving for those that didn't go home along side my friend Christopher. It was an intense experience. Photos of Thanksgiving will eventually be retroposted...
Paul & Conrad, two of my fellow alums from CCSU currently reside in the Wriggly area. Perfect! Paul hosted an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I ended up with an epic Kelly Green Scottish wool sweater (everyone, be prepared to see me in the following months mozying around the Armour Academic Center in it). I'm not going to lie, I kind of love it! Pictures will be posted via Paul's Flickr, but in the mean while, check out his website: http://www.pauloctavious.com/
Great dishes included a spin/art dip, meatballs in a cream of mushroom/sour cream/heavy cream mix, peppermint mojitos and Rick Bayless inspired Eggnog!
Anyhow, my little dish to bring was some gingerbread men. Gingerbread cookies have always been a little tricky for me, either I bake too long and they are crispy critters or take them out too soon and they don't harden up quite right and fall apart.
This time, I have perfected the timing (I am going to say my recent successes in cookies is due to the fact that I've got a gas stove) and they came out quite tasty. When eaten without the Royal Icing, the sweetness is subtle and the spices' interactions with one another make a perfectly seasoned cookie! With each spice kind of coming out as you chew the cookie- Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger. Yum!!
Add the Royal Icing and well..... that just speaks for itself. Shena got creative with the decoration and put on some suspenders and ties for these little guys.
Now, you are wondering: WHAT IS UP WITH THAT GIANT SIZED COOKIE? Well, all of my cookies came out the same: 4" gingerbread boys (like those three little fellas there). But, I just had to make a giant cookie, so there he is, 9" of towering, giant sized, Gingerbread Man. Hand drawn stencil and cut out with a knife. I'm not going to lie when I say I kind of feel like it was a masterpiece of a gingerbread man.
Once again, I snaggled the gingerbread recipe from SimplyRecipes. Love Elise's Blog. For royal icing, I used the classic "Joy of Cooking" for a perfect icing.
Few notes: Baking time = essential, so pay close attention!
I am to impatient when it comes to making cookies, so I used straight-out-of-the-fridge butter rather then RT. So To soften up the butter faster, I cut up the butter into .25 in cubes and threw it into the mixer (with paddle attachment) to let it whip around while I prepped everything else.
Note that the flour is sifted twice, once BEFORE you mix in your spices, and sifted again to incorporate spices.
Royal Icing- if you've never worked with it before, know that it dries out wicked fast! So when you aren't working with it, cover it up. I put a damp tea towel over the bowl.
Gingerbread Cookies
ingredients
1.5 sticks (or .75 c.) butter (at RT)
.5 c dark brown sugar, packed
.5 c unsulfured molasses
1 egg
3.33 c sifted, AP flour
.75 tsp b.soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
.5 tsp ground cloves
.5 tsp ground nutmeg
.25 tsp ground black pepper
.5 tsp salt
instructions
1. To your mixer bowl (paddle attachment), cream the butter. Add sugar & beat until fluffy
2. While that is creaming and beating, sift together all your dry ingredients.
3. To mixer, add egg and molasses and mix until super fluffy
4. After your wet mixture is really fluffy, slowly add your dry ingredients, a little bit at a time until a nice dough ball forms.
5. Divide into 3rds and wrap in plastic wrap. chill for at least 1 hour or overnight (I did over night).
::one hour or overnight later....::
6. Preheat oven to 350F, take dough out and let warm for 5-10 minutes.
7. Roll out to ~1/8 inches thick. If the dough seems too sticky then a. maybe you are impatient and didn't let the dough chill for 1 hour or b. you just have a wet dough, so as you roll out, sprinkle on some flour.
NOTE: I also found this easiest to do on wax paper, making it easier to flip over and roll in case it got a little sticky.
8. Use your cookie cutter or stencil and cut out your gingerbread people.
9. Place cutouts on to an ungreased cookie sheet, and put in the middle rack of the oven.
10. Bake for 9-12 minutes, until golden ish brown and slightly crisp looking, let cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring to wire rack to finish cooling.
11. Decorate with Royal Icing (recipe as follows).
makes about 18 gingerbread people, and 1 giant sized one
Royal Icing
Royal Icing is made with either meringue powder or egg whites. You can substitute regular egg whites for powdered egg whites. If you are going to use regular egg whites, I suggest to do what I did, use the microwave! Heat up the mixture such that we can zap out the bugs that might be present in the albumen!
ingredients
2 egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
3 to 4 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1. In a GLASS mixing bowl, whip egg whites, lemon juice and 1 c. of powdered sugar together.
2. Place in microwave for 10 seconds
3. Whip mixture again.
4. Microwave for 20 seconds
5. Whip again.
6. Microwave for 20 seconds.
7. Whip again. Do this until you have reached a temperature of 160F (use a candy thermometer!).
8. Add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, whipping between additions until you have nice stiff peaks form. If they don't form after adding 3 cups, keep adding sugar until they do. I actually did this by hand, wow, I am spoiled with a Kitchen Aid mixer!!
makes ~3 cups icing
Saturday, December 12, 2009
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