Granted it is January and I did make and photograph these on Christmas, I figured it would be a good time as any to write about it. Bringing in the new year! Yeah... I tend to make blogs and slowly stop updating, hopefully that won't happen this time... Right the cookies. Standard gingerbread cookies with a fandom flair. I made the Tardis, Bow Ties, and Red Pants. I thank my mom for not questioning my strange tendencies to make red underwear cookies during the holidays. For the decorating, I attempted the pipe and flood method for the icing. Probably should have bought gel food coloring, water base mucked up the consistency and color. The hard piping was amazing though, I found a Royal Icing recipe that doesn't involve raw eggs, fantastic.
As you can see, I am stingy and cheap. Leading me to make the cookie cutters from coke cans. Please if you try this, be careful! The metal becomes very sharp and I would advise using a box cutter or x-acto knife. Otherwise just cut your cookies with a butter knife.
My friend isn't too fond of my fandom crazies, so I made her regular gingerbread men. I couldn't help but make Sherlock and John. Sadly, Sherlock got eaten by another friend before I could photograph him. So I guess John really spent this Christmas ALONE. Mwahaha ha ha... I'm sorry.
Gingerbread Men
Adapted from JoyofBaking
3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1/3 cup white sugar
1 large egg
2/3 cup dark molasses
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices. Using an stand mixer, or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and molasses, continue beating to combine the ingredients. Incorporate the dry ingredients one cup at a time until evenly combined. Separate the cookie dough into two flatten disks, wrap each with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2+ hours.
During this time feel free to make the cookie cutters or find the ones you want to use. For circles I find using a tall glass works perfectly. But if you do want to make your own, I might make a tutorial another day, we'll see.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
Now remove one disk from the fridge and roll it out on an evenly floured surface, about 1/4 of an inch. I like to work in small chunks at a time so the dough doesn't warm up at once, making for a sticky mess. Just keep adding more chunks of cold dough to the scraps left over. Move the cookies with a spatula to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Keep them around 1 inch apart (who am I kidding I cram them together like a puzzle).
Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes. They'll be done when the edges turn brown and the top firms up. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Be warned this recipe makes several dozen cookies, a lot of cookies.
Royal Icing (no raw eggs)
adapted from here.
1+ cup powder sugar
2 tsp milk
2 tsp honey or light corn syrup
gel food coloring
In a small bowl, mix powder sugar and milk. Add the honey or syrup and stir. If the consistency is too thick or thin add more sugar or milk in very small amounts. Separate into multiple bowls and color to your preference. Either fill a piping bag (a sandwich bad works just fine), or spread the icing with a knife onto the gingerbread. To flood the cookie, pipe thick icing as an outline. Once the icing has hardened, pipe runny icing inside the hard lines. Decorate with sprinkles or candy to your desire!
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