Gingerbread Men

» This recipe makes spicy, stiff little gingerbread men. If you're looking for those giant fluffy sort of gingerbread cookies, find one of those recipes with sour cream in them. These are crispy and delicious, and the perfect little cookie to satisfy that need for a bit of Christmas sweet. This recipe comes from a selection my mom got out of the newspaper a while ago that starts with a base which can be edited to any of 12 classic cookies. So far they have all been amazing, which I credit to the use of actual butter instead of Crisco or margarine. I'll most likely be posting more of these delicious cookies at a later time. But for now, enjoy the gingerbread.


Gingerbread Men
Chills for 2 hours - Makes 42 3-inch men


Ingredients:
» 2 3/4 c. flour
» 1/2 t. baking soda
» 1/4 t. salt
» 2 t. cinnamon
» 2 t. ginger
» 1/2 t. nutmeg
» 1/4 t. cloves
» 1/2 c. butter, softened
» 3/4 c. dark brown sugar
» 1 egg
» 1 t. vanilla
» 1/4 c. dark molasses


Preparation:
» Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. 
» With an electric mixer on medium speed, combine butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla, then molasses. (Oh gosh, I love molasses!) Beat until well-mixed.
» Reduce to a low speed and gradually add flour mixture until just blended. This is where having a stand-up mixer comes in quite handy. It's so much easier to add in a mixture when you're not dealing with just one hand!
» Split dough into three discs, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Chill for at least 2 hours. I made the dough the night before, and chilled it all night. When I went to roll it out it was surprisingly easy to work with.
» After the dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350°. Remove one disc from the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin. I'm not great with inches, but I'd say about a quarter inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to make lots of happy little ginger-buddies. Bake for 11-13 minutes, until just browned around the edges. 
» Feel free to add red hots before baking, or use icing for decoration. Just be careful not to use last year's red hots, as they might create these sort of ginger-creatures:

Gingeroedipus Rex                            Gingerpolyphemus

     Gingerdarth Maul                 Gingergirl-without-hands

                                                                   (it's a real fairy tale! Read it!)

Enjoy!




» Original recipe from my mom

Chai Shortbread

» My cookies do not look quite like the picture from the original recipe. It's impossible to get them that perfectly round! Maybe my knife wasn't sharp enough, but it was hard. Not to totally turn you off to this recipe from the get-go. They certainly do not have to be perfect. Especially since their taste makes up for any imperfection in shape :) It was a bit difficult for me to track down the cardamom, but I eventually found it at Target, though I had to buy a much, much larger jar than I would have wanted. I think I need to research recipes that call for cardamom, because I have a lot left over! But the flavor of cardamom is so unique, it is necessary for these cookies. They are wonderful "tea cookies", buttery soft with an intriguing combination of spices. It's a wonderful break from all the mint, chocolate, and peanut butter that often flavor cookies. I will certainly make these again.

Chai Shortbread

Chills for 1 hour - Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients:

» 1 1/2 c. flour

» 1/8 t. salt

» 1/8 t. ground cardamom

» 1/8 t. ground cinnamon

» Dash of ground cloves

» Dash of freshly ground black pepper

3/4 c. powdered sugar

10 T. butter, softened

1 T. iced water

Preparation:

» Combine flour and next five ingredients (through pepper), stirring well with a whisk

» Place sugar and butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at a low speed until just combined (mixture will appear crumbly).

» Sprinkle dough with 1 T ice water, toss with a fork (yeah, I wasn't really sure how to "toss" it either... I just stirred it scatteringly with a fork and it seemed to work). 

» Divide dough in half. Shape dough into 2 (six-inch-long) logs; wrap each log in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour or until very firm. I stuck my dough outside, and it was frozen through within 30 minutes, so I had to stick it in the fridge to thaw a while!

» Preheat oven to 375°.

» Unwrap dough logs. Carefully cut each log into slices using a serrated knife. Be careful because the dough likes to randomly crumble when you think you're cutting the perfect cookie. No worries though, just smoosh it back together and no one will know the difference ;)

» Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Cool pans 5 minutes, then remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

» Original recipe from Cooking Light, December 2007

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Balls

» This is a Bake Day classic. The recipe is very simple, but when doubled, requires a lot of shaping. This was originally a recipe my aunt Barb always handled, but ever since the band-aid incident (let's just say my aunt Kathy doesn't eat them anymore), they were handed down to me. Personally, I think she was just trying to get out of them. They're quite hands-on, though, and would be easy to do with kids. There's nothing especially Christmassy about them, but it makes a lot and they look nice on a tray, plus they're just downright delicious.

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Balls

Makes quite a few

Ingredients:

» 1 stick butter

» 4 c. powdered sugar

» 1 lb. crunchy peanut butter

» 3 c. Rice Krispies

» 7 oz. millk chocolate bar

» 1 c. chocolate chips

» 1/2 cake paraffin wax

Preparation:

» Make sure you do not have any band-aids on your fingers as they are likely to fall off into the sticky mixture, become lodged in one of the balls, and bitten into by an unsuspecting, innocent person. You may also want to remove any rings.

» In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar and peanut butter. Add Rice Krispies. Mixture will be a bit crumbly. Form into 1-inch balls

» In a saucepan on low heat, melt chocolate bar, chocolate chips and wax. It helps to break the wax and the chocolate bar into small pieces to aid in the melting process. Dip balls into chocolate mixture. If you have one of those nifty easter-egg dying metal rings, those work perfectly. Otherwise you could fashion your own dipper out of wire, or struggle with a fork. Remove to waxed paper and cool until chocolate is set.

» Store in an air-tight container.

Enjoy!

» Original recipe from Barb Schroeder

Sage Dinner Rolls

» Ok, so maybe I'm not so great at getting with the whole "seasonally relevant" blog posting, but I made these for Thanksgiving and got rave reviews, so I need to share. However, there's no reason why they wouldn't go fabulously with Christmas Dinner as well, or for no apparent reason with Monday Dinner. The sage flavor really compliments the whole Thanksgiving feel though, so they're perfect alongside beautiful goldeny-brown turkey. Ok, now I'm getting hungry for Thanksgiving food again. Anyhow, here's the recipe:

Sage Dinner Rolls

Makes 1 dozen

Ingredients:

» 1 package or 2.25 t. dry yeast

» 1 T. honey

» 1 1/4 c. warm water

» 2 1/2 c. bread flour, divided

» 1 c. whole wheat flour

» 3 T. rubbed sage

» 1 1/2 t. salt

» 1/4 t. black pepper

» 2 T. olive oil
» cooking spray
» cornmeal for dusting


Preparation:
» In a large bowl, combine warm water and honey. I run the bowl under hot water to warm it up, otherwise it cools the warm water down right away and the yeast won't grow. Stir the honey around to dissolve it, then add the yeast. Stir briefly, then let set 5 minutes, or until all multiplied and frothy. If it doesn't get all frothy, dump it out and try again. Your dough will not rise if the yeast didn't catch.
» In a medium bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups of the bread flour with the wheat flour, sage, salt, and pepper. Add flour mixture and oil to the yeast mixture; stir until a soft dough forms (I pretty much do this part entirely with my hands). Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, or about 8 minutes. While kneading, add enough of the remaining flour, a bit at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.
» Splash a bit of olive oil in a large bowl, and place your beautifully kneaded dough in, rolling it around to make sure it's covered in the oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch the dough down and recover it; let it rest 5 minutes (rising is tough work, it needs a break).
» Cover a baking sheet with cooking spray, then sprinkle liberally with cornmeal. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and shape each into a ball. I kind of fold them in on themselves and put the pretty smooth part on top and the not so smooth part on the bottom. Place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Cut a deep X in the top of each roll using kitchen shears or a very sharp knife. Cover and let rise at least 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
» When the dough is nearly done rising, preheat oven to 350°.
» Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and beginning to brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.


Enjoy!




» Original recipe from Cooking Light, November 2007