I started baking Christmas cookies yesterday. I've been wanting to try
Martha Stewart's Gingerbread recipe for some time now. The dough was so easy to work with unlike other sugar cookie dough recipes I've tried before which were sticky. I lessened the amount of ground ginger and pepper coz it might be too spicy for the kids's taste. I also lessened the amount of sugar since I'll be decorating the Gingrebread Christmas tree with royal icing. Sis commented about the sweet and spicy smell of gingerbread baking in the oven! It was absolutely divine! Even Dad asked what I was baking coz he could smell the aroma of spiced gingerbread. I turned half of the batch into Gingerbread Christmas Tree Sandwich Cookies and filled them with cream cheese frosting. They were softly baked and turned out delish!
Martha Stewart's Gingerbread Snowflakes Recipe
6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar 4 teaspoons ground ginger 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves 1 teaspoon finely ground pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt 2 large eggs 1 cup unsulfured molassesRoyal icing
Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling
Directions
- Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. Cut into snowflakes with a 7- inch snowflake-shape cookie cutter. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
- Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
- Put icing in a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip (such as Ateco #7). Pipe designs on snowflakes; immediately sprinkle with sanding sugar. Let stand 5 minutes; tap off excess sugar. Let icing set completely at room temperature, about 1 hour. Store cookies between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.
The nutmeg shouldn't be in this pic. I thought I got ahold of the ground ginger. I only realized I grabbed the wrong spice when I downloaded the pictures. lol!
Gingerbread Christmas Tree Sandwich Cookie
with Cream cheese frosting: I used 8 oz cream cheese, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice and lemon zest.
Gingerbread Christmas trees
Individually wrapped
Want some?
