World's Biggest Gingerbread House

I think this is as close to a Winter Wonderland as I'm gonna get this year. Incredible. This is all food. Well, except for the cotton. But, maybe that is edible too. This really puts my Gingerbread house to shame. Yesterdays morning walk was through Waikiki, we stopped into the Princess Kaiulani hotel and discovered a world of gingerbread winter. The Executive "Gingerbread" Chef was there giving a brief demo for a group of school kids...and me. They got to taste the frosting used in the display...I really considered sticking out my finger for my free taste too...  http://lifewithlarisa.blogspot.com/2010/12/worlds-biggest-gingerbread-house.html

SUGAR & SPICE: THE LAND OF GINGERBREAD

 Ring in the holidays with a visit to a magical storybook realm filled with fanciful gingerbread houses, candy canes, gum drops and other sugary confections. Gingerbread houses created for the Museums’ first annual Gingerbread House competition by professional bakers and individual adults and children are displayed against a snowy landscape filled with decorated trees, twinkling lights and gingerbread people. Inspired by the theme “The City of Homes,” the Gingerbread Houses resemble actual buildings from different eras found throughout Springfield.

The exhibit also traces the adventures of a gingerbread man who is being pursued by creatures of the forest who want to eat him up. Along the way he stops at his own gingerbread house to sip a cup of hot chocolate by the fire, travels down a river of melted fudge and gets lost in a field of licorice sticks. Find out if the gingerbread man escapes from his furry foes in this tantalizing and fun-filled holiday display.http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/the_museums/science/exhibits/view/179-sugar_spice_the_land_of_gingerbread

What the world needs now.... Is LOVE

http://sweetdaze.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

What the world needs now.... Is LOVE, originally uploaded byineedathis.

Here is the finished Gingerbread House from ineedathis.

Wow! Amazing. I have never undertaken a Gingerbread House before and this one does two things for me. The beauty and the detail inspire me to do one. The beauty and the detail scare me to do one!

Check out ineedathisflickr stream for some more amazing shots of this beautiful work of art!

Brown Sugar and Spice Cut-out Cookies

I don't mess with my cookie recipe much. Sometimes, I change up the extracts or add vanilla bean paste, but usually I stick with what works.

Fall spices were calling to me, though, and I thought I'd try to use them in a cut-out cookie. It worked!!! These cookies are lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. I replaced half with sugar with light brown sugar. The cookies ended up slightly softer, but still sturdy enough for decorating.


If you're making cookies for Thanksgiving, these are perfect!

Brown Sugar and Spice Cookies

3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 c granulated sugar (I use sugar that I've stored vanilla beans in)
1/2 c light brown sugar (packed)
2 sticks butter
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and spices, set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix until well-blended.

Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom. (The dough will be quite thick...you may need to knead in stray bits of flour from the bottom of the bowl by hand.)

Roll on a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on the size of your cutter. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

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To decorate these cookies, I used pale green, ivory and light orange for the pumpkins. After being outlined and filled, they dried completely overnight.


For the sparkly accents, mix a small amount of meringue powder with water. With a child's paintbrush, paint the area you would like to be sparkle-d (that's a word, right?).


Then, shake on sanding sugar all over the cookie. Turn the cookie upside down and shake off the excess. (I do this over a basket coffee filter and use that to funnel the extra back into the container.)

These are waiting in the freezer to be donated on Thanksgiving for Drop In & Decorate. Are you making some, too? If so, I'd love to have pictures and details of where and how many cookies you donated by December 10th. Thank you!
 http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2009/11/brown-sugar-and-spice-cut-out-cookies.html

Rolled Gingerbread Cookies

Rolled Gingerbread Cookies Click here for a printable version of the recipe. Yield: 2-1/2-inch cookies: about 48; 3-1/2-inch cookies: about 37; 4-1/2-inch cookies: about 18 Ingredients: 5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt zest of 1 orange (optional) 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 large egg 1 cup molasses 1. Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, salt, and orange zest (if you’re using it) in a medium bowl. 2. Cream together the butter and sugar with your mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and mix until well blended. 3. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until the two are thoroughly blended. 4. Turn dough onto a work surface and divide into three equal portions. Form each one into a rough disk. Now you’re ready to roll, chill, and cut out cookie shapes. (See General Rolling and Cutting Instructions below). 5. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 6. After you’ve rolled and cut the dough and the cookies are on parchment-lined cookie sheets, bake them on the middle rack of your oven for 12 to 16 minutes or until the cookies start to turn a deeper brown around the edges. 7. Cool the cookies completely before decorating. For the Snowflake Gingerbread Cookies: Use snowflake cookie cutters, bake and cool. Pipe outlines with icing; sprinkle with sanding sugar while still wet. General Instructions: Rolling and Cutting the Dough 1. Place a piece of waxed paper about the size of your cookie sheet on your rolling surface. 2. Place cookie slats on the edges of the paper. The slats should be a rolling-pin width apart, to ensure that there’s stable contact between the slats and both ends of the rolling pin. 3. Place a disk of cookie dough on top of the waxed paper, between the slats. Place another sheet of waxed paper over the cookie dough and slats and use your hand or rolling pin to slightly flatten and evenly distribute the dough across the paper. Roll the pin over the waxed paper-covered dough, making sure the ends of the pin stay on the slats as the dough flattens (the pin will hover above the slats at first). If the top paper wrinkles, lift and smooth it. You’re finished rolling when the dough surface is uniform and completely level with the cookie slats. You’ll recognize this point: rolling the pin over the dough will feel effortless. 4. Slide the rolled-out piece of dough (paper and all) onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate until it’s firm, 20 to 30 minutes. Repeat the rolling process with the remaining dough portions. 5. When the dough is firm and stiff, transfer it from the refrigerator to your flat work surface. Work with one piece of dough at a time, leaving the others to chill in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cut them. Peel back the top waxed paper from the dough and cut your desired shapes. Try to get as many cookies as possible out of each rolled-out piece of dough. 6. Remove excess dough from around the shapes. Transfer the cookies to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. 7. When you’ve cut as many cookies as possible from all your rolled dough, gather the dough scraps into a ball and roll it again, using the same waxed-paper method. Continue to cut cookies and reroll the dough until you’ve used all the dough, chilling the rolled-out dough whenever it becomes too sticky to work with. 8. If you’re using any of the prebaking decorating methods (imprinting, sugaring, add-ons, and so on), now’s the time to get decorating. 9. Bake and cool the cookies as directed in the recipe (above).

Recipes from Cookie Craft Christmas, Dozens of Decorating Ideas for a Sweet Holiday by Valerie Peterson & Janice Fryer through permission of Storey Publishing, North Adams, MA. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

DIY Recipe: Peppermint Mocha

 Trying to save a little extra money over the holidays but still want your Peppermint Mocha fix from Starbucks? Well, this isn't an exact recipe, but it comes close, and costs a lot less!   I don't even have an espresso maker - I just use a stovetop espresso maker like this one. I also did not want to buy a bottle of peppermint syrup as it would take me forever to go through one, so instead I made peppermint simple syrup, and this worked out fine. I had a little bit of the peppermint simple syrup leftover, and put that in some bourbon to make a quasi-julep, and it was yummy.

DIY Peppermint Mocha
Makes 1 drink

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 tablespoons powdered cocoa - run it through a sifter or fine wire strainer to remove lumps
3 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup hot espresso
1 1/2 cups hot milk or soy milk (you can microwave it or heat it on the stovetop.)
Whipped cream (optional)

In a small saucepan, stir together the water and sugar, bringing to a soft boil, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to a low simmer and add the peppermint extract, and simmer for 20 minutes.

In a large mug add the cocoa and water and mix together until a creamy paste forms. Add the espresso on top, then 1 1/2 teaspoon of the peppermint simple syrup, and stir to mix. Top the mug off with the hot milk and stir. If desired, add whipped cream. Enjoy!  http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/beverage/diy-peppermint-mocha-103261

Related: DIY Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Latte (Just Like Starbucks!)    

Santa’s Sleigh

Now that Rudolph was completed, it was time to finish Santa’s sleigh for my Christmas Cookie Project.  I needed to bake two large sugar cookies together with two rectangular sections that would not only serve as the *floor and seat* of the sleigh but would also serve to help keep the sleigh cookie free-standing.

I drew and cut-out from heavy-duty card stock, two templates for the sleigh.

Rolling out my cookie dough 1/4 inch thick, I lay the templates on the top and cut all around with a sharp knife as well as cutting out slits for the seat and floor inserts .  Lift the parchment paper the cookie is on directly onto the baking sheet.  Remember to flip the template prior to cutting the dough for the second side for the sleigh.  You will want a mirror image of the first side.

Rolling up some sections of parchment paper I filled the slits prior to baking to avoid the slits from closing together as the dough expanded.  This is not a perfect solution but is does help.  You will most likely have to do some trimming down of the slits after the cookie is baked anyway.

Shown above are the baked *floor and seat* sections of the sleigh.  As mentioned earlier, they will be used to stabilize both sides of the sleigh to help it be free-standing for the final Christmas Project I am making.

When ready to decorate, make red piping and flood icing, grey piping and flood, white piping and flood icing and green piping icing.  Outline the ski section of the sleigh with grey piping and the sleigh itself with red.  When piping is dry, flood the ski section with grey flood and the sleigh with red flood.  Pipe the *floor and seat* with red piping and later, flood with red flood icing.  Let all sections dry overnight.

Next day, with your white piping, pipe lines to create outlines for snow build-up on the skis and the sleigh.  Flood with white flood icing and let dry.  Brush clear corn syrup over the ski area and sprinkle grey sparkle flakes over the corn syrup.  With your green piping icing, create your own scroll work over the red sleigh.

Let the frosting dry completely before assembling the sleigh.  In my next post about this Christmas project I hope to have everything completed and ready to show you all.  Fingers crossed that I don’t break anything in the process of assembling it all    http://vanillabeanbaker.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/santas-sleigh/