Brownie Gingerbread Men Food

GINGERBREAD BROWNIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x9-inch metal baking dish; set aside.
• In a large saucepan, melt butter and chocoalte together over low heat, stirring frequently.
• Remove from heat, and whisk in molasses and sugars.
• Whisk in eggs until combined.
• Add flour, salt, cinnamon, and ginger; whisk until just incorporated.
• Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few fudgy crumbs.
• Let cool in pan, and serve dusted with powdered sugar, if desired.

GINGERBREAD BROWNIES

Steps:

• Place a rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Coat a 9x9" baking pan with nonstick spray. Line pan with 2 overlapping layers of parchment, leaving a 2" overhang on all sides. Coat parchment with nonstick spray.
• Whisk sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a large bowl. Melt butter in a medium heatproof bowl in the microwave or in a medium pot over medium heat. Immediately add hot butter to sugar mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously with spoon or spatula after each addition, until batter is thick, shiny, and smooth. Stir in molasses and vanilla. Using a sifter or fine-mesh sieve, sift in flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, and cloves. Stir until well incorporated, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes.
• Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Bake brownie until slightly puffed and top is firm to the touch, edges are set, center is moist but not uncooked, and a tester or paring knife inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs (not runny batter) attached, 40-45 minutes.
• Transfer to a wire rack and let brownie cool completely in pan. Using parchment overhang, lift brownie out of pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares.

GINGERBREAD MEN COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla;mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Decorate cooled cookies as desired. Store cookies in airtight container up to5 days.

GINGERBREAD BROWNIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, letting foil hang 2 inches over sides of pan. Spray foil with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix brownie mix, water, oil, eggs, ginger and cinnamon until well blended. Spread in pan.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely, about 1 hour. Freeze in pan 30 minutes.
• Using foil to lift, remove brownies from pan, and peel foil away. Cut out 8 gingerbread men using 3-inch gingerbread man cookie cutter. Gently push brownie out of cutter each time. Set aside end pieces for snacking. If cutter gets sticky, wipe clean with damp paper towel before cutting again.
• Decorate each gingerbread man with cookie icing; place candies for buttons. Let stand about 30 minutes or until icing is set. Store covered in airtight container at room temperature with waxed paper between layers.

GINGERBREAD MEN

Steps:

• Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice into a medium bowl; set aside. Melt the butter and shortening in a medium saucepan; remove from the heat and stir in the brown sugar and molasses. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool slightly.
• Add the egg to the butter mixture; beat with a mixer on medium speed until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low; beat in the flour mixture in two additions until just combined. Divide the dough in half; wrap each half in plastic wrap and pat into 1/2-inch-thick disks. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface, dusting with flour as needed. Cut out gingerbread men with a 3 1/2- to 5-inch cookie cutter and arrange 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Brush off the excess flour and refrigerate the cutouts 15 minutes.
• Bake the cookies until golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 3 to 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Decorate with royal icing and let harden at room temperature, about 1 hour.

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD BROWNIE BARS WITH FUDGY ICING

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 20 x 30cm cake tin, and line the base and sides with baking parchment. Melt the chocolate, cocoa, sugar and butter together in a saucepan over a very low heat. Once the chocolate and butter have melted and sugar dissolved, remove from the heat and stir in the ginger and almonds, followed by the egg yolks, one at a time.
• Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Using a metal spoon, stir a couple of spoonfuls of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen before very gently folding in the rest.
• Gently scrape into the tin. Bake for 30-35 mins until the top looks set and the centre doesn't wobble too much. Sit the cake tin on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
• Once cool, make the icing. Put the butter, chocolate, cocoa, icing sugar, ground ginger and 4 tbsp water in a pan. Gently heat, stirring, until you have a smooth icing. Pour over the cake (still in its tin), leave for 1-2 mins to cool slightly, then scatter over the ginger. Cool completely (you can also store in the fridge if you bring out to room temperature about 20 mins before serving) before cutting into bars.