Chocolate Ginger Bathing Beauties Food

CHOCOLATE-GINGER BATHING BEAUTIES

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside. Put shortening and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 1 minute.
• Mix in egg. Reduce speed to medium. Mix in vinegar and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture until soft dough forms. Let stand at room temperature until slightly firm, 10 minutes.
• Divide dough into thirds. Roll 1 piece between 2 sheets of parchment paper to just over 1/8 inch thick. Transfer parchment and dough to baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, stacking them on the same baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours (or chill in freezer 1 hour).
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Transfer 1 sheet of dough on parchment to a lightly floured work surface. Peel off 1 layer of parchment, and then pat it back into place. Flip dough; peel away second sheet of parchment, and discard. Cut out shapes using a 4-inch gingerbread-man cookie cutter, transferring to parchment-lined baking sheets as you work. Roll out scraps; repeat.
• Bake cookies until edges are just browned, about 7 minutes. While cookies are warm, poke eyes and noses on half of them using the blunt end of a skewer. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough and scraps.
• Decorate the cookies that have faces with candies, using a small amount of melted chocolate to adhere them. Let ice cream stand at room temperature until slightly softened, about 10 minutes. Spread 1/2-inch-thick layer of ice cream onto the underside of an undecorated cookie. Place a decorated cookie on top. Smooth edges using a knife or small spatula. Transfer to a baking sheet in freezer. Repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream. Freeze until set, about 1 hour, before serving.

CHOCOLATE & GINGER REFRIGERATOR SQUARES

Steps:

• Line a 20 x 30cm tin with baking parchment. Mix the biscuits with most of the ginger, then set aside. Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth and glossy. Pour this over the biscuit and ginger mixture and mix together well.
• Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle over the reserved ginger, then flatten the top lightly - it doesn't need to be completely smooth. Chill for at least 2 hrs, or overnight, before cutting into small squares.

MICE COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk to combine flour and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually, beating until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in extract, then egg. Reduce speed to low, and add one-third flour mixture. Gradually add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. Halve dough and shape into disks; wrap each in plastic, and chill 2 hours or up to 1 day.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll about 1 tablespoon of chilled dough between your palms to form 1 1/4-inch- to 1 1/2-inch-long oval shapes. Slightly elongate one side to form face. Gently pinch bridge of nose to form eye sockets. With a paring knife, make 2 small slits at top of each shape, for placement of ears. Place 2 sliced almonds into slits. Place shapes on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
• Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are light golden brown on bottom and around edges, and tips of ears are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks, and immediately insert a wooden skewer about 1/2 inch into mouse's rounded end. Remove skewer and insert curved length of licorice for tail. It should adhere to the still-warm cookie. Let cookies cool completely on wire racks.
• Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Turn off heat; keep chocolate warm until ready to use, stirring occasionally. Place melted chocolate in a parchment cone or a resealable plastic bag with a tiny hole cut in one corner. Pipe chocolate in tiny dots to form eyes and nose. Chill until chocolate is set, about 20 minutes. Cookies can be stored in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE IN GINGERBREAD HOT CHOCOLATE TUBS

Steps:

• For the gingerbread people: Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl until well blended.
• Beat together the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer starting on low and increasing speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl down as needed. Beat in the molasses until combined, then the egg. (The mixture will look curdled.) Turn to low speed and beat in the flour mixture a little at a time until the mixture comes together, then increase speed and beat until all of the ingredients are well incorporated and you have a sticky dough. Divide the dough in half, flatten into 2 disks and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least two hours and up to overnight.
• Position 2 racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Keeping the other disk refrigerated, roll one disk to an 1/8-inch thickness on a well-floured surface, sprinkling flour on and under the dough as needed and sliding a spatula underneath every so often to prevent sticking. If the dough looks crackly or breaks apart, press it back together from the outside edge in. With a 4-inch gingerbread man cookie cutter, cut out gingerbread people as close together on the dough as possible. Pull away the extra dough around each shape and use a small spatula to transfer the people to the prepared cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Gather together the scraps, leaving behind the excess flour, and knead them a few times to form a smooth dough again. Reroll them in the same way. (If there are any pieces of dough stuck on your surface, scrape them away with a spatula, flour the surface again and then continue to roll the dough.) Check to see if the cutter fits inside the mugs. If the legs are too wide, gently push the legs of the dough cut-outs closer together to make them fit. Freeze the cookies to firm them, about 15 minutes.
• Bake the cookies in the center of the oven racks, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and also turning them 180 degrees around halfway through baking, until they are slightly firm to the touch but not brown, about 12 minutes. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
• Cool the cookies 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely before icing. The cookies will continue to firm as they cool.
• Combine the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water and beat with a hand mixer on low speed until the frosting thickens. The icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly. (If the frosting is overbeaten, it will get aerated, which makes it harder to work with. If this happens, let the frosting sit for a bit to settle, then use a rubber spatula to vigorously beat and smooth out the icing.) Separate the icing into bowls and color as desired.
• Put the icing into piping bags or resealable plastic bags and snip the corners to the desired size. Use the icing to decorate the cookies, piping on bathing suits and sunglasses.
• Pipe a little white icing on the widest end of each gumdrop to make a drink with foam. Dot some icing on 1 hand of each gingerbread person and press the drink into the dot to make it stick. Let the cookies set at room temperature, at least 1 hour.
• For the hot chocolate: Combine the milk, cocoa powder, sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar, cocoa powder and spices are dissolved and the milk is steaming, about 5 minutes. Do not let the mixture come to a boil. Whisk in the chopped chocolate a little at a time until smooth.
• To serve, divide the hot chocolate among 6 to 8 mugs. Insert a gingerbread person with its arms resting on the rim. Add whipped cream and marshmallows as bubbles in the hot tubs.

CHOCOLATE-MINT LEAVES

Steps:

• Using paintbrush, coat underside of 1 leaf with a thick layer of chocolate. Drape leaf, chocolate side up, over a skewer set on a parchment-lined baking sheet, top. Repeat. Refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes.
• Gently grasp each leaf with tweezers, and peel from chocolate. Use chocolate leaves to decorate as desired, or store, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

CHOCOLATE SWEET HEARTS

Steps:

• In a bowl, whisk together flour,cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Inanother bowl set over (not in) asaucepan of simmering water,place chocolate, butter, and brownsugar; stir frequently until almostcompletely melted. Remove fromheat, and stir until completelymelted; let cool slightly.
• Add egg to chocolate mixture.With a mixer on low, beat until wellblended. Gradually stir in flourmixture (dough will form a ball).
• Divide dough in half; roll out eachhalf on a sheet of parchment paperto a 1/4-inch thickness. Transfer eachhalf (still on paper) to a baking sheet;freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Workingwith one half at a time, flip doughonto a work surface; peel off paper.Using a 2-inch heart-shaped cookiecutter, cut out cookies; place, 1/2 inchapart, on 2 baking sheets. Bakeuntil firm and fragrant, about 8 to 10minutes. Transfer cookies to arack to cool.