Egg Free Gingerbread Food

SOFT EGG FREE GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add milk, molasses, and vanilla until well-combined.
• In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to combine.
• Roll into heaping tablespoon sized balls, roll in sugar, and press down with hand or bottom of glass to slightly flatten. **See notes below for shaped Gingerbread Cookie instructions and tips!**
• Bake at 350F for 8-12 minutes. Bake time will depend on cookie size and thickness. Allow to cool on the pan for at least 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely (this is important, and allows them to set a little more).

MOLASSES-FREE GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Cream together softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until color gets light.
• Beat in egg.
• In a separate bowl blend together all dry ingredients including spices.
• Blend into butter mixture until evenly mixed and ball of dough forms.
• If you want to use cookie cutters- form dough into a ball and then flatten slightly, wrap and chill.
• Preheat oven to 375°F once dough is chilled.
• Roll chilled dough out onto very lightly floured surface until about 1/8 inch thick and cut into the shape you covet.
• Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 375°F for about 6-9 minutes. These cookies will spread a little so try to keep them at least 1/2 inch apart on the cookie sheet.
• Cookies are done when just barely golden around the edges.
• To keep them crisp cool them on a wire rack.
• Once completely cool you can frost them or just eat them plain.
• NOTE: If you are going the easy route you can also roll dough into a log, wrap and chill and then just slice into circles and bake instead of using cookie cutters.

EGG-FREE GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine butter and sugar in a bowl.
• Bring water, corn syrup, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger to a boil in a saucepan. Pour over butter and sugar and beat until blended. Gradually stir in flour and baking soda until dough is smooth.
• Halve the dough and form into discs. Wrap discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Let dough soften slightly. Roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut dough using gingerbread men cookie cutters. Arrange on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until tops look dry, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
• Beat powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla extract together until stiff. Thin mixture out with milk. Spread frosting over cooled cookies.

ULTIMATE EASY GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Heat the butter, syrup and sugar together in a small pan until melted, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.
• Mix together the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour in a large bowl. Pour in the buttery syrup mixture and stir to combine, then use your hands to bring together to form a dough. The dough will be soft at this point, but it'll firm up in the fridge.
• Put the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, shape into a rectangle, and lay another sheet of parchment on top of it. Roll the dough out to a thickness of ½cm. Transfer to a baking sheet to keep it flat, leaving the parchment in place, then chill in the fridge for 1 hr.
• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line a large baking sheet with more baking parchment. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. We used 9cm stars, but you can choose any shape. We also made some with smaller stars cut out of the centre to thread ribbon through and hang from a Christmas tree.
• Place the shapes, spread apart, on the lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 mins. (Depending on the size of the cutters you use, they might need a few minutes more or less cooking in the oven). Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet.
• Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp water - you want to create a consistency that's thick and pipeable, and not too thin or it will run. Decorate the cooled biscuits with the icing using a piping bag with a thin nozzle. Find out how to make a piping bag.

GLUTEN-FREE GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• In a small pan heat the butter, syrup and sugar together until melted, stirring occasionally. Set to one side to cool slightly. In a large bowl mix together the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour. Pour in the melted butter mixture and stir to combine and using your hands, bring together to form a dough. This will be soft but will set up in the fridge.
• Take 2 sheets of greaseproof paper, lay the dough down on one, shape it into a rectangle and place the other sheet on top of it. Roll the dough out to 1/2 cm thick and put flat in the fridge for 1 hour to set and firm up.
• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line a large baking tray with non-stick greaseproof paper. Take the rolled dough out of the fridge and cut out shapes from it. We did 9cm stars, but you can also choose any shape, depending on the size it will need a few mins less/more in the oven. We also did some with, smaller stars cut out the centre of them.
• Meanwhile make the icing, combine the icing sugar with 1 - 2 tbsp water, until it's thick and pipeable but not thin enough that it will run. Decorate the cooled biscuits with whatever designs

GINGERBREAD MEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Sieve the flour, salt, bicarb, ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl. Heat the butter, sugar and syrup until dissolved. Leave the sugar mixture to cool slightly, then mix into the dry ingredients to form a dough. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 mins.
• On a surface lightly dusted with flour, roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Stamp out the gingerbread men shapes with a cutter, then re-roll any off-cuts and repeat. Place your gingerbread shapes on the lined trays, allowing space for them to spread. Cook for 10-15 mins, then remove from the oven and leave to cool.

EASY VEGAN GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Combine the flaxseed with 2½ tbsp water, and leave to thicken for 5 mins. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Melt the margarine, sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat, then transfer to a medium bowl and leave to cool slightly. Stir in the flaxseed mix, then the flour, bicarb, spices and a pinch of salt until it comes together into a smooth dough. Chill for 30-45 mins until firm.
• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 5mm thickness. Stamp out as many gingerbread people as you can, then re-roll the trimmings and continue until all the dough is used. Put on the sheets and bake for 12 mins until golden. Leave to cool on the sheets for 10 mins, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Will keep in an airtight container for two weeks.