Ginger Cookie Cut Outs Food

GINGERBREAD COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half; shape each into a disk. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate, covered, until firm enough to roll, 4 hours or overnight., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut 60 gingerbread men using a floured 3-1/2-in. cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. If desired, cut sixty 1-1/4-in. triangles for hats; attach to gingerbread cutouts, pressing edges to seal. If desired, cut sixty 1/4-in. circles; attach to hats for pompoms. , Bake cookies until edges are firm, 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely., Tint some of the frosting red; use red frosting for hats and buttons. Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry bag or heavy-duty resealable plastic bag; insert #3 round pastry tip. Fill bag with white frosting; pipe faces and trim on hands and feet. Using a #16 star pastry tip, pipe decorations on hats.

GINGERBREAD CUTOUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until easy to handle, about 4 hours or overnight., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-1/2-in. cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake until edges are firm, 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Tint some of the frosting red and some green; leave remaining frosting plain. Decorate cookies.

THE BEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, allspice and cloves in a large bowl.
• Mix the butter, shortening, brown sugar and molasses in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat in the egg. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two additions. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic and pat to 1/2-inch thick. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece of dough to 1/4-inch thick, dusting with flour if needed. Cut into 3- to 5-inch cookies with a gingerbread man cutter or desired shape. Brush off the excess flour and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
• Bake the cookies in batches until they are golden around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
• For the royal icing: Whisk the confectioners' sugar with the meringue powder in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat in 6 tablespoons of water until well combined and you have stiff glossy peaks, adding 1 tablespoon more water at a time to reach a smooth pipeable consistency. Mix in food coloring as desired. Fill pastry bags fitted with tips. Decorate the gingerbread cookies with the icing.

THE MOST WONDERFUL GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
• In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
• Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
• Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
• Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
• Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
• Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
• Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
• Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
• Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
• Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
• Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
• After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
• I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing.

GINGER COOKIE

Steps:

• Whisk the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, mustard, salt and black pepper together in a medium bowl.
• Beat the butter and the sugars with a hand mixer electric mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat on medium speed until just incorporated, about 20 seconds. Add the molasses and ginger preserves and continue beating until the batter is an even light brown color, 30 seconds more.
• Add the dry ingredients all at once, beating slowly to make a soft, smooth dough. Use a rubber spatula to make sure all ingredients are combined. Then beat again for 20 seconds. Cover the bowl with plastic and refrigerate the dough until firm, about 25 minutes.
• Put about 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. With a cookie scoop or a small ice cream scoop, portion the dough into a slightly heaping tablespoon for each cookie. Roll the dough, by hand, into balls. Roll the tops of the balls in the sugar, and space them 2 inches apart on a nonstick or lightly oiled cookie sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 25 minutes. (The chilling is what gives this cookie a beautiful, crackly crunch on top, and a soft, chewy center.)
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Bake until the top is crackly, and the insides peeking out through are dark and moist but not raw, about 15 to 20 minutes. Briefly cool the cookies on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
• Serve or store in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 weeks.

THE SPICIEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES EVER

Steps:

• Make the cookies: Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, salt, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, cayenne, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
• Beat the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes (scrape down the sides of the bowl, as needed). Beat in the molasses until combined, then the egg (the mixture will look curdled). Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until the dough comes together. Divide the dough in 2 pieces, flatten each half into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or 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 one disk refrigerated, roll the other disk on a well-floured work surface to 1/4 inch thick, 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). Using cookie cutters, cut out gingerbread shapes as close together as possible. Pull away the extra dough around each shape then use a small offset spatula to transfer the shapes to the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. Reroll the scraps and cut out more cookies. Freeze the cookies until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through cooking, until they are slightly firm to the touch but not browned at the edges, about 12 minutes. Repeat the rolling, cutting and baking with the remaining dough disk.
• Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes (The cookies will continue to firm as they cool).
• Make the icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3 tablespoons water in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the frosting thickens, trying not to incorporate too much air. (The icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly.)
• Scrape the icing into a resealable plastic bag and snip the corner to the desired size. Pipe the icing onto the cookies to decorate, as desired, sticking the candy onto the icing while it is still wet. Let the cookies stand at room temperature until the icing hardens, at least 1 hour.

BASIC GINGERBREAD CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat the butter, brown sugar and molasses together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this to the butter mixture and stir until blended. Shape the dough into 2 disks, wrap and chill for about an hour up to 2 days (the dough will still be soft, even once chilled).
• Preheat the oven to 350 F and line 2-3 baking trays with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the first disk of dough until just over 1/8-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter of your choosing to cut out cookie shapes and lift then carefully to the prepared trays, leaving about ½-inch between them. Continue with the second piece of dough - any scraps can be stored chilled and then re-rolled until it has all been used.
• Bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes until you see them brown a little just around the edges. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the tray before removing to cool completely.
• The cookies will keep for up to 10 days in an airtight container.

CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Form into a fat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place disk of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/4-inch. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 12 minutes; obviously it depends on the shape you're using and whether they are on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after about 5 minutes. When they're ready expect them to be tinged a pronounced gold around the edges; they'll be softish still in the middle, but set while they cool.
• Remove the cookies with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack. When they are fully cooled, you can get on with the icing. Put a couple of tablespoons of not-quite-boiling water into a large bowl, add the sieved confectioners sugar and mix together, adding more water as you need to form a thick paste. Color,as desired. I think pastes are much better than liquid, not just because the range of colors is better but because they don't dilute the icing as they tint. Ice cooled cookies, as desired.

GINGER COOKIE DOUGH FOR CUT OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl cream confectioners sugar, softened butter, and vinegar.
• In a medium bowl sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, and salt.
• Mix dry ingredient into the creamed butter mixture.
• If dough is too dry, add milk or cream a tablespoon at a time.
• Chill dough and keep unused portion in refrigerator while making each batch.
• On lightly floured board or silpad, roll dough 1/8 - 1/4 inch. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
• Bake in a 400°F oven for 6-8 minutes, until edges turn golden brown. Keep a close eye on cookies, especially if cookies are different sizes. I bake a sheet of stars, then angels, etc. so they will bake evenly.
• Cool on wire rack before decorating.

GINGER COOKIE CUT-OUTS

Steps:

• Beat butter or margarine, pudding mix, and egg with an electric mixer on medium speed until well-blended.
• Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually add to pudding mixture, beating well after each addition. Refrigerate dough 1 hour or until firm.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on lightly-floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes (we use a 4" long gingerbread man cutter). Place a greased baking sheets.
• Bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets. Cool on wire racks.