Gingerbread Christmas Brownies 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 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.

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.

GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS BROWNIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F and line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on all sides to easily lift the brownies out of the pan. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine Brownie Mix, spices, orange zest, eggs, melted butter, and water. Beat on medium speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
• Bake for about 32-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean.
• Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. Once cool, lift them out of the pan using the overhang on the sides and cut into 10 triangles (trees) like shown in the picture above.
• Transfer the Christmas trees to a parchment lined baking sheet.
• In a small bowl, combine Confectioners' sugar and 2 tsp water or rum. Add a little bit more water if needed. The glaze should be thick.
• Transfer the glaze into a piping bag (or ziplock bag) and starting at the top of the tree, gently squeeze the glaze out of the bag moving in a zigzag pattern as you go down the tree. Immediately add your favorite sprinkles after piping the zigzags. (The glaze will dry quickly!)
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.