Gingerbread Cutouts Food

CLASSIC GINGERBREAD CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the molasses and eggs. Combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour, baking soda, salt, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; beat into the molasses mixture. Gradually stir in the remaining flour by hand to form a stiff dough.
• Divide dough into 2 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• In a medium bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and cream of tartar. Blend in egg whites. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat for about 5 minutes, or until mixture is thick and stiff. Keep covered with a moist cloth until ready to frost cookies.

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 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.

GINGERBREAD CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup and spices; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and cool to lukewarm. Stir in eggs and vinegar. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into sugar mixture to form a soft dough. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or until easy to handle. , On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. gingerbread man cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheets. Use Red Hots for eyes and buttons. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

GINGERBREAD COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Melt the shortening and butter together in a medium saucepan. Let cool.
• Sift the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, salt and clove into a large bowl. Mix the melted butter into the flour mixture with an electric mixer on medium-low until sandy. Add the corn syrup and vanilla, and mix until evenly incorporated, but still crumbly in texture. Press the dough together by hand and divide into 4 equal portions. Press into disks about 1/2-inch thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
• Dust the dough and a work surface with flour. Roll 1 piece of the dough out about 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer cut-outs to 2 parchment-lined baking sheets leaving about 2-inches in between each. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Gather up the scraps, re-roll and cut out.
• Position oven racks to the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake the gingerbread until a rich tawny brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired with the Royal Icing. Store at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 5 days. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl. Mix slowly with an electric mixer on medium-low until stiff enough to form peaks. The icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly. If the frosting is over beaten, it will get aerated which makes it harder to work with. If this happens, let the frosting sit to settle, and then use a rubber spatula to vigorously beat and smooth out the frosting.
• Add up to 1 tablespoon food coloring and mix with a rubber spatula until the color is uniform. (Adding too much color reduces the sheen of the frosting and can break down the consistency of the frosting over a couple of days.) Store the icing, covered, with plastic wrap on the surface.

GINGERBREAD CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add about half of the flour, the sugar, molasses, egg, vinegar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours or until dough is easy to handle.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
• Divide the chilled dough in portions to be rolled out. On a lightly floured surface roll the pieces of dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with a knife, spatula, or pizza cutter to desired sizes for walls, roof, etc. Place on greased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 5-6 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute then remove with spatula to wire rack to finish cooling. Decorate with confectioners' sugar icing colored as desired with food coloring. Decorate and or assemble as desired.

GINGERBREAD CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Beat the brown sugar, molasses, melted butter and egg yolks in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture and beat, gradually increasing the speed to medium high, until the dough comes together, about 3 minutes.
• Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper coated with cooking spray until 1/8 inch thick. Freeze until firm, 30 minutes.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Cut out cookies using 2-inch cutters; arrange 1 1/2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Gather the scraps and chill until firm, then reroll once to cut out more cookies. Refrigerate the cutouts until firm, 20 minutes.
• Bake the cookies, switching the pans halfway through, until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
• Make the icing: Beat the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3 to 4 tablespoons water in a bowl with a mixer on high speed until smooth and thick. Transfer to a resealable bag and snip a small corner. Pipe onto the cookies and sprinkle with nonpareils. Let set 30 minutes.

VEGAN GINGERBREAD CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt. Set aside.
• In large bowl, cream shortening and sugar with fork. Stir in molasses, hot water and vanilla with large spoon. Stir in flour mixture until smooth, 1 minute.
• Cover dough. Chill 2 to 4 hours.
• On lightly floured surface, roll out dough. Cut out shapes. Bake on cookie sheet in 400F oven 8 to 10 minutes, depending on size. Cool on sheet. Decorate as you like.

GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES WITH COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together flour and spices.
• With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the molasses, and beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until just combined.
• Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 3 months, in airtight containers.
• Tint 1/4 cup icing pale pink with gel-paste food color; tint remaining icing pale blue. Transfer tinted icings to pastry bags fitted with small plain tips (#2). Pipe three blue dots on the front of each gingerbread cookie boy; pipe two pink dots on gingerbread girls.
• To finish, use an offset spatula to spread each cupcake with a smooth layer of frosting. Place a gingerbread boy or girl upright on each cupcake before serving.

GINGERBREAD COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, molasses, oil, egg substitute, and sugar.
• In a medium bowl, stir together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves, and salt. Gradually add to the brown sugar mixture, stirring to form a soft dough. Return the dough to the medium bowl, cover tightly, and refrigerate for 2 to 12 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly spray two baking sheets with cooking spray. Set aside.
• Sprinkle the remaining flour on a flat work surface. Roll half the cookie dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Dip the edges of cookie cutters in flour, shaking off the excess. Cut out the cookies, continuing to dip the cookie cutters in flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Transfer the cookies to one of the baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Bake for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the cookies are slightly firm to the touch (they shouldn't brown). Transfer the baking sheets to cooling racks. Let the cookies cool slightly. Transfer the cookies to the cooling racks. When the cookies have cooled completely, store them in airtight tins for up to one week.
• COOK'S TIP ON MOLASSES
• A by-product of sugar refining, molasses is available in three grades: light (or mild), dark, and blackstrap. Light molasses is the lightest in body and color and the sweetest in taste. Many pancake and waffle syrups include light molasses, which can replace or supplement sugar or honey in some cooking. Dark molasses is more robust, thicker, less sweet, and darker in color. Its distinct flavor spices up foods such as gingerbread, gingerbread cookies, and baked beans. Light and dark molasses are interchangeable, depending on your taste preference; blackstrap molasses, however, is bitter and shouldn't be used unless your recipe specifically calls for it.
• Nutrition information
• (Per serving)
• Calories: 172
• Total fat: 3.5g
• Saturated: 0.5g
• Trans: 0.0g
• Polyunsaturated: 1.0g
• Monounsaturated: 2.0g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 103mg
• Carbohydrates: 33g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugars: 15g
• Protein: 3g
• Calcium: 45mg
• Potassium: 172mg
• Dietary Exchanges
• 2 other carbohydrate
• 1/2 fat