Gingerbread Rings Food

GINGERBREAD RINGS

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Beat in egg yolks, water and molasses. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle. On a lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a 2-3/4-in. doughnut cutter. Remove and discard centers. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks. In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup. Bring to a boil; cook until a candy thermometer reads 238° (soft-ball stage), about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. In a bowl, beat egg whites and vanilla until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar mixture, beating on high for 7-8 minutes or until thickened. Frost cookies. Decorate if desired.

FROSTED GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Line a 9-inch square baking pan with plastic wrap. In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the sugar, corn syrup and milk, and whisk continuously until a candy thermometer registers 100 degrees F, which will happen rather quickly. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
• With an electric mixer on low speed, combine the bread flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, salt and cloves. Slowly pour the butter-sugar mixture in, and beat until thoroughly combined, 2 minutes. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, cover with plastic wrap and press with your hands to spread the batter to the sides of the pan. Refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat several baking sheets with cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper. Cut the chilled dough into 4 equal pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out 1 piece of dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch; dust with more flour as needed. (Keep the other dough pieces refrigerated until you're ready to use them.) Using 2 different-sized biscuit or cookie cutters, cut out concentric circles of dough, leaving a 1/2-inch-wide ring. The cookies shown are about 2 inches across, but you can make them larger or smaller based on the size of your cookie cutters. Place the rings about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.
• Bake the cookies until slightly browner on the edges and firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes for smaller cookies, 15 minutes for larger. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets on wire racks for a couple of minutes before using a metal spatula to transfer them to the racks to finish cooling.
• Squeeze icing onto each cookie, leaving a thin border around it. While the icing is still wet, press the jelly beans into it end to end. The icing will spread to cover the cookie. Store the baked cookies, decorated or not, in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks; if decorated, stack them between sheets of wax paper.

GINGERBREAD I

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C). Grease and lightly flour one 8 inch square baking pan.
• Cream shortening and sugar until light. Add the egg and molasses and beat thoroughly.
• Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, ground ginger, and ground cinnamon.
• Bring water to a boil and add alternately with flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy.

BEST-EVER GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Set oven to 350°.
• In a bowl, combine sugar, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
• Stir in the oil, then the molasses, mixing well.
• Mix soda with boiling water and immediately stir into the mixture.
• Gradually blend in the flour, to prevent lumping.
• Then mix in eggs.
• Turn into greased 9 x 13x2-inch pan and bake in a 350° oven about 40-45 minutes.

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE

Steps:

• Combine first 4 ingredients. Beat all remaining ingredients except powdered sugar and water in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Refrigerate 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness; cut into gingerbread shapes with 4-inch cookie cutter, rerolling trimmings as necessary. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray.
• Bake 10 to 12 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 3 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Mix powdered sugar and water until blended. Use to decorate cookies as desired.