Nurturing my inner... color mixing disaster recovery

I am choosing not to consider myself late in posting this, but instead, super early for next year.  (Oh the things we say to let ourselves off the hook.)

Is there some rule that you can't make gingerbread cookies after Christmas?  No.  So go ahead and make them in January, February, heck March, April, May and every month!

My friend made the dough ahead of time so it could chill.  Thus why you won't get the step by step in photos and you'll just have to read it.  The recipe we use is straight out of Real Simple magazine, so I'm giving it full credit:

Old Fashioned Gingerbread Men

Hands-on time: 1 hour, total time: 3 1/2 hours (includes chilling), makes 3 dozen medium gingerbread men

5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium until smooth. Add the molasses and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture 1 cup at a time, blending until smooth. The dough should gather into a semi-firm mass. (If it's not firm, add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour, but not enough to make it crumbly.) Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Flatten into disks and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 1 week. Preheat over to 350 deg F. On a floured surface, roll each disk to 1/8 in thick. Use gingerbread-man cutters to make shapes. Transfer them to a large, parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Decorate, if desired. Bake until firm to the touch, about 12 minutes. Cool slightly before transferring to a rack.

There, that's all their official stuff they wrote in entirety.  All credit goes to Real Simple.  Now back to me. 

She made two batches, so we had four
discs of dough ready at my arrival.
(Now that is service.)

I rolled it out with my handleless rolling pin.  Slightly thick because gingerbread cookies should be substantial.  It will be firm at first, but will soften as it warms up slightly.  A cool, well-floured surface is helpful though.

 

Cracks a little on edges, not to worry.

I have some old cookie cutters that were my mother's, some new ones and even one large copper gingerbread man I bought at a garage sale for a buck three years ago!  I know a good deal when I see it.  I prefer to pick them up one at a time instead of in sets, so I can get just the cutters I really want.

I know you notice the hippo. Back to that later.

If you can, it's best to put the same size cookies on one sheet so they'll be done at the same time.

A little extra flour is okay. It mostly goes away.
(Shadow unavoidable because the light under
her microwave is broken. Sorry!)

In the blink of an eye, you've got a ton of cookies that you have cooled and then piled up in stacks of like shapes.  (What can I say, I have to be organized.  So annoying, I realize.  But if we had hoped to decorate 150 cookies in any timely manner, we needed order from chaos, people!)

Naked cookies. Scandalous!

Time to dress the cookies.  It's the decent thing to do.  And the fun part.  Credit for this recipe goes to... The Joy of Baking!

Royal Icing Using Meringue Powder:

4 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tbsps meringue powder
1/2 tsp extract (vanilla or lemon or almond)
1/2 - 3/4 cup warm water

Note: Food Coloring (I use Gel Pastes that can be found at cake decorating and party stores or else on-line.)

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder until combined. Add the water and beat on medium to high speed until very glossy and stiff peaks form (5 to 7 minutes). If necessary, to get the right consistency, add more powdered sugar or water. To cover or 'flood' the entire surface of the cookie with icing, the proper consistency is when you lift the beater, the ribbon of icing that falls back into the bowl remains on the surface of the icing for a few seconds before disappearing.

The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.  Makes about 3 cups.

Thank you Joy of Baking.  And now back to me again.

We made about six colors of icing - red, green, yellow, blue, purple and grey.  (Yes grey.  Story later.  How do you like the suspense?!)

I bought my gels at the Williams and 
Sonoma Outlet. They make rich colors.

I like deep, midtone colors, so I make sure to use enough gel.  Start out with a couple drops and add more until you get your desired shade.

That looks festive... for last month! Yeesh.
I hope you find humor in my poor timing.

After about two hours, and I think two batches of icing, you'll end up with many fun (and possibly odd looking) well-decorated gingerbread cookies.  Most of these are thanks to my friend, because I was on another project...

Get lots of sprinkles too. You don't want to
inhibit your creativity. Be free!

Back story: Last year when my friend busted out her cookie cutters, because I owned about, oh, three, we naturally gravitated to all that was holidayesque.  In an unfortunate mishap while attempting to make purple out of blue and red, I made a batch of grey icing.  Which really is not the most appealing color.  I mean, who wants to eat a cookie the color of cement.  The good news was that she had a cookie cutter I found to be adorable!  It was a little hippo.  And I had, thank goodness, made several of them.  When I ended up with all that grey icing, it came to me.  *snap*  I know what I can do!  I would ice all the hippos.  But that seemed, well, boring.  So I put my special spin on it...



Quite a herd of well-dressed hippos!
(Who manage to maintain a constant look
of surprise.)


My next idea *second snap* to give them each an eyeball, or two, and a bow tie. (Because all hippos wear bow ties, don'tcha know.)  I know it may seem like they have no place at Christmas, but my college friend in Illinois (thanks Heidi!) reminded me that there is indeed a song called, "I want a hippopatamus for Christmas."  So, hey, who feels silly now!

The hippos were such a big hit last year and I got a lot of great feedback that I had to make them again.  Just for you.  (And the dozen people I gave cookies to.  But mostly you.)  They are now a personal tradition of mine and will be made every year.  (Seeing as I now know how to make grey icing on purpose.)

So cute, can you stand it?!! Oops, one
got baked facing the opposite direction.

A tale like this wouldn't be complete without the other side of the story.  The cookies that didn't, *sniff sniff*, make it.  Waaahhh!!!  For all the successful cookie stories out there, there are always a few that crumble under pressure.  (Perhaps they came from broken homes.)  Loss is inevitable.  A missing arm.  A detached head.  These sad stories can't be avoided.

Oh the horror! So brave how they
keep smiling like that. So very brave...

Don't worry, they get eaten just the same, by me, but I always feel slightly sad, and awkward, taking a bite of a decapitated gingerbread man.  It just seems, well, not very sporting of me.

In my boring work cube. (Well, my cube is
boring, not the work.)

Now for creative packaging.  This to me is just as important as the cookie making.  I like to be well rounded in my forms of creativity.

Crate & Barrel Outlet had some great stuff this year.  Chinese takeout containers with Christmas/holiday designs.  Loved them!  They had four designs.  I bought a bunch.

How clever of them. Great graphic designs!
Reminds me of my desktop publishing days.

Inside, I lined the box with decorative parchment paper that I picked up at World Market.  I believe it was $1.99 for 20 sheets.

Fit it in there loosely with room for folding
over at the top.

Because I wasn't going to hand out all the cookies right away, and I didn't want to leave them all together in big Ziplock bags, nor out in the open to dry out and turn as hard as rocks, I got these cellophane bags with snowflakes on them at the Crate & Barrel Outlet as well.  They came with silver twist ties.

Packaged up nice and tight, away from air,
so they stay soft and slightly chewy.

Into the box they went, safely, ready to be delivered in up and coming weeks.  The packaging also helped to ensure no other breakage would occur.

An edible, wrapped present.

To finish it off, I closed up the box and put a large Christmas tag on top.  And that was it!  All done.

Fun and creative, start to finish.

Everyone loves homemade gingerbread cookies.  And you don't have to make them just at Christmas.  (I also made some Star of David for my Jewish pals for Hannukah.)  I'd like to make some for Valentine's Day.  Think of all the red, pink and white hearts!  Or Easter ones would be nice.  Eggs, bunnies and lambs.  Memorial Day and Fourth of July stars and flags!  October leaves and pumpkins!  I bet if you start practicing now, by the time next Christmas comes around, you'll be a royal icing decorator extraordinaire!

So don't let me hold you back.  I'm done writing for the day.  Be on your way.