Christmas Tree Gingerbread Boys
The Taste of Christmas
17 December 2000 / The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer
By Jane Snow
Knight Ridder Newspapers
The dough is the color of old leather. It ripples under my rolling
pin, sending mahogany wavelets over the butter-yellow counter. Will
this stiff dough produce tender cookies, I wonder?
I scoop up the raw gingerbread boys with a spatula and gently put
them to bed on cookie sheets. After adding little star eyes and
buttons made from candied cherries, I half expect the adorable little
guys to jump off the counter and make a break for the door.
But the gingerbread boys stay put, and the cookies are tender. And
after an hour of baking, my house smells good enough to eat.
The cookies themselves taste of molasses, ginger, cinnamon and
allspice. They are crunchy around the edges and soft inside when warm
from the oven. They taste like Christmas.
The stiff dough is a chore to mix by hand, so lug out the heavy-duty
mixer. After rolling and cutting, punch a hole in the top of each
cookie with a plastic drinking straw. Later, you can thread ribbon
through the hole for the hanger.
I used tiny white candy stars for the eyes. Stars in a rainbow of
colors are sold in small jars in the cake-decoration section of the
supermarket. For the buttons, I used both bits of candied cherries
and round cinnamon candies. The candies make brighter buttons, but
they tend to melt around the edges and look messy.
The cookies become crisp as they cool, and even days later they taste
great -- as, unfortunately, I can attest. My cookies are stored in a
loosely closed container so they don't soften before it's time to
decorate the tree. With any luck, I'll have a few left.
GINGERBREAD BOYS
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 lg. egg
3/4 cup dark molasses
Candy stars, red cinnamon candy, candied cherries
Icing (recipe follows)
Combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg and
salt in bowl. Set aside.
In a large mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and molasses. At low speed, gradually beat in dry
ingredients.
Divide dough into thirds and knead briefly to eliminate any streaks
of flour. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and set aside.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 2 cookie sheets with vegetable
cooking spray. On a very lightly floured surface, roll 1 disk to
almost 1/4-inch thick with a floured rolling pin. Cut out cookies
with gingerbread-cookie cutter. With a spatula, carefully transfer to
cookie sheets.
With a plastic straw, punch a hole in the top of each cookie, about
1/16-inch from the edge. Apply stars for eyes (wet the backs to help
them stick). Use cinnamon candy or bits of candied cherries for
buttons.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not allow edges to brown.
With a spatula, carefully transfer to a clean dish towel and cool
completely. Repeat rolling and cutting remaining dough, rerolling
scraps.
Icing
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 pasteurized egg whites
Mix sugar until all lumps are gone. Add egg whites and beat on high
speed until very creamy. Add more sugar if mixture is too thin to
pipe. Spoon icing into a pastry bag fitted with a small, round
writing tip. Pipe hair, mouths and other decorations onto cooled
cookies. Let dry. Thread ribbon through the holes in the cookies and
tie. Hang on tree.
List of Ingredients
Instructions
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