Saturday, December 10, 2011

St. Nicholas Day Cookies










Late, as usual! Sorry about that!

The paper outline I used is from here (print and cut), the recipe that follows is adapted from the Brown Bag Cookie Art recipe booklet I have. I went with the recipe I did because cookies made from highly detailed molds require very little to no rising or puffing, so that the detail is not lost - hence, no baking powder or baking soda, and a very controlled quantity of egg and butter compared to flour. You can use this recipe or others from their website whenever you need detail that will hold - I plan to use this kind of recipe for my gingerbread house this year. (As a digression rant - why on earth is there so much baking soda in the recipe "Making Great Gingerbread Houses"?? Why bother measuring, using stencils, etc. if the walls puff up and become asymmetrical... in a totally fixable way?? Remember my fiasco from last year? I have decided to totally blame the silly, over-leavened recipe and go ahead with my elaborate fantasy for my house this year and depend on the recipe below - stay tuned, it will of course be hosted here instead of Hosheana this time around!)

So, without further ado...

1/2 c softened butter - cream by hand with a wooden spoon in a bowl.
cream in: 1/2 brown sugar, then
1/4 molasses
add in:
1/2 jumbo egg, pre-beated (medium egg is okay)
now:
2 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
2 dashes cloves
2-3 dashes cayenne pepper (we like it spicey!)

375 d F x 1-12m.

The royal icing I use is 1 egg white, 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 1/2 c icing sugar, and just a dash of water. Beat the shit out of it. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer. You can also use an electric hand mixer. I don't recommend using manual power to make royal icing.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

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