Gingerbread: House for the Kids,Crisp Cookies for Adults {Recipe}

A few days ago, I shared some of our holiday crafts. I told you that my pastry-chef sister Heather baked gingerbread house pieces for Lil to decorate. Our kitchen remains sticky from the amount of frosting and candy used on that house. What I didn't reveal are the ridiculously good spoils from the house-making: Heather gave us all the trimmings from the gingerbread walls. Rough in shape, but generally slender, these perfectly crisp cookies beg to be dunked in coffee or tea. I eat a few pieces a day for a mildly sweet, spicy, crispy snack.

Sugar-coated house for kids and refined cookies for the adults - what a sweet holiday tradition!

Crisp Gingerbread

Yield: 1 # 12 oz (enough for a good-sized gingerbread house or approximately 4 dozen cookies)

4 oz (1 stick or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter

4 oz (~ 1/2 cup) brown sugar

6 fl oz ( 1/2 cup) molasses

1 whole egg

12 oz (~2 2/3 cup) all purpose flour

1 teaspon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

parchment paper

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Add molasses and egg, beat to combine well
3. Stir together remaining ingredients in a separate bowl
4. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, beating until just blended (Dough will be very wet.  If making for a gingerbread house, you may want to add extra flour to enable an easier roll out)
5. Gather into a disk, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour (for easier rolling, freeze dough and then roll out as soon as pulling from the freezer. It will still be a wet dough, but easier to roll out)
6. Roll out to ¼ inch, using as much flour as necessary for easier rolling
7. Cut with floured cutter, or bake for gingerbread house **see note
8. Bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 350 until lightly browned and feels barely firm when touched

**To get clean lines for gingerbread houses:

•  First make a template out of cardboard or firm paper.  After freezing and rolling, bake before cutting out the pieces (this will work well if you roll the dough between pieces of parchment.  You can then just pick up the parchment paper, rather than trying to move the fragile dough).
• Bake partially, until the gingerbread is golden, but still slightly soft to the tough.  Pull from the oven and let cool for 3-5 minutes, or until you can cut the dough without tearing it.  Place the template on top of the dough and deeply score the desired shape with a very sharp knife (I like using an exacto knife).
• Let the dough cool entirely, then remove the excess gingerbread from the shape you cut out (wall, roof, etc.), you may have to cut the lines again, but it should be fairly easy to remove the excess gingerbread.
• After removing any excess, return the shape to the oven to dry out one more time.  You will want the gingerbread to be very firm before taking out of the oven.
• Let cool entirely and then assemble the house with a very thick royal icing (1 egg white whipped with enough powdered sugar to make a thick spread; add a splash of vinegar, or lemon juice, to help it to harden easier).  Decorate as desired.

PS. If you want to see some professional creations, I recommend the gingerbread house display at Easton Center on the second story of the mall near the AMC theater. Heather worked on The Pearl recreation with the Cameron Mitchell Catering group, pictured above.

PPS. I finally have a new laptop! After two months of scavenging time on shared computers, I have one of my own! It's taking a little time to set up all my preferences, but my first impressions of the Lenovo Twist are excellent.

The Lemon Meringue Pie Test

If there were a Homemakers Award system with a Home Baking merit badge, lemon meringue pie would be the final exam. This diner dessert requires mastery of a flaky crust, no-fall meringue, and tempered egg filling. These elements must be managed in quick succession so that they come together for a final bake before sogging the crust. Then, the whole thing must chill before service just enough that beads of moisture do not form on the meringue. In my first sitting for the lemon meringue exam, I failed.

First, the sides of my all-butter crust slumped during the blind baking stage. I deduced that the oven was not hot enough. A second crust in a hotter oven retained its shape.

I read the recipe for the filling a half dozen times. The process starts by dissolving cornstarch and sugar into solution and then one tempers egg yolks into the pot. Off the heat, the recipe calls for adding lemon juice and butter before pouring it into the shell.

This all sounded a little fishy to me - every lemon meringue pie I've eaten tastes like the filling is lemon curd and this cornstarch solution isn't part of lemon curd. Yet I persisted. I emptied our cornstarch jar with just a little less than the recipe called for but the yolks tempered beautifully. I timed every step and poured the 'isn't-that-a-little-runny' filling into the crust just as egg whites came to a stiff peak in the mixer.

I scraped the meringue over top, learning that why a piping bag would make that step much more efficient. Again, I followed the recipe to a T, spreading the meringue to touch each edge. I carefully transfered the pie to the oven.

Top browned, I removed the pie, noticing the top quaking like a leaf on a rippling stream. When would that filling set up? Perhaps in the cooling. The pie sat at room temperature and then on our chilly porch for four hours.

Carrying it over to friends', the filling was still a running river. When it was time to serve, our lovely hostess presented a knife. I asked for a spoon.

Of course, because the filling never set, the crust was a soggy mess too. The flavors were all good, so we ate the pie soup. Lil consumed only the meringue top to her piece - a choice I can't fault, as it was the only truly successful part of the dish. We forgot the delightful candied lemon garnish which could have pulled the pie into passing territory.

Someday I'll attempt making lemon meringue pie again. Until then, if you are looking for your Homemakers Award, I recommend anything but this recipe.

Really, Rugelach? {Wordless Wednesday}

Lil and I made Mrs. Wheelbarrow's rugelach for a cookie exchange last week. Lil loved rolling peach, blueberry peach, and sour cherry preserves with almonds in the rich butter and cream cheese dough. She even made her own creation, chocolate with no nuts.

The recipe is time consuming and made me break up with my food processor but the results are outstanding. This is the perfect cookie for me - not at all sweet but full of flavor from homemade jams. Mrs. Wheelbarrow's recipe also suggests a bacon jam version which a friend made and paired with scotch. Yum!

A Very Beety Birthday {Silent Sunday}

A walk at Darby Creek Metro Park with bug, bird, and buffalo watching + goodies from Pattycake Bakery and lunch from Los Potosinos + a family party with pumpkin beer tasting, awesome food and gifts + two Taysetee beet desserts = a lovely birthday for me!