Gingerbread People Holiday cookie projects: White snowflakes, dreidel trios, and ornaments

By daiseyduck

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand

Ingredients

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 cups or more confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon egg white*
• Raisins, as needed
• White chocolate chips, as needed
• Various food coloring
• Various colors of sanding sugar
• Equipment: Pastry bag fitted with small, round tip; cookie cutters in the shape of gingerbread men and women, dreidels, Christmas tree ornaments, and snowflakes; wire, string or yarn for stringing

Preparation

Step 1

Make the Gingerbread: In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix. Add the eggs and mix. Add the molasses and vanilla and mix.

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves together. Working in batches and mixing after each addition until just combined, add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture. Shape the dough into a thick disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease 1 or 2 cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out 1/4-inch thick and cut out with desired cookie cutters.

To make the Royal Icing: In a mixer, blend the confectioners' sugar, milk, and egg white together. Add more sugar to get a pipe-able consistency.

To make Gingerbread Men and Women: Use gingerbread man and woman cookie cutters and cut out the cookies, re-rolling the scraps as needed. Decorate them with raisins and white chocolate chips for eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons down the front. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan.

Meanwhile, add some festive colors to your icing with food coloring and lay out colored sugars in small glass bowls with spoons. Using a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe a few colorful borders or white borders and coat with sanding sugar. When set, add more lines of icing in white.