O CHRISTMAS TREE CARDAMOM GINGERBREAD TREES HANDS ON 45 minutes TOTAL TIME 2 hours 1 3¹∕4 1 1 1
¹∕2 ¹∕2 1
¹∕2 1
¹∕4 ¹∕4
cup butter cups all-purpose flour Tbsp. ground cinnamon tsp. baking soda tsp. ground ginger tsp. ground cardamom tsp. salt cup granulated sugar cup packed brown sugar egg cup milk cup molasses Royal Icing
1. In a 10-inch skillet heat butter over medium-low 10 to 15 minutes or until butter turns golden brown. Remove from heat. Pour into a large bowl. Chill until butter is the texture of softened butter. 2. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, and salt. 3. Beat browned butter with a mixer on medium 30 seconds. Add both sugars; beat until combined, scraping bowl as needed. Beat in egg, milk, and molasses. Gradually beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour mixture. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill 1 hour
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| December 2021
SPARKLING NO-BAKE WAFER TREES HANDS ON 30 minutes TOTAL TIME 1 hour 18 8
rectangular cream-filled vanilla wafer cookies oz. vanilla-flavor candy coating (almond bark), chopped Gold edible glitter or luster dust Coarse decorating sugar
1. Using a serrated knife, cut each wafer in half diagonally to make two triangles. Place wafer halves on a large wire rack over a piece of parchment paper. 2. In a medium saucepan heat candy coating over low until melted and smooth, stirring occasionally. 3. Place about 2 Tbsp. of the melted coating in a resealable plastic bag. Snip a small hole in a corner of the bag. On a piece of parchment paper, use the bag to pipe eighteen 1-inch stars. Sprinkle with edible glitter or let stand 30 minutes and brush with luster dust. 4. Dip the long uncut side of one of the wafer halves into remaining melted coating. Attach to another wafer half to form a tree shape, pressing gently. Dip edges of tree in coating. Return to rack. Sprinkle coarse sugar on wet coating. Repeat with remaining wafer halves. Attach stars using melted coating. Makes 18 cookies. PER COOKIE 99 cal, 5 g fat (4 g sat fat), 4 mg sodium, 13 g carb, 12 g sugars
3-D TREES
Turn our gingerbread cookies into a forest of standing trees to re-create our cover display or add dimension to a dessert buffet.
1 Roll out and cut cookies as shown (if your cutter has a tree trunk, cut it off so bottom edge is straight). Bake as directed, except immediately cut half the just-baked tree cookies in half vertically before cooling. 2 Using Royal Icing, decorate whole and halved cookie pieces as desired; let set. 3 Pipe or spread a line of icing vertically down the middle of a whole cookie and attach a half cookie to the icing; repeat on the other side. 4 Stand 3-D cookie to let set.
PHOTOS: (TREE SCENE) CARSON DOWNING, (TREE PIECES AND PIPING BAG) JASON DONNELLY
R E C I PE S F RO M PAG E S 1 34 –141
or until dough is easy to handle. 4. Preheat oven to 375°F. On a 15×12-inch piece of parchment paper, use a floured rolling pin to roll one portion of dough at a time to just slightly more than ¹∕8 inch thick. Using 4- to 5¹∕2-inch tree-shape cookie cutters, cut out dough, pulling scraps away from cutout trees. (If making 3-D trees, see directions, below.) Transfer parchment paper with cutouts to a cookie sheet. (This prevents cookies from tearing or stretching when you transfer them to cookie sheets.) Reroll scraps as needed. 5. Bake 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very light brown. Remove from cookie sheet; cool on a wire rack. 6. Decorate cookies with Royal Icing as desired. Makes 30 flat cookies or fifteen 3-D trees. ROYAL ICING In a medium bowl stir together 2 cups powdered sugar, 1¹∕2 Tbsp. meringue powder, and ¹∕4 tsp. cream of tartar. Add ¹∕4 cup warm water and ¹∕2 tsp. vanilla. Beat with a mixer on low until combined, then beat on high 6 to 7 minutes or until icing is very stiff. If necessary, beat in additional water to reach piping consistency. (When not using icing, keep covered with plastic wrap or a damp paper towel to prevent it from drying out.) Makes 1¹∕2 cups. PER FLAT COOKIE 212 cal, 6 g fat (4 g sat fat), 22 mg chol, 136 mg sodium, 38 g carb, 28 g sugars
