Gingerbread and Royal Icing

A friend of mine at work is a genius with gingerbread and icing. She makes the most amazing gingerbread houses! This week she was sweet enough to share her recipes with me!

Gingerbread Recipes

Gingerbread Dough I

6 ½ cups flour

2 tab ginger

2 tab cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Stir together, set aside

In bowl of mixer, add:

1 ¼ cups vegetable shortening

4 cups powdered sugar

3 tab lemon juice

2 tab molasses

2/3 cup light corn syrup

Mix until smooth.

Add flour mixture all at once. When crumbly, add ½ cup water plus 3-6 more tablespoons of water to form a firm, evenly moist dough.  You don’t want the dough to be too wet, so add extra water sparingly.

I take the dough out of the mixer before it’s fully combined and give it a few turns on the countertop to even it out. Cover and chill for 2 hours before rolling. Allow to sit for 15 mins on counter before rolling. 

Bake 375 for 15 minutes (give or take)

Makes enough dough for 1 large gingerbread house or many small ones.

*Adapted from Christina Banner’s book, How to Build a Gingerbread House

Gingerbread Dough II

6 ¾ cups flour

1 tab cinnamon

1 ½ tsps. Ginger

½ tsp salt

Stir together in large bowl, set aside

1 ½ cups light corn syrup

1 ¼ cups packed brown sugar

1 cup margarine

Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine corn syrup, brown sugar, and margarine in a 2 quart saucepan.  Stir over medium heat until margarine is melted. (No need to boil) Pour the syrup mixture into the flour mixture.  Mix well.  Child the dough for 1 hour or until it is room temp.

**If you need red or green dough, add the food coloring to the wet ingredients before mixing. This dough bakes well in colors.

Bake at 350 for 12-15  minutes (give or take)

Tips for rolling gingerbread:  If you have a silpat mat, place it on the counter. Cover with a sheet of parchment paper and roll the gingerbread atop it all. The silpat will keep the parchment from sliding around the you can easily move the sheets of parchment to baking trays.

Royal Icing

Royal Icing I (Meringue Powder)

3 TAB Meringue Powder

1 lb (4 cups) powdered sugar

5 TAB warm water

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy duty mixer or 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer)  Recipe makes 3 cups

Royal Icing II (eggs)

1 lb (4 cups) powdered sugar

3 large egg whites at room temp

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Mix all together as above.

Note:  Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.  The icing will be stiff.  Add water by teaspoons to obtain the consistency you want. Cover icing tightly with plastic wrap, as it dries very quickly. 

Cheeseburger Soup

This soup (from the Recipe Critic) was surprisingly delicious! I had my doubts, but it was sooooo good! I'm definitely making this again and again. I doubled the recipe and it made about 5 quarts of soup.

INGREDIENTS

• ½ pound ground beef (use 1 pound)
• ¾ cup chopped onion
• ¾ cup shredded carrots
• ¾ cup diced celery
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups of Velveeta processed cheese cubed (I used 16 ounces) or- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1½ cups milk
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ cup sour cream

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Brown the ground beef in 3 quart saucepan. Drain and set aside.
2. In the same saucepan add 1 T butter and add onion, shredded carrots, parsley flakes, basil and celery. Saute until tender.
3. Add the broth, potatoes and beef and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
4. In small skillet melt remaining butter (3 T) and add the flour. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to the soup and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
5. Stir in the cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat and blend in sour cream.

Cookie Butter Wontons and Ice Cream

Ingredients

• Speculoos cookie butter
• Wonton wrappers
• Ice cream of your choice

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F
2. Lay won ton wrapper flat
3. Spoon large helpings of speculoos cookie butter in the center and wrap/close the wrapper.
4. Place filled won tons on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, approx 6-8 minutes
5. Remove after crisped and let cool for 2-5 minutes.
6. Serve with ice cream, caramel sauce and powdered sugar.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

INGREDIENTS:

• 6½ pounds apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used a combination of Granny Smith and Fuji)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves (I used whole cloves. The cloves cooked down and broke up during blending)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place apples in slow cooker. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Sprinkle over the apples and stir gently to combine. Cook on low for 10 hours.
2. Stir in vanilla extract, breaking up any large chunks of apples that remain. Cover and cook for an additional 2 hours.
3. Remove cover and use an immersion blender to puree the apple butter until completely smooth. (Alternately, you could puree in batches in a food processor or regular blender.) If you want the apple butter thicker, you can continue to cook it on low with the lid of the slow cooker slightly ajar so that steam can escape.
4. Allow the mixture to cool, then spoon into jars and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Baked Tomato and Egg Cups

Ingredients

• 4 Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded (large Roma tomatoes)
• 4 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh herbs
• toasted bread for serving
• Shredded mozarella cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450º
2. Place tomatoes on a baking sheet. 
3. Sprinkle marella cheese in bottom of tomato and crack eggs in tomato.
4. Season with salt and pepper
5. Bake for 6-7 minutes if you like your eggs runny. 8-10 for soft set.
6. Remove from oven and top with fresh chopped herbs.
7. Serve as is or on top of a crusty piece of toasted bread.

Poached Grilled Cheese

Simple but delicious. Open-faced grilled cheese sandwich with a poached egg, topped with dill.

Butter Pecan Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 1¼ cup butter, softened, divided
• 2 cups chopped pecans
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup milk

Frosting

• 2 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 pkg (2 lbs) confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 Tb milk, as necessary
• extra chopped pecans for garnish, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour three 9″ round cake pans.
2. In a medium heavy skillet, melt ¼ butter over medium heat. Add pecans; cook until toasted and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Spread across sheet of foil to cool.
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine; set aside.
4. In a separate large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the flour (flour in 3 parts, milk in 2). Fold in toasted pecans.
6. Divide between cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing from pans. Cool completely.
7. FOR FROSTING: In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla. Beat in enough milk, as necessary, to achieve spreading consistency. Frost cake. Store in refrigerator.

Notes

You may not need to add any milk to the frosting if it is already soft enough.
NOTE: The cake batter itself seems to be based off the old-fashioned 1-2-3-4 cake (1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, and 4 eggs). That is if you don’t count the extra ¼ cup of butter used to toast the nuts. I wasn’t completely impressed with it, but I didn’t think it was bad (a tad dry). I will say though, if you have a favorite white or yellow cake recipe, you should use that instead and then follow the same step for making the toasted butter pecans, add them in, and absolutely use this frosting recipe. If you want to use your own TWO layer recipe instead of a three, then you’ll need to use less pecans, maybe just 1¼ cups would be perfect.

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars

Ingredients

For the Cookie Dough:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cup mini chocolate chip morsels
For the frosting:
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat softened butter with brown sugar until fully combined. Add vanilla and peanut butter, beat until fluffy. Add flour and sweetened condensed milk. Beat until everything is blended well. Fold in the mini chocolate chip morsels.
2. Press into an 8inx8in baking dish.
3. In a microwave safe, medium sized bowl, add peanut butter and chocolate chips for the frosting. Melt for one minute. Stir and spread over the cookie dough.
4. Refrigerate for 3 hours (or overnight). Cut into bite sized pieces. Store in a covered container for up to a week.