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After a bloody long and arduous semester, relaxation took its form in decorating as boy wonder and I made gingerbread men.
Oreo Cookies Gingerbread Special Edition Christmas Winter 2013 by Mike Mozart of TheToyChannel and JeepersMedia on YouTube.
Day 5 of the Advent Calendar, a gingerbread house made by Anna and me. It was such hard work, but she was really happy afterwards, so it was all worthwhile.
Laurel's finished gingerbread house. The door is a fruit leather; the chimney, a cereal straw. The alarmed-looking marshmallow snowman has a yellow stain of icing gel barely visible in the photo. Yeah, we're twisted like that.
We do not have gingerbread men in the Netherlands. They are so cute.
A gingerbread man is a biscuit or cookie made of gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized human, commonly male as the name suggests, although making other shapes, especially seasonal themes and characters, is quite common as well.
Gingerbread dates back to the 15th century, and figural biscuit-making was practiced in the 16th century. The first documented instance of figure-shaped gingerbread biscuits appearing was in the court of Elizabeth I of England. She had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the likeness of some of her important guests.
Most gingerbread men share the same roughly humanoid shape, with stubby feet and no fingers. Many gingerbread men have a face, though whether the features are indentations within the face itself or other candies stuck on with icing or chocolate varies from recipe to recipe. Other decorations are common; hair, shirt cuffs, and shoes are sometimes applied, but by far the most popular decoration are shirt buttons, which are traditionally represented by gum drops, icing, or raisins.
Something we did over the holidays...made our first gingerbread cookies. Lots of work, but they are really good.
This unique and incredible gingerbread display was designed and created by Executive Chef Ralf Bauer at Waikiki's Sheraton Princess Ka'iulani Hotel.
Chef Bauer and his team put in approximately 400 working hours which includes 96 hours of set-up time to achieve this splendid work of art. The village is made of:
80 lbs. of dark chocolate
20 lbs. of white chocolate
50 sheets of gingerbread
180 gallons of icing
Closeup of the gingerbread man towel for Favorite holiday tea towel swap. Pattern from the always awesome rectangel!
these gingerbread were dancing in a cafe window in Birmingham cute eh?? now which one do you like the most??
Oreo Cookies Gingerbread Special Edition Christmas Winter 2013 by Mike Mozart of TheToyChannel and JeepersMedia on YouTube.
.Oreo Cookies Gingerbread Special Edition Christmas Winter 2013 by Mike Mozart of TheToyChannel and JeepersMedia on YouTube.
One of my favourite childhood stories was "The Gingerbread Boy" (Ladybird Books, Well Loved Tales) - published in the 60's thereabouts). I was fascinated with the story of that little gingerbread boy who for no good reason, ran away from the grandmotherly care of the little old lady; only to encounter his demise at the hand of his arrogance and boastfulness.
The ladybird pocket edition was fascinating to me as a child. I loved the illustrations because the characters and animals looked real and mature - not "cartoonish" as so many editions are today.
I have fond memories of when my grandmother used to make these for me. She would make hers by hand (no cookie press!), using her fingers to shape the head, body, arms, legs, etc. and use raisins for the buttons and eyes. I was always excited on the days when she decided to bake ginger bread, and I would rush home from school at the end of the day to find a gingerbread man put aside just for me! Of course there was a method to eating these; beginning with the buttons, then lick the icing off, then bite the head off, then the arms, legs, and then the rest.. lol.
Of course, when I had kids of my own, I read to them the same story, although I opted for a much more updated and droll version ;-)
RECIPE
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sale
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup melted margarine, or vegetable oil
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups unbleached pre-sifted all purpose flour
Combine dry ingredients, mix well and set aside
Combine oil, milk, molasses, & vanilla and mix well
Add the dry ingredients, 1 cup at a time until dough begins to firm up. The dough should be smooth in texture yet stiff enough to handle without sticking to fingers. Add more flour if needed to prevent sticking. Turn out on a floured surface and roll to approx 1/2" thick. Cut into cookies and placed on a lightly greased and floured baking sheet.
Bake in oven 375° F oven for approx 10 - 13 minutes (do not overbake!). Remove from oven, and when still slightly warm, apply your decorations.
note: these are the ingredients for the kind of gingerbread I actually like to eat - the old-fashioned British stuff that's somewhere between fruit bread and cake, dense and spicy and moist. Not to be used for making candy-covered houses or cookies with tin cutters.
Ginger bread man:
You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread.
Isaac:
munch!
Gingerbread man:
Nooo. Ahhhhh
The end.
Day 1/365: I saw this when we made a pit stop at Harris Ranch on our way home from attending the Rose Bowl parade. My Sorority (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc) had a float in this years parade. This years theme was Dr. Seuss "Oh the places we will go". Our float, as well as many others, were absolutely amazing. I will be posting pics soon. Road trips are fun but very exhausting.
Laurel decorating a pre-assembled gingerbread house. Grandma did most of the icing; that trident-shaped icing visible at right is an espaliered tree.
for a December wedding. The couple wanted a "Gingerbread house cake". I wanted to play it up, and not take the "house" part so seriously. They let me have creative license, and this was the result! Chocolate buttercream icing, holiday candies, and hand decorated gingerbread cookie cake toppers,
oh, btw, if anybody ever wants to recreate this cake, make sure you do not put the candies on until THE DAY OF. I put one candy on the bottom tier the night before the wedding, because I suspected it wouldn't work. When I came in the next morning, the moisture of my refrigerator had caused the red to run off of the candy and down then cake. Then when I touched it, it stuck to my finger, and came off the cake with a neat little round of buttercream! Lesson learned, now I pass it to y'all!