'Tis the Season

Happy Holidays!

Every year at Christmastime I love to make gingerbread cookies. It reminds me of when we would go up to my grandparent's house and my grandmother would make us the best gingerbread men. We would help by eating the red hots. Instead of making traditional gingerbread men, I made gingerbread stars and decorated them with Royal Icing. Here's the recipe I used:

Gingerbread Cookies:

• 3 1/4 c. sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature, softened)
• 1/2 c. dark-brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c. unsulfured molasses

To make the cookies:

Sift flour into a large bowl, mix in baking soda and spices, set aside. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, add sugar and beat until fluffy. Mix in the egg and molasses. Gradually add the flour mixture. Mix on a low speed until all the flour has been incorporated. Be careful not to over mix or the dough may become stiff and hard to work with. Divide the dough into thirds and wrap each third in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. Before rolling out dough, let sit at room temperature for about 5 to 10 minutes to soften. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Place a third of the dough on a piece of lightly floured parchment or wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out to about a 1/8 inch thickness. Refrigerate again for another 5 to 10 minutes (this makes the cookies easier to cut). Using your desired shape of cookie cutter, cut out shapes and transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet. If you wish to use raisins, chocolate chips, red hots or other candies to decorate the cookies, do so before putting them in the oven. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp, but not darkened. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. Once cooled completely, decorate with Royal Icing. Let the cookies sit until the icing has hardened and enjoy!

Royal Icing:

• 4 egg whites
• 4 c. sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon extract (or any flavor extract, for this recipe I used orange extract)

To make icing:

Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add sugar and extract. Beat at a high speed until thickened. Makes about 2 cups.



While perusing the December 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine, I stumbled across a twelve-layer mocha cake that I couldn't resist to try out. It turned out to be a taste-bud tantalizing medley of chocolate and mocha buttercreams, nestled between layers of yellow spongecake, collapsed chocolate soufflé and hazelnut meringue. Yum. While this cake proved difficult to assemble, the end result was quite delicious. If you want to take a crack at it, you can fine this recipe in the December 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine or at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Twelve-Layer-Mocha-Cake-350916