Decorated Gingerbread Cookies

Remember my leaf problem? Well, thanks to Artie from Craigslist, my leaves have been blown and raked and bagged and are sitting on my curb waiting for pick up! And my yard (which I can finally see again) looks glorious!

And in honor of all those fallen leaves, I decided to make them into cookies. Where I worked in New York, I did a lot of cookie decorating. We had decorated sugar cookies for Christmas, for Valentine's Day, even for the NCAA basketball tournament and the Oscars. What can I say, we were a festive bunch.

But ever since moving and getting a new job, I haven't had the opportunity to further hone my cookie decorating skills and I really started to miss it. So I finally decided to bite the bullet and use a Williams-Sonoma gift card that had been burning a hole in my wallet for almost a year to buy some beautiful seasonal cookie cutters.

Ordinarily I would have chosen either a simple vanilla or chocolate recipe for these cookies, but I happen to know that Dan's twin sister loves gingerbread, and deserved something extra special after she valiantly came over the other night to remove a tick from our dog's head (because seriously, I was just not doing that on my own. Plus, she's a nurse and is therefore much more qualified to deal with anything related to tweezers and parasite removal. I shudder just thinking about it).

I've made gingerbread twice before this and both times were in the service of gingerbread houses. In fact, I've made probably close to 200 pounds of gingerbread dough in the last few weeks for the giant house we're creating at work. Seriously, the house is so big I can get into it, stand up, and probably raise my arms above my head, and could probably fit another two of me in there (and yes, at 5'2'' I'm pretty short). But, if you've ever made gingerbread strictly for a house, you probably know that it's not exactly something you'd want to nibble on after dinner. You'd probably break a tooth.

But this recipe for gingerbread cookies is the exact opposite. These cookies are soft and chewy, but sturdy enough to hold their shape through baking and stand up to decorating. I love the natural color, and think plain white icing with some sanding sugar would also look simple and beautiful. The flavor is also spot on for gingerbread, sweet and spicy.

I tried a few different designs when it came to decorating. Here are how to do two of my favorites. First, outline each cookie. By the time you finish outlining, the icing should be set enough that you can start flooding.

For the "hearts," I flooded the cookie in the same color as the outline, using "flood" or thinned icing and a toothpick to push the icing all the way to the edge of the outline. Then using a contrasting color or two, I added small dots right onto the wet icing. Use a toothpick and drag the end through the middle of each dot.

The second design I liked was a marbled look. Prepare two contrasting colors of thinned icing. Begin to fill in the cookie with one color, purposefully leaving lots of open space. With the second color, fill in as much of the empty space without overfilling the cookie. Use a toothpick to spread the icing out to the edges of the outline until the whole cookie is filled. Then, go back with your toothpick and marble the two colors together by dragging and swirling the toothpick through the icing until you reach your desired effect.

For some of the cookies, I went back and added a contrasting color outline and veins. I used Wilton gel colors in Orange, Christmas Red, and Green, and tinted each color with a little bit of brown so they weren't so neon. I'll be doing a post about royal icing that includes the recipe I use as well as some basic definitions and tips.

Gingerbread Cookies
Yield: About 20 3-5'' cookies

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
Royal Icing

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until soft and creamy.
3. Add the egg and molasses and continue to mix until incorporated, scraping down the sides as necessary.
4. Add all the dry ingredients and mix on low until just incorporated. The dough will look crumbly.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use your hands to form the dough into two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4'' thick. Cut into desired shapes. Space 1-2'' apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silpats and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
7. Bake cookies until crisp, but not dark, 12-14 minutes. Let cool on sheet pans, on wire racks.
8. Once cookies are completely cool, decorate with royal icing. Allow to set for a few hours or overnight.

Recipe Notes:

• Before pouring the molasses into a measuring cup, spray the cup with non-stick spray to make it easier to pour all the molasses out.
• Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for a few minutes before rolling. If you find it's starting to crack, simply press firmly on the dough with your rolling pin to condition it before rolling.
• Only re-roll your scraps once, letting the dough rest to avoid tough cookies.

From Martha Stewart

Cold Spicy Thai Noodles

Do you ever have that magical moment when you see a new recipe and realize you actually have all the necessary ingredients in your stockpile? For me, that was the case for my Dirty Blondies, but these Thai Noodles came pretty close too. Aside from the garnishes, I had everything I needed!

I'm sorry I didn't time myself while I made these because I suspect that in the time it took for the pasta water to boil and the noodles to cook, I had prepped all the garnishes and the sauce. Unfortunately, I still had to wait a couple hours for the noodles to chill, but let me tell you, they were worth the wait. Spicy and savory, but still refreshing thanks to the cool noodles, crunchy carrots, and fresh herbs. But make no mistake, this is spicy! It'll make your lips burn and clear out your sinuses.

Mmm, hurts so good

Cold Spicy Thai Noodles

Yield: Serves 2-3 as a main course; or 4-6 as a side

Ingredients:
1/2 lb spaghetti
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
Squeeze of lime juice
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1/4 cup peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions:
1. In a small sauce pan, combine both oils and crushed red pepper. Heat over medium heat just until it begins to bubble. Cook for another 2 minutes then remove from the heat. Let the oil steep while the pasta cooks.
2. Prepare spaghetti according to package directions. Strain and set aside.
3. In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk together the honey, soy sauce, and lime juice. Position a fine mesh strainer (or a strainer lined with cheesecloth) over the bowl. Pour the reserved oil through the strainer. Discard the chili flakes. Whisk the sauce until emulsified.
4. Pour the reserved pasta into the bowl and toss to combine. Refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.
5. When ready to serve, toss pasta with carrots, onions, and cilantro, and garnish with peanuts. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Recipe Notes:

• I used my vegetable peeler to get the long shreds of carrot.
• You could definitely add some cooked chicken, meat, or tofu to beef this up a bit and serve it as a main course.
• For a milder version, use just 1 tsp red pepper flakes.

Adapted from A Small Snippet

Dirty Blondies

I'd been craving something sweet for days, but couldn't settle on anything to bake. Did I want cookies? Some kind of bar? Maybe ice cream? As I was going through my pantry for inspiration, I pulled out a half-empty bag of white chocolate chips... that expired in August of 2010. Not ideal.

Not only was this a waste of chocolate, but I found three other bags of open goodies that were in danger of meeting the same fate! Since I couldn't figure out what I wanted anyway, I decided to dump everything that was already open into a bowl and hope for the best.

And the best is definitely what I got. A little nugget of chocolate or peanut butter in every bite, nice and dense, but chewy from all that coconut. Not to mention the crunchy, sugary graham cracker crust.

And of course, a drizzle of a little salted caramel sauce.

Oh yes. I went there. Totally optional. Except not really because this is absolutely necessary. Go out and get some (Mine's from Trader Joe's). You don't need to make it; you just made the most epic blondies of all time. Take a break. Get yourself a treat.

I had more than one of these after dinner. And no, I won't tell you how many more because it is OBSCENE. Someone come save me.

Dirty Blondies
Yield: 16 Blondies

Ingredients:
4 graham crackers
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup, plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used a mix of dark and milk)
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Salted Caramel Sauce (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9x9'' baking dish or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the graham crackers to make crumbs. Add 2 Tbsp granulated sugar and the 2 Tbsp melted butter. Process to combine. Press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes, until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool while you make the filling.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the remaining butter with both sugars until creamy and light, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
4. Add the eggs one at a time to the butter mixture, along with the vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until barely incorporated.
5. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate and peanut butter chips, and coconut. Spread evenly over reserved crust. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Set on a wire rack to cool. Cut into 16 squares to serve. Drizzle with caramel sauce, if desired. Store at room temperature.

Recipe Notes:

• This batter is very thick, more like cookie batter than brownies. Spread it gently into the pan so as not to break the baked crust. A small offset spatula works best.
• Try different combinations of mix-ins: pecans and coconut, all different kinds of chocolate, pretzel pieces and caramel chips, etc.
• Seriously, the caramel sauce is totally optional. These are delicious all on their own and there's already a lot going on with the chocolate, peanut butter, and coconut. The caramel sauce just takes them over the edge.

Adapted from my Blondies