Gingerbread and Royal Icing

These two recipes are made to go together!

The gingerbread recipe makes soft, sweet, and spicy gingerbread cookies. And when you pair it with the royal icing, it's a match made in heaven. Or maybe in fairy-tale world.

My daughter made her annual batch of gingerbread cookies this week. Her recipe is from Martha Stewart, and it's fabulous. I didn't take pictures...I think I was taking a nap while she was baking.

Honey Gingerbread Cookies

ingredients:

5 1/2 cups flours
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (if you use salted butter, cut the salt back to 1 teaspoon)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Beat the butter and sugar together in your mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the honey and molasses.

Using your mixer's low speed, add in the flour mixture gradually, beating just until the dough is combined.

Divide the dough into three portions, wrap each portion in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat your oven to 350°.

Roll out the dough and cut into shapes. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned at the edges.

Cool before decorating.


Royal Icing

This icing is the perfect match for these cookies. The pristine white icing against the brown cookies brings out the gingerbread goodness visually, and the light sweetness brings out the rich spicy flavor.

The easy way to make this icing is to use this:

No worries about using raw eggs, no fuss, and no muss.

Pair it with some confectioners, or powdered sugar, and you're all set.

ingredients (makes 3 cups icing):

3 Tablespoons Meringue powder
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tablespoons warm water (at our elevation, about 3500 feet, we use 7 Tablespoons water)

Beat all ingredients about 7-10 minutes, or until stiff peaks form.


To decorate the cookies, you can use decorating bags with tips, or you can use a plastic zip-lock bag with one corner snipped off.

I used the bag with the snipped corner until Carrie bought herself some decorating bags.

(Just another one of those things I'm going to have to buy for myself when she moves out!)

Another tip - get one of these glasses. I think it's called a Pilsner glass. It's the perfect size and shape to hold your decorating bag while you fill it with icing. :)

So now that the decorating bags are filled and the cookies are ready, it's time to grab a handy boyfriend and get to work.

Josh and Carrie look like they were having a good time, aren't they?

Wait until the icing is dry, and you have gingerbread perfection.

Enjoy your gingerbread and your Christmas week!

From my family to yours, may your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white!