Goodies By Anna

Soft & Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies

Here is one last holiday cookie and it's a really good one! These Soft & Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies have a rich, deep molasses and spice flavor that is perfect for this cold winter weather. I rolled the balls of dough into some granulated sugar that I mixed with fresh orange zest.

When the cookies bake up they develop this frosty looking cracked coating that almost gives them a snow dusted appearance. The light refreshing touch of orange zest pairs especially well with the deep darker tones of the molasses. The cookies have a crisp edge with a soft, chewy interior. Make sure not to over bake or the cookies will be hard. Enjoy these cookies with a hot cup of tea or one of the last Gingerbread Lattes of the season! Here is how you can make your own.

You can find the entire recipe here. I added an Orange Essence Sugar Coating to mine. If you want to do the same this is how you make it:

Orange Essence Sugar Coating: In a food processor, process 2/3 cup granulated sugar with the zest of 2 oranges (around 2 Tablespoons orange zest). Pulse together until the mixture becomes a pale orange in color. Transfer sugar to bowl for rolling later. I also added 1 teaspoon of the orange sugar mixture into the cookie dough for a little extra flavor.

Cookie Dough: Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment or silpat and set aside. If you are not using the Orange Sugar Coating, just place 1/2 cup of granulated sugar for rolling in a shallow bowl. Set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter with the sugars (I also added 1 Tablespoon of the Orange Essence Sugar) until fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Add molasses and beat until well combined. Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated and no pockets of flour are left in the bottom of the bowl.

Using a tablespoon or a #50 scoop, scoop out dough and form into balls. Roll balls in granulated sugar or Orange Essence Sugar to coat and place on baking sheet. I used a #50 scoop and was able to bake 9 cookies per sheet. Bake the cookies for 10-11 minutes. Do not overbake or the cookies will be hard (I baked mine for 10 minutes). Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

 

 

Mini Gingerbread Men

Instead of the tradition large gingerbread man I made a bunch of tiny 1 1/2" mini gingerbread men and then dunked them into a bit of melted bittersweet chocolate.

These tiny gingerbread men are a fun sweet treat sure to please. Use your favorite gingerbread cookie recipe (I love this gingerbread cookie recipe) and start cutting! When the gingerbread men are baked and cooled decorate them with royal icing and then dunk them into some melted bittersweet chocolate.

I sprinkled a few candy snowflakes over the chocolate for decoration. What kid (or kid at heart) wouldn't enjoy getting a little bag of these sweet and spicy gingerbread men for Christmas? Happy Holiday Baking!

Vintage Christmas Postcard Gingerbread Cookies

I wanted to show you these beautiful Vintage Christmas Postcard Gingerbread Cookies that I made this year. These completely edible images are printed with edible inks on potato starch wafer paper.

The designs are cut out and adhered to royal icing covered gingerbread cookies with a light layer of corn starch. More royal icing is piped around the edges and sparking sugar tops them off. I also used a dusting of edible glitter for a more vintage Christmas card look. You can serve these on a tray at a party or wrap them individually and give out as gifts. You can find edible images here. And here is a previous post were i've gone into more detail about how to create these edible pieces of art for yourself. Happy Holiday Baking!

Eggnog Muffins

It's always nice to take a traditional holiday flavor and use it in an unexpected way like these Eggnog Muffins. These muffins bake up light and fluffy with a terrific streusel topping that adds a nice, satisfying crunch. For a little holiday glamour I sprinkled on some crystal sanding sugar for a touch of sparkle and sweetness. The flavor of freshly grated nutmeg adds a lot to the taste of these muffins so if you can grate your own it's definitely worth the effort.

If you want to use these pretty paper muffin molds that I used, place the paper molds on a Silpat lined rimmed baking sheet (no muffin pan needed) and only fill the molds a little over half-way full. I got seven muffins using these papers. You will get 12 muffins using traditional muffin papers and tin. These muffins can be baked in advanced and frozen for up to two months so bake some now and you can enjoy them anytime! Here is how you can make your own.

 

You can find the entire recipe here. Start by lining a 12 cup muffin pan with papers, this makes it much easier to remove the baked muffins and less clean up later. Set pan aside. Preheat oven to 375.

Nutmeg Streusel Topping: In a small bowl stir together 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 sugar and 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. Cut in 2 Tablespoons of butter until mixture resembles course crumbs. Set aside.

Muffins: In a medium size bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and freshly grated nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. In a measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, eggnog, melted cooled butter and rum extract. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened and lumpy.

Make sure there are no pockets of flour left in dough. Fill muffin cups about two-thirds full with batter. Top with Nutmeg Streusel to cover batter and press down slightly to adhere. I sprinkled a little sanding sugar on top for a little extra sparkle and crunch. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and cool on wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

Gingerbread House - 2011

I'm kicking off this holiday season with a festive gingerbread house! Each year I try to make my gingerbread house a little more elaborate and difficult that the year before, this years gingerbread house took a week to complete!

There are so many pieces that need to be carefully readjusted with a dremel (thanks dad!) and then iced together and left to dry before constructing.

To begin, I found a terrific haunted gingerbread house with a pdf template to download and a basic diagram for construction that I used for the pieces. Once all the pieces are cut out of gingerbread and baked, the construction begins with lots of royal icing to glue the pieces together. Canned foods are great for holding up walls while waiting for the icing to dry.

 

The window panes are made of crushed butterscotch candies that are spooned into the window openings of the baked pieces then placed back into the oven for another 15 minutes to melt and spread. Let cool in pan for several hours or over night before moving.

The wrought iron railings are made of royal icing piped onto a piece of mylar plastic set over a template. The icing is left to dry overnight and then carefully removed from the mylar and glued to the house using more royal icing. The potted plants are made of gingerbread dough that I squished into a few metal icing tips that I had sprayed with Pam and baked in the oven for around 15 minutes.

The little pieces come right out of the icing tips and my dad used a dremel to cut the ends off to make "pots" and carved out a little indent in the tops to fill with more royal icing. The "plants" are red and green candy covered sunflower seeds. The evergreen trees are sticks of rock candy with the sticks cut off the ends.

The supports for the porch and porch roofs are cut candy canes and round candy pieces. I hope this years gingerbread house will help inspire your holiday baking. Here is last years house 2010, and 2009 here and here, and my first house 2008. Happy holiday baking everyone!