Gingerbread Christmas Tree Decorations Recipes

GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6. Sift the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl.
• Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan then allow to cool slightly. Combine with the flour. Beat in the egg until all combined. Chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
• Remove from the fridge and allow to soften slightly. Roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin and cut out your stars. Re-roll cookie dough remains together to use all of the dough.
• Place on lined baking trays. If using to hang on your tree, use a skewer to make a hole. Bake in batches for 10-15 minutes until golden. As soon as you remove them from the oven, check the holes and remake any that have closed up in baking, while the gingerbread is still hot. Leave to cool slightly on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To decorate: Using a stand or hand mixer on a slow setting, make the royal icing by placing the egg white in a bowl and gradually adding the icing sugar to build up a paste. Add a couple of tsps water if it's too thick. Spoon into an icing bag with a fine nozzle and draw on your snowflake designs onto half the biscuits. Melt the chocolate and spoon into a piping back, decorate the rest of your snowflakes. Thread with string to hang on your tree.

GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat shortening and sugar together in a large bowl. Stir in molasses.
• Sift baking soda, ground cloves, ginger, cinnamon and flour together in a large bowl. Stir this mixture plus water into the sugar and shortening mixture, alternately adding the water and baking soda mixture to the shortening mixture.
• Stir until mixed thoroughly and refrigerate 6-8 hours.
• Cut dough into three equal pieces, knead each piece lightly and then use a rolling pin to roll out each piece to a 1/4-inch thickness.
• Use holiday cookie cutters made in the shapes of gingerbread people and houses to cut shapes out of the dough.
• Use a medium- to large-sized drinking straw or the end of a wooden chopstick to make a hole at the top of each shape. *Tip: make sure to really make a sizable hole (bigger than you think you need), as these do puff up in the cooking process, making the hole shrink.
• Put cookies on cookie sheets and bake for about 20 minutes. Turn oven off and allow cookies to cool in the oven. This will help harden the cookies.
• Place cookies on racks to completely harden. Place racks in a cool, dry place and let sit for two to three days.
• Coat cookies with clear acrylic or varnish and allow cookies to dry thoroughly.
• Paint cookies with acrylic paints as desired. Allow paint to dry thoroughly.
• Thread a 5- to 6-inch length of narrow ribbon or cording through the hole at the top of each ornament. You may have to use a toothpick to chip a little bit of cookie out of the hole if it has closed up a bit, before threading with ribbon. Knot ends and hang ornaments.

GINGERBREAD STAR TREE

Steps:

• Put the sugar, syrup and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then bubble for 1-2 mins, stirring. Set aside to cool for 10 mins.
• Tip the flour, bicarb and spices into a large bowl. Add the syrup mixture and the egg, stir to bring everything together, then gently knead in the bowl until smooth. The dough will feel a little soft, but will firm up once cooled. Wrap and chill for at least 30 mins.
• Remove the dough from the fridge and leave at room temperature until softened. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line two baking trays with baking parchment.
• Working with half the dough at a time (keeping the remaining dough well wrapped), roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut out 10-12 stars in descending size, re-rolling the offcuts if you need to. Arrange over the trays and bake for 8 mins until a few shades darker and puffed up a little. Cool on the trays for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Will keep, un-iced, in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
• Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick, pipeable icing. Transfer to a piping bag and decorate. Pipe a blob of icing in the middle of each biscuit and stack them to make a tree, sticking the smallest star on top, standing upright.