Gingerbread Star Tree Recipes

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.

GINGERBREAD TREE RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, molasses and vinegar; mix well. Combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and chill overnight., To prepare star pattern: Trace each star size onto waxed paper and cut out. If you would like to preserve the patterns, copy them, cover both sides with Contact paper and cut out. On a lightly floured surface, roll a portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness; keep rest refrigerated., To cut out stars: Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut around star patterns. You will need a total of 33 cookies--two treetop stars; three each of stars 1-4 and 9; and four each of stars 5-8. Place 12 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Press a red-hot candy into the center of each treetop star; press red hot candies into points of the rest of the stars. In one number 9 star, make two indentations as shown on the pattern (to hold the treetop stars in place)., To bake: Place all cookies in a 350° oven and bake until lightly browned on the edges; 5 minutes for treetop stars; 8-10 minutes for numbers 6-9; 11-12 minutes for numbers 1-5. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks and cool completely., To assemble: Starting with star number 1, stack stars on the serving plate, staggering star points. For a natural-looking tree as shown in the photo at left, the sizes are alternated in the following order: 1-1-2-1-2-3-2-3-4-5-4-5-5-6-5-6-6-7-6-7-7-8-7-8-8-9-8-9-9 ( with indentations). Place the two tree top stars in the indentations, leaning back to back. Dust tree with confectioners' sugar if desired. To serve, pass the entire tree.

GINGERBREAD STAR TREE

Steps:

• Make star templates: Using a pencil and ruler, draw five-pointed stars in the following dimensions on waxed paper: 8-1/2 in., 8 in., 7-1/2 in., 7-1/4 in., 6-3/4 in., 6 in. and 4-1/2 in. Label each template with its dimensions. Cut out with scissors and set aside., Make dough: In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring brown sugar and molasses just to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; stir in butter until melted. Stir in eggs until blended. Combine the remaining dough ingredients; stir into brown sugar mixture. Divide dough into four portions., Make large stars: On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion to 1/4-in. thickness. Using templates, cut one 8-1/2-in. star, two 8-in. stars, one 7-1/2-in. star, two 7-1/4-in. stars, one 6-3/4-in. star, two 6-in. stars and one 4-1/2-in. star. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 12-15 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool., Make circles and small stars: Cut two circles using a floured 2-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Cut 12 circles using a floured 2-in. round cookie cutter. Cut two circles using a floured 1-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Cut remaining dough using floured star-shaped cookie cutters, re-rolling scraps. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool., Make icing: In a large bowl, combine 3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder and 5 tablespoons water; beat on low speed just until combined. Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Keep icing covered at all times with a damp cloth. If necessary, beat again on high speed to restore texture., Assemble: Using icing and round cookies, make one 2-1/2-in. sandwich cookie, six 2-in. sandwich cookies and one 1-1/2-in. sandwich cookie. Let stand for 15 minutes or until set. Place the 8-1/2-in. star on a serving plate. Spread a small amount of icing onto center of star; top with 2-1/2-in. round sandwich cookie. Spread a small amount of icing onto sandwich cookie; top with remaining 8-in. star. Let stand for 15 minutes or until set. Repeat with remaining icing, sandwich cookies and stars, building tree using the largest stars and sandwich cookies first. After each star is added, let stand for 15 minutes or until set., Decorate tree: Prepare a second batch of icing. Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag; insert a small pastry tip. Fill bag with icing. Decorate tree as desired with icing, candy and confectioners sugar. Decorate a 2-in. star cookie as desired; secure on the treetop with icing., Decorate small star cookies: Dip cookies in melted candy coating; place on waxed paper and let stand until set. Sprinkle white cookies with edible glitter. Leave some cookies plain if desired. Gently place cookies onto tree branches and on the serving platter.

GINGERBREAD STARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350degreesF. Remove half of cookie dough from wrapper; refrigerate remaining dough until needed.
• Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of flour onto work surface; coat sides of half of dough with flour. With rolling pin, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness, adding additional flour as needed to prevent sticking.
• With floured 3-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out dough stars. Gently brush excess flour from stars; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining half of dough.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• In 1-quart saucepan, heat baking chips and 2 tablespoons shortening over low heat about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chips are melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Dip half of each cookie into vanilla coating, allowing excess to drip off. Place cookies on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet; refrigerate until vanilla coating is set, about 30 minutes.
• To melt the baking chips in the microwave, place them in small microwavable bowl with the shortening. Microwave uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted. If the mixture starts to firm up while dipping the cookies, simply microwave 10 to 15 seconds to melt again.