The Most Wonderful Cutouts In The World Recipes

SPICED CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the molasses and egg. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the orange juice. Then stir in the orange zest.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters, and place them on an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, edges should be slightly browned. Cool cookies on wire racks.

THE MOST WONDERFUL GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
• In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
• Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
• Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
• Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
• Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
• Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
• Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
• Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
• Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
• Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
• Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
• After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
• I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing.

WHITE VELVET CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and the vanilla. Stir in the flour. Gather the dough into a ball and chill overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• On a lightly floured board, roll dough out to a thickness of 3/16 inch. Cut into desired shapes and place onto an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let cool. Leave the cookies plain or decorate with your favorite icing.

THE MOST WONDERFUL CUTOUTS IN THE WORLD

Steps:

• In large bowl, with heavy-duty mixer at medium speed, beat egg yolks and almond paste 2 minutes or until crumbly. Add butter, sugar and salt, and beat 3 minutes or until creamy. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour just until blended. On lightly floured surface, divide dough into 4 equal pieces; flatten each into a disk. Wrap each with plastic wrap; refrigerate 2 hours or until dough is firm enough to roll. Preheat oven to 375F. On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll 1 piece of dough 1/4 inch thick. With floured 3- to 4-inch cookie cutters, cut dough into cookies. Wrap and refrigerate trimmings. Place cookies, 1 inch apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough and trimmings. When cookies are cool, prepare Icing if you like; use along with sugars and candies to decorate cookies. Set cookies aside to allow frosting to dry, about an hour. Store cookies in tightly covered container with waxed paper between layers, if decorated, at room temperature up to 2 weeks or in the freezer up to 3 months. Icing: In bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat sugar, warm water, and meringue powder until blended and mixture is so stiff that knife drawn through it leaves a clean-cut path, about 5 minutes. If you like, tint frosting with food colorings as desired; keep covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out. With small metal spatula, artists' paintbrushes or decorating bags with small writing tips, decorate cookies with frosting. You may need to thin frosting with a little warm water to obtain the right spreading or piping consistency.