Mini Gingerbread Ornament Houses

This year I challenged myself and made these lovely miniature gingerbread houses! A fun twist on a tradition yet ornament size! Super fun and easy to make and the expressions from your friends when you gift them or when they see them on your tree is priceless!

TOOLS:
3-D mini gingerbread house cookie cutter from fancyflours.com about $9!
rolling pin
standing mixer fitted with paddle
measuring cups and spoons
parchment paper
large rimless cookie sheet
cooling rack
twine
pastry bag with writing tip
toothpick
candy decorations & sprinkles

INGREDIENTS
Gingerbread House:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses or dark corn syrup
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1-1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp water

Royal Icing:
3-3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1-2 large egg whites
1 tsp lemon juice or any extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

I used a 3D mini gingerbread house cookie cutter from fancyflours.com The final ornament house size is approximately 2.5"H x 5-5/8"D x 2"W. This clever little cutter makes 6 quick easy pieces that can be 'glued' together after baking. Then you just decorate!

In a stand mixer cream the butter, brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and baking soda until the mixture is smooth.  Blend in the flour and water to make a stiff dough. 
Chill at least 30 minutes or until firm.  

Roll gingerbread dough out on a large rimless cookie sheet over parchment paper.  Position the cutter to get as many houses as you can. Carefully remove the left over dough. With a toothpick carefully puncture a hole into the two roofline pieces. This will be for the twine to go through when you are assembling the house.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes until dough feels firm.
Cool for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to cooling rack to cool down more. 

Make the Royal Icing while the cookies are cooling.
Mix all of the ingredients together using an electric hand mixer until the icing is smooth and thin enough to be pressed through a pastry bag with a writing tip. Add more extract or lemon juice to thin, only if necessary.

Place royal icing into a pastry bag fitted with a writing tip and press out to decorate individual parts of house piping on candy decorations, windows, etc as desired. Let dry until hardened. 

Glue sides, front and back of house together at corners using royal icing. Place an object against the pieces to prop up until icing is dry. It only takes a few minutes.

 Run a piece of twine about 6-7" long to the two roofline pieces before you glue them together to the pitched roofline edges. Continue decorating the house, glueing on small candy pieces or sprinkles to your desired look. Silver dragees are very nice!

Once you are done with all the houses place in an area where they can be left alone undisturbed overnight before you handle again. Tie the twine.  Hang on tree!  As gifts, carefully wrap each with tissue and place in a beautiful holiday box! 

Merry Christmas!

Fall Leaf Cookie Wreath!

I love Fall...however in Los Angeles it's still an extension of Summer and as this past weekend hit the 3 digits (again!) I won't let the heat spoil my mood in hoping, wishing and praying for a little cool down.

Although the outside temps make it hard to turn the oven on and bake beautiful Fall treats without overheating the house, I mentally escape to earlier Fall trips back East as I put my apron on... 

...and being an early riser, the cool morning sunlight suits me well to happily turn the knob to 350˚!

A Fall leaf wreath composed of traditional Autumn colors is just right for the occasion. I use my favorite sugar cookie recipe and modify it by adding a Pumpkin Pie spice blend and brown sugar. Voila -  Fall Pumpkin Spice cookies! These fall-inspired cookies are an extra flavorful treat. Try this fun project with the little ones you are babysitting this weekend or better yet set this up at the kids craft table at Thanksgiving! It will be sure to keep them busy and out of the kitchen!

INGREDIENTS

3-1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

*1 tsp cinnamon

*1/4 tsp ground ginger

*1/8 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated if possible

*1/4 tsp allspice

(*optional - replace individual spices with 2 tsps of Pumpkin Pie Spice)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2/3 cup granulated (white) sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
red, yellow, orange, green & brown food coloring
1-2 cups confectioners sugar
3-6 tbsp water

TOOLS

rolling pin

leaf cookie cut outs, various shapes

2 cooling racks

2 baking sheets
silpat or parchment paper

standing mixer

rubber spatula
whisk

mixing bowls

measuring cups and spoons

round circle foam board cut out, about 14" wide and 2-3" thickness
1 x-acto blade
twine string for hanging the wreath

plastic wrap

orange ribbon enough to wrap around the cookie wreath and tie a pretty bow!

DIRECTIONS

Makes about 2-3 dozen various sized leaf cookies, final quantity depends on size of leaf cookie cutters used.

Preheat oven to 350˚

In a large bowl add flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix well with whisk to combine and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, slowly beat the butter until smooth then add both sugars and beat until fully combined and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and pumpkin puree and beat on low for about 1 minute.  Scrap down the sides of the bowl with the spatula to make sure all is mixed if necessary. Then, while the standing mixer is on low add the flour mixture slowly. Mix until all of the flour is incorporated and the mixture begins to ball up and pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Dump the dough onto a clean work surface and split the dough into 5 even pieces, as each piece will be colored with food coloring. Wrap each piece with plastic wrap first so the dough won't dry out. Dough #1 will be red. Place a few drops of red food coloring into the dough and with your hands begin kneading the dough. Add more drops of red if you want untill you have reached your desired color of red. Wrap the red dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator while you continue coloring the other pieces of dough with green, brown, yellow and orange. Make sure to wash your hands thoroughly in between the coloring of each dough as your hands will get stained and the color may transfer to the other doughs. When the dough has chilled for about 1 hour, break each colored dough into smaller pieces and place different colors next to each other (see images above). 

Place a piece of wax paper over the dough, this will help smooth the dough out and keep it together. Soon you will see multicolored cookie dough before you eyes! Place the leaf cookie cutters throughout the dough and place each cookie onto a parchment covered baking sheet. Afterwards I prefer to place the baking sheet with unbaked cutout cookies into the freezer for about 5-10 minutes before baking to help the cookies keep their shape while baking. 

Bake for 9-11 minutes till slightly golden but that may be hard to tell with the food coloring so don't leave the kitchen!

Create your own amazing color patterns!

After the cookies are baked and cooling on the cooling racks. 
Cut out the foam board wreath with an x-acto blade and tie the twine string on one end for hanging.

ICING
In a small bowl mix the confectioners sugar with 2-3 tbsp of water. Stir thoroughly until well mixed. The consistency must be thick like real glue. The icing will be the 'glue' for the cookies. 

Separate the cookies you will be using and carefully practice how and where you will place them on the wreath. Then 

with a small spoon add a teaspoon size of icing to the back of each cookie and gently press down against the foam board. Allow a few minutes for the cookie to set, then proceed with the next cookie. 

After you have added all the cookies and built your Leaf Cookie Wreath it is important that it is not moved. The icing on the wreath must completely dry so that the cookies do not break, move or fall off. Don't forget to add the twine before you add the leaves, so that you can hang the wreath!

After the icing on the wreath is completely dry carefully tie the orange bow and hang!

Happy Fall!

Whodunnit Halloween Cake!

A whodunnit mystery cake!

Get into the spirit and take a stab at doing this easy Halloween inspired cake!

INGREDIENTS

chocolate box cake mix
powdered confectioner's sugar
white store bought frosting
red and yellow food coloring
white fondant (find this at your local cake or craft supply store)
crisco

TOOLS
half 'ball' or sphere cake mold (I found mine on Amazon.com)

plastic knife from your local Halloween store

rolling pin
fondant smoothing tool
rolling mat with measurements

2" orange ribbon, about 24" long
2-3 pins to hold the ribbon

small and medium mixing bowls
round 9" cake board
frosting spatula
rubber spatula
kitchen butter knife
cake stand

Bake chocolate cake per cake box instrucions. When cake has cooled cut a bottom 1" layer for the base. Place the cake base onto the 9"round cake boad. This will help you transfer the cake to the cake pedestal later.
After you have cut the 1" base layer, carefully cut out a small round dome.

Scoop the white frosting into a mixing bowl and add a few drops of red and yellow food coloring until you get the desired shade of orange.  Frost the top of the cake base. 

Place the mini 'half dome' on top of the base layer and cover with frosting too.  

Add the larger 'dome' cake piece over the frosted layers. 

Add a thin layer of the orange frosting over the larger 'dome'. The frosting will act as the glue when the rolled fondant is placed over the cake.  Set the cake aside.

On a smooth clean surface sprinkle powdered sugar over the rolling matt with measurements. 

Carefully roll out the fondant using the rolling pin.  Roll from center towards out.

Roll to a smooth 10" round flat shape. The fondant should be an even 1/4" thick all around. 

Carefully and with lots of patience place your flat fondant over the frosted cake. Try not to tear the fondant as it tends to dry out. If it begins to dry out rub a small amount of Crisco into your hands and carefully smooth the tear out with your fingers.

Smooth out the fondant with your fingers or a fondant smoothing tool so it covers all the cake. Then with the butter knife carefully cut the edges to leave a clean edge.

Transfer the cake to your cake pedestal or cake plate. Wrap the orange ribbon around the cake and secure with pins by pinning against the cake. 

To make the blood. Place 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar into a small mixing bowl and with a few drops of red and a very few drops of water mix all until you get the desired color of blood and thickness consistency. Test the consistency on something else before you drizzle over cake. 

Take the toy knife and stab the cake, carefully. Drizzle strategically the 'blood' over stabbed area. 

Happy Halloween...now eat some bloody cake!

Summer Spa Popsicles!

Hello Summer!

Spa Popsicles are a cool, fun, summer-in-your-mouth popsicle loaded with summer fruit and a hint of herb flavor!

They make me want to be at a spa somewhere beautiful or an amazing resort poolside cabana!

These are great on a hot blistery day when the heat and humidity become unbearable and there's no pool or beach immediately in sight! Count on these lovelies to cool you down instantly!
Want another?

Lucky for you I've got a few no-fail easy popsicle recipes. All you need to worry about is making room in your freezer. Once you start making them you won't resist trying new flavors.

Naturally sweet, hydrating and not from a box!
 

TOOLS

popsicle sticks

popsicle mold - I used Non Pro Ice Pop Maker which you can purchase on amazon.com

medium size strainer

4 cup measuring cup or medium sized containder with pouring spout

blender

small 1-2 quart sauce pan 

Strawberry Hibiscus Popsicles
2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup hibiscus dried flowers
4 cups halved strawberries

Raspberry Lavender Popsicles
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp edible lavender
12 oz frozen or 4 cups fresh raspberries

Cucumber Lime Basil Popsicles

1-3/4 cups water

3/4 cups sugar

1 bunch basil

3/4 cup lime juice

4 cucumbers

Cantaloupe Mint Popsicles

2 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

1 bunch mint  
4 cups large cubed cantaloupe

DIRECTIONS

First make the herb simple syrup. Mine is less sweet whereas a true simple syrup is equal parts water to sugar. Tip: use coconut water instead of regualar water for extra hydrating benefits!

Herb Simple Syrup
Rub herb sprigs in your hands to bruise leaves and stems, then combine in a small 2 quart saucepan with water and sugar per each recipe as listed above. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved for about 2 minutes. Simmer for 1 minute. Then remove from heat and let steep, keep covered for 5 minutes. Pour through a strainer over a bowl. Discard herb sprigs. Let herb simple syrup cool down.

While the simple syrup is cooling, wash and cut the fruit and add to the blender, pour the cooled simple syrup and begin blending the mixture until smooth - don't forget to put the lid on the blender! Pass the mixture thru a strainer. Carefully pour the mixture into the popsicle mold filling each section. Cover and insert the popsicle sticks.

Freeze for minimum of 5 hours or overnight. Before trying to release the popsicles from the molds try running the bottom section thru running tap water to help loosen. Voila!

 Stay cool!