Gingerbread House

388.  Christmas isn't Christmas for me without lots of baking and new cookie recipes to try.  I often give my cookies away as gifts or hostess gifts when we are invited to a party.  It has been years since we made a Gingerbread House so it was time.  

I have a great recipe that has been tried and true over the years and it did not fail to produce again.

When the dough grows cool, I place it into the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up.  This helps with the rolling-out process.  And...we learned on Tasty to cut out the door and windows but not to remove them from the piece.  You can watch the video here:  Tasty The Ultimate Gingerbread House

 We also crushed Jolly Rancher candies and placed them in the openings to create a glass effect.
Tasty also suggested using brown paper bag as an additional support for the roof to stay together and in a peak.  Great idea!!

Meringue powder was a great way to make our icing glue.

 My daughter was the decorator while I baked other cookies.  The process was long but so worth it.  The house turned out perfect.  We place twinkle lights inside to illuminate the candy windows.

"I thought maybe we could make gingerbread houses, and eat cookie dough and go ice skating and maybe even hold hands."...

~the movie "Elf"

GingerBread Cheesecake Bites

248. I saw this recipe while on Pinterest one day and it looked delicious...so I bookmarked it for my Christmas baking.

I organized all my recipes and began to read the recipe on "Created By Diana" Blog for Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites. My dissapointment came when I read the ingredients: 1 30oz package Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough. Awe! really??? I can do better than that!

So, I went to work developing a gingerbread cookie dough that would be more like a crust and less of a ginger snap. And here is what I came up with:

GingerBread Cheesecake Bites

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup powder sugar

1 tsp molasses

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp clove

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/4 cup flour

4 oz cream cheese

2 cups powder sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix butter and powder sugar together and cream for 3 minutes. Add the molasses, spices and flour. Mix till dough comes together and forms ball.

Roll into 2 teaspoon size balls and place into a paper lined mini muffin pan. Make an indentation with a cookie press dipped in flour.

Mix the next ingredients together, cream cheese, powder sugar and vanilla, till smooth. Place in a piping bag. Pipe 1 teaspoon filling into each of the cookie cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Cream cheese filling will begin to rise. Then remove to a rack to cool. Store refrigerated in a sealed container.

The cookie dough is so delicious, it would make yummy gingerbread ball cookies too!

"Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread."

~William Shakespeare

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

190. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas morning homemade Cinnamon Rolls. (recipe here)

Homemade Gingerbread Cookies (recipe here)

My sister gave me a Dachshund cookie cutter and I was so excited to use it. I just added a little bit of dough as the ear.

I always under bake my gingerbread so it stays softer in the center.

I like to make other shapes with my gingerbread dough...stars and holly leaves.

...and little men.

And here is a picture of our Christmas Roasted Chicken with cranberry mushroom stuffing.

Have a beautiful holiday with your family and friends!

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."

~Roy L. Smith

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!"

~Hamilton Wright Mabie

"Great little One! whose all-embracing birth
Lifts Earth to Heaven, stoops Heaven to Earth."

~Richard Crashaw