Chocolate Ginger Leaves And Acorns Recipes

Steps:

• Reserve 48 chocolate chips. In a microwave, melt remaining chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Spread the flat side of each kiss with a small amount of melted chocolate; immediately attach each to a cookie., Secure one reserved chocolate chip as a stem onto each acorn. Place on waxed or parchment-lined baking sheets; let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, cocoa, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
• Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg, molasses, and grated ginger; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.
• Halve dough; shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic; refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 325°F. Working with one disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft at any time, freeze until firm.) Cut out shapes with 3-inch acorn- or leaf-shape cookie cutters; space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Score designs with a paring knife; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm, 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Whisk together flour, cocoa, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
• Cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.Add egg, molasses, and grated ginger; mix until combined. Add flour mixture; mix on low speed until just combined.
• Halve dough; flatten into two disks. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour. Transfer disks, one at a time, to a lightly floured surface; roll out to 1/4 inch thick. (If dough gets soft, freeze until firm.) Use3-inch acorn or leaf cookie cutters to make shapes; place 1 inch apart on sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Score designs with a knife; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are firm, 11 to 13 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Place racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. Put the turbinado sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside.
• To a large bowl, add the granulated sugar, butter, oil, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt, and whisk to combine.
• Add the molasses and egg to the bowl, and whisk until smooth. Add the flour and baking soda, and stir with a rubber spatula until a few streaks of flour remain.
• Add the chopped chocolate and cherries, and stir until well-combined and the flour is completely incorporated and no longer streaky.
• Portion the cookies into 24 balls that are roughly 2 tablespoons/35 grams each, roll them in the turbinado sugar, and place them on the prepared baking sheets, 12 cookies per sheet.
• Bake the cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, rotating the sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through, until crackly on top but still quite soft in the center. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheets, then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the flour, cocoa, ginger, butter and sugar in a processor, and whizz until you can't see any lumps of butter. Dribble in the syrup and pulse to a smooth dough.
• Take about a quarter of the dough at a time and roll out between 2 sheets of baking parchment to the thickness of a £1 coin. Peel away the top layer of parchment and use cookie cutters to make shapes - leaving about 2cm between each shape as they will spread as they cook. Peel away the dough trimmings and lift the parchment with the shapes onto a baking tray. Bake for 12-15 mins until firm. Remove from the oven and use a plastic straw to make a hole for hanging. Work quickly - if the biscuits cool and harden too much, the holes won't be as neat - then pop the tray back in the oven for 1 min to re-warm.
• Continue rolling and shaping all the remaining dough and trimmings while you bake a tray at a time, until all the dough is used up and you have at least 24 biscuits. Cool completely, then decorate and string up as you wish.
• To make number bunting: Cut your biscuits into triangles using a template - ours was 7cm on each side. After baking, cut two hanging holes in the middle of one side. Use number cutters (or cut out with a small sharp knife like we did) to stamp out 1 to 24 from a sheet of ready-rolled icing. Make runny icing by mixing some sifted icing sugar with a dribble of water. Use small paintbrushes to paint the tops of the icing numbers with some runny icing before dunking in their favourite coloured sprinkles and edible glitters. Leave the numbers to dry for 10 mins, then use more runny icing painted on the bottom of the numbers to stick them to the biscuits.
• To make sparkly snowflakes: Stamp your biscuits out using different snowflake cutters - cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk have pretty ones. Decorate each biscuit differently by painting some with runny icing (see instructions above), then dunking into edible glitters and sprinkles - it's easiest if you tip them onto a small, flat saucer first. Add more icing sugar to your runny icing to make a stiffer consistency, spoon into a piping bag and pipe on pretty details. You can pipe a number onto each with this icing too, if you want.
• To make biscuit baubles: Make a stiff-ish icing using fondant icing sugar this time (this results in a shinier finish). Then thinly pipe around the outsides and holes of each biscuit. You're making a 'wall' to hold in the other icing, so make sure you don't leave any gaps. Leave to set for 30 mins until hard. Make more icing of a slightly runnier consistency. Pipe or spoon the icing onto the biscuits, 'flooding' the area inside your icing 'walls'. Shake a little to evenly spread the runny icing, then immediately use the remaining stiffer icing to pipe on a number. These biscuits will need at least a day to harden before hanging. For step-by-step instructions on 'flooding' icing, see Edd Kimber's Fancy iced biscuits (see 'goes well with')

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in medium bowl.
• Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg, molasses, and grated ginger; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.
• Halve dough; shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic; refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft at any time, freeze until firm.) Cut out shapes with 3-inch acorn- or leaf-shaped cookie cutters; space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Score designs with a paring knife; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm, 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.