Ginger Stars Recipes

Steps:

• For cookies:
• Sift first 7 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until well blended. Beat in molasses, egg yolk, orange peel, and vanilla. Add flour mixture and beat just until blended. Gather dough into ball. Divide into 4 pieces. Flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic and chill until cold and firm, at least 4 hours.
• Position racks in top third and bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1 piece of dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 2 1/2- to 3-inch star-shaped cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer cookies to prepared sheets, spacing 1/2 inch apart (cookies spread very little). Gather scraps and reroll dough, cutting out more cookies. Bake cookies 5 minutes. Reverse baking sheets; bake until cookies are puffed and look slightly darker around edges, about 5 minutes longer. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes. Using thin metal spatula, transfer cookies to racks; cool. Repeat with remaining dough pieces.
• For icing:
• Sift 1 1/2 cups sugar into medium bowl. Add 5 teaspoons water and vanilla; whisk until smooth. Whisk in more sugar by tablespoonfuls, if necessary, until icing falls thickly off whisk. Spoon icing into pastry bag fitted with 1/16-inch plain round tip or resealable plastic bag (cut tip off bag). Pipe icing onto cookies. Let stand until icing is hard, at least 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper.)

Steps:

• Beat the cream cheese, butter, granulated sugar, grated ginger and salt in a large bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix until combined. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and pat into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Wrap in the plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick rectangle, then fold into thirds like a letter. Roll out again to about 1/3 inch thick. Cut into stars using 1 1/2-to-2-inch cookie cutters and place 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the scraps and repeat. (Refrigerate the dough if it gets too soft.)
• Beat the egg and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl. Lightly brush the cookies with the egg wash, then sprinkle with the crystallized ginger and coarse sugar. Refrigerate the cookies until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until the cookies are slightly puffed and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 3 days.

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.

Steps:

• Heat the butter, syrup and sugar together in a small pan until melted, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.
• Mix together the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour in a large bowl. Pour in the buttery syrup mixture and stir to combine, then use your hands to bring together to form a dough. The dough will be soft at this point, but it'll firm up in the fridge.
• Put the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, shape into a rectangle, and lay another sheet of parchment on top of it. Roll the dough out to a thickness of ½cm. Transfer to a baking sheet to keep it flat, leaving the parchment in place, then chill in the fridge for 1 hr.
• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line a large baking sheet with more baking parchment. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. We used 9cm stars, but you can choose any shape. We also made some with smaller stars cut out of the centre to thread ribbon through and hang from a Christmas tree.
• Place the shapes, spread apart, on the lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 mins. (Depending on the size of the cutters you use, they might need a few minutes more or less cooking in the oven). Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet.
• Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp water - you want to create a consistency that's thick and pipeable, and not too thin or it will run. Decorate the cooled biscuits with the icing using a piping bag with a thin nozzle. Find out how to make a piping bag.

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.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine nuts, candied ginger, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and sesame seeds. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water over medium-high. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves, 3 minutes.
• Pour sugar syrup over nut mixture and toss well to combine. Arrange in a single layer on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake until nuts are golden, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool completely on sheet on a wire rack before breaking into bite-size pieces.