Gingerbread Bells Recipes

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:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
• In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
• Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter on medium-high until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Add egg and molasses and beat to combine. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat to combine. Form dough into 2 disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between floured parchment paper to 1/8-inch thickness. Stack dough in parchment on a baking sheet; refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes. With a 3 1/2-inch bell-shaped cutter, cut out dough (reroll scraps, if desired). Place cookies, 1 inch apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets.
• Bake until cookies are firm and edges begin to brown, 14 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.
• In a large bowl, using mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, egg whites, and cream of tartar on low until combined. With mixer on high, beat until icing is whipped and opaque, 4 minutes. Thin with water as needed to make a stiff but spreadable icing. Divide icing among bowls; tint with food coloring. Transfer icings to large separate zip-top bags and snip 1/8-inch hole in one corner of each bag. Frost cookies in one color, then pipe horizontal lines in a different color; drag a toothpick up and down through lines. Let sit until icing is set, 2 hours.