Gingerbread Hearts

These Gingerbread Hearts are the perfect cookie decorating project for those who want to make cookies but want to start with something simple.

They come together quickly and the bonus is that baking them will make your house smell amazing and is sure to get you in the holiday spirit.

I made them using my favorite Gingerbread cookie recipe. The resulting cookies are soft and very gingery.

Use a small heart cutter to make them and then decorate them by just outlining and filling the cookies using medium consistency royal icing and a #2 tip. When I outline and fill small areas, I always use a thicker icing so that it's easier to control on the cookie. Aim for the consistency of yogurt. It isn't runny but is soft enough to not leave peaks and settles into place.

After filling the cookies you may need to use a skewer to scribe tool to move the icing and fill in all of the spaces. Give the cookie a gently shake to help the icing settle and that's it. Let the cookies dry completely before serving or packaging. 

Here are the recipes:

Gingerbread Cookie Dough
 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses

Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.

Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. With cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 10 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Royal Icing
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Food coloring, optional

In a large bowl combine meringue powder, water and lemon juice and stir until meringue powder is dissolved. Add powdered sugar and with an electric mixer on low speed, beat until evenly moistened. Then beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form. Divide and tint as desired and add water a few drops at a time to get desired consistency. 

Gingerbread People

These gingerbread people are cute, bright and fun to make. Creating them will make your house smell fantastic and inject you with holiday cheer.

I used my favorite gingerbread recipe and a 6-inch cutter to make them. After baking, I made a big batch of royal icing and just got creative and tried to give the gingerbread people a bit of personality. I hope you give these a try, it really is fun.

Here's my recipe for royal icing:

Royal Icing
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Food coloring, optional

In a large bowl combine meringue powder, water and lemon juice and stir until meringue powder is dissolved. Add powdered sugar and with an electric mixer on low speed, beat until evenly moistened. Then beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form. Divide and tint as desired and add water a few drops at a time to get desired consistency.

And, here's how I decorated the Gingerbread People:

I started off by using piping consistency royal icing to add hair to the people.

For the pants, I outlined the shape with piping consistency royal icing and added three dots for buttons. After letting the icing dry for about 5 minutes, I filled the pants in with flood consistency icing in the same color.

For the dress, I outlined the shape and stripe with piping consistency blue royal icing. After the icing dried for a bit I filled in the dress with flood consistency blue royal icing and then immediately dropped in the white dots and stripe using flood consistency white royal icing.

I added some red detail to the dress with piping consistency icing. I also outlined and flooded the feet with green royal icing and outlined and filled the face and hands with tan royal icing. Two drops of blue for the eyes and a red mouth finish her off.

For a raised effect like the little red button on this girl's pants, add the drop of red royal icing after the base coat has dried.

This guy's "v" neck sweater was made by outlining the shape of the sweater and the neck and arm stripes with piping consistency red royal icing and then immediately filling in the rest of the sweater with flood consistency green royal icing.