Gingerbread Snowflake Weekend

Making the gingerbread snowflake cookies that will grace the outside of every single Trinity Christmas Cookie Box is a task that kind of eats up an entire weekend.

Every year, Cheryl, my dear friend and cookie cohort, and I consider making something else to decorate the boxes we sell to benefit Food Ministries at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. But, we always go back to the gingerbread snowflakes because in the end, the elegant and simple design can't be beat.


Even so, making them is one huge task that always tests my patience and concentration skills.

I'm glad to have the task completed because now it's time to focus on the more than 4,000 other cookies that need to be baked to fill the boxes.

Saturday 10 a.m.: The dough is made, chilled and ready to be rolled.

Saturday 2 p.m.: The cookies are baked and ready for icing.

Saturday 6:30 p.m.: The cookies are outlined with piping consistency white icing.

Saturday Midnight: I'm feeling really tired. With just three cookies left to fill, I ran out of icing. No matter, it's time to go to bed.

Sunday 5 p.m.: The details have been piped and the snowflakes are done. They need to dry before packaging so it's time for a dinner break.

Sunday 8 p.m.: All 123 snowflakes are packaged but it's still not time to stop thinking about cookies. On Friday, I will work with Cheryl and a team of volunteers to bake the more than 4,000 cookies still needed to fill the boxes. In the meantime, Cheryl is hard at work making 48 rolls of shortbread doughs and I have a few things to do in peparation for the big baking session. Stay tuned...

Gingerbread Snowflakes Underway

A cookie project like this kind of takes over the kitchen.

I just finished baking my gingerbread snowflake cookies. It's been a long morning but boy does my house smell wonderful!

I have half of the baked cookies set out and ready for the basecoat of royal icing. I hope to have them finished by this evening and will post pictures.

Here's my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe:

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.

Snowflake Cookies

These snowflake gingerbread cookies are so pretty and simple to make. This is a very good design for beginning cookie decorators.

I like the look of the dark brown gingerbread around the fresh white icing. I also love a cookie design that requires only two icing colors. If you wanted to get really fancy I suppose you could sprinkle sanding sugar over the piping detail but really there's no need.

Here's how to make them:

Bake snowflake shaped cookies.

Outline and flood the cookie with white royal icing. Use a skewer to move the icing and fill in all the gaps.

After filling the cookie give it a gentle shake to help the icing settle.

Let the icing dry before moving on to the next step.

With piping consistency blue icing and a #1 pastry tip, pipe a straight line across the snowflake.

Pipe another line.

And another.

Pipe three "v" shapes at the end of each line. Make the "v's" larger as you get closer to the center.

Finally, pipe a ring of dots around the center. That's it. Simple and sweet.