Gingerbread Houses

A belated Happy St. Nicholas Day!  Last night I got so wrapped up in celebrating, I didn’t have time to post.

St. Nicholas, who inspired Santa Claus, was known for his kindness and generosity, especially to children.  Many European countries celebrate his feast day on December 6.  It’s traditional for children to wake up that morning to discover small treats and gifts left by St. Nick.

When I was growing up, we celebrated the Belgian tradition of St. Nicholas leaving candy in children’s shoes.  Before heading to bed on December 5, my sisters and I would leave our school shoes (my dad would set out his biggest, tallest pair of snow boots) by the fireplace.  

This year I kept the tradition alive in a different way – I spent the evening playing with candy. For the past few years I’ve been decorating gingerbread houses for one of my bosses to give his grandchildren.  It’s become one of my favorite jobs.

gathering supplies, including the new chocolate molds my sister gave me last year

look at all the cute decorations

 

Dutch Windmill Cookies – kinda

This past week, as is customary, St. Nicholas and his helper, Black Pete, traveled by boat from Spain to Holland.  This year, as reported by a friend who lives in The Netherlands, the duo took an unscheduled plunge when the boat capsized on their way into Groningen (in northern Holland).  Luckily, the water was shallow, albeit icy, and no one was hurt.  Despite the drenching, tonight Dutch children will open gifts (I wonder what the boat captain will get?) and families will read poems they’ve composed for each other.

In honor of the soggy saint, I made a batch of what I call Polish Dutch windmill cookies.  The directions somehow got all mixed up in my head and being somewhat Polish, I didn’t think to look at the picture until after I had baked the cookies.  They’re a bit more pinwheel than windmill, but you get the general idea.  They still taste pretty darn good and isn’t that what’s important?

The link below will take you to the updated directions, which are a bit easier to follow than the instructions in the recipe book I have.

Dutch Windmill Cookies (from Land O Lakes)

¼ c sour cream

½ t baking soda

1 ¾ c flour

½ t salt

¼ t cinnamon

¼ t nutmeg

1/8 t ground cloves

1 c packed brown sugar

½ c butter, softened

sliced almonds

Heat oven to 350°F.

In a small bowl, stir together sour cream and baking soda. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Beat together brown sugar and butter until creamy.  At low speed, mix in sour cream mixture until thoroughly combined. Then, thoroughly incorporate flour mixture.

Again, I’m going to refer you back to the original website for directions on cutting and shaping the cookies.  

Bake the cookies 7 - 11 minutes, or until set and lightly browned and cool on the cookie sheet for two minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

As an aside, I found it easier to work with the dough after it had been chilled.  I put the dough between two sheets of waxed paper and rolled it into a square, as indicated.  Then I slid the dough and paper onto a cookie sheet and moved it to the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Good luck and Vrolijk Kerstfeest!

If you want to create pinwheels, here's what I did.

Cut the dough into triangles

Arrange the triangles on the cookie sheet

Press a couple sliced almonds into the center of the pinwheel (or windmill)

Chocolate Donuts with Vanilla Glaze

It’s funny how things stick with you.  My sister was born on December 3.  As a kid, she was very offended when Christmas decorations went up before her birthday.  There was an order to things – Thanksgiving, her birthday, then (and only then) Christmas. 

With kids of her own now, my sister is no longer a stickler for the no decorations before Dec 3 rule.  In fact, when I left her house after Thanksgiving weekend, her tree was already up.  I, however, can’t seem to forget the tradition.  It just doesn’t seem right to deck the halls until after her birthday.

Fortunately, it’s now December 4.  My tree is lit and decorated and I even found time to pull out some Christmas sprinkles and whip up a batch of chocolate donuts. 

Chocolate Donuts with Vanilla Glaze (adapted slightly from A Cup of Sugar . . . A Pinch of Salt)

Chocolate Donuts 

1 c flour

¼ c cocoa

¾ c sugar

1 ¼ t baking powder

½ t salt

½ c milk

1 egg

1 ½ T butter, melted

¼ c mini chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 425° F and coat a mini donut pan with cooking spray.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Add milk, egg, and butter and mix just until combined.

To fill the pan without making a huge mess, I found it helpful to put the batter in a sealed baggie.  Then I snipped off a small corner and squeezed batter into the cavities, about half full.

Sprinkle some chocolate chips over the poured batter and bake 4 – 6 minutes, or until donuts spring back to a light touch.

When the donuts have cooled, dip in the glaze.

Vanilla Glaze

1 c powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

3-4 T milk

Stir together powdered sugar, vanilla, and 3T milk until combined.  If necessary, stir in additional tablespoon of milk to desired consistency.

Baby Shower and a Frosting Tip

 And here is the final cake project of the month.  I made three dozen orange crush cupcakes (rememberthose?) with teeny, tiny gum paste toppers for a baby shower.

 

Because the toppers were small, I used fine point food coloring markers to add the details.

I also tested an AMAZING tip from Dollar Store Crafts that I discovered on Pinterest.  How on earth did I manage before Pinterest?

Generally, I don’t mind getting messy and sticky while playing with food.  It’s all part of the process. However, after the glow of another successful cake has worn off, dealing with a messy clean-up is another matter altogether.

 

Instead of filling the frosting bags, scoop the frosting onto a piece of plastic wrap.

Wrap the plastic wrap around the frosting and twist the ends closed (check out the video).

Put the coupler in the bag like you usually do and drop the wrapped frosting inside, pulling one of the twisted ends through the end.

Snip off the plastic tail and attach the frosting tip.

Clean-up is even easier – just pull the plastic out of the bag.  Genius!