These pretty gingerbread cookies use cutters of assorted shapes and sizes to create fuse-baked inlays and lacy patterns that are combined with a fine piped white outline to add a delicate edge.
They make lovely favours for weddings, parties or as gifts. Alternatively, you can add name tags to your cookie favours to make wonderful place settings for your Christmas table.
This recipe is taken from Modern Gingerbread
ISBN: 9781782216735
Available from Search Press
RRP: £12.99
Gingerbread cookie favours recipe
You will need
Equipment
- Kitchen scales, measuring spoons and jug for weighing and measuring ingredients
- Sieve
- Saucepan
- Tablespoon
- Mixing bowl
- Ramekin used to contain and mix small amounts of wet or dry ingredients before they are added to a mixture
- Rolling pin
- Rolling spacers
- Baking parchment
- Silicone mat
- 65mm round fluted cookie cutter
- 20mm petal cutter
- 20mm five-petal flower cutter
- 20mm heart cutter
- 7mm heart plunger cutter
- 15mm and 5mm circle cutters
- Piping bags
- Numbers 1.5 and 3 piping nozzles
- Cookie bags and decorative ribbon
- Wire cooling racks
Edibles
- 1 batch of classic gingerbread dough
- Half a batch of shortbread dough
- White royal icing, piping consistency
Need a gingerbread and shortbread dough recipe? Check out the classic gingerbread recipe and shortbread recipe from Modern Gingerbread!
Method
1. Roll out a sheet of classic gingerbread dough using 3mm-deep spacers to give an even thickness on baking parchment or a silicone mat. Repeat to make a smaller sheet of shortbread dough. Gather the tools and cutters ready for use.
2. Using the round fluted cookie cutter, cut several cookie shapes, leaving at least 2–3cm (¾–1¼in) space between each shape. Use your choice of smaller cutters to remove sections of dough from each gingerbread cookie, which can be inlaid with shortbread or left empty to form various patterns.
3. To inlay some of the sections, use the appropriate cutter to cut the matching shape in shortbread dough.
4. Carefully position the matching shortbread shape into the space.
5. To build the pattern further, remove a shape from the shortbread dough.
6. Fill this space with a matching shape in gingerbread dough.
7. Finally, dot in small circles around the outside of the cookie using a number 3 piping nozzle to give a lacy effect.
8. Repeat this process using your choice of cutters to give different patterns. Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes until lightly golden brown on the edges.
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9. Once the cookies have cooled completely, pipe a scalloped line to follow the outline of the cookies, using a number 1.5 piping nozzle.
10. Once all of the cookies have been outlined and the royal icing has dried hard, place each cookie into a cookie bag and tie with a pretty ribbon of your choice.
Now why not try something a little sweeter? Head over to our easy sugar cookie recipe to make some delicious vanilla-flavoured cookies!