Any Home Bakers Here?

[sunflour]

Yesterday I made Christmas ornaments with cinnamon sticks...they sure smell good. Something about this time of year and warm spices always put me in a holiday frame of mind.

Sounds interesting, would you post a picture of one?

 

[N F C]

They're little Christmas trees made with cinnamon sticks, bits of evergreen garland, twine (holder) and buttons. One of the rare times I actually already had all the pieces to make something. Easy to do (other than the hot glue gun...always burn myself with that). I made 4 of them in about 30 minutes.

And they smell great!

 

[sunflour]

They're little Christmas trees made with cinnamon sticks, bits of evergreen garland, twine (holder) and buttons. One of the rare times I actually already had all the pieces to make something. Easy to do (other than the hot glue gun...always burn myself with that). I made 4 of them in about 30 minutes.

And they smell great!

Really nice. I'm planning putting a skinny tree in my kitchen, and these would be fantastic. Got loads of buttons and fake garland…

gotta get some cinnamon sticks…looks like you flattened them?

Those glue guns are mean…somehow I always touch the hot wax..ouch!

 

[sunflour]

Flock Block update:

Yesterday scooped out one pan of stuff and packed in a disposable aluminum pie plate, but left the other in the baking dish. Placed both in fridge. Today, they are more solid….but had to chip the one out of the baking dish because it stuck horribly to the bottom of the pan..

Wish I had removed and molded both last nite.

Went back to the recipe source and found the discussions about the recipe …..should have oiled the pan. I think it would have turned out well if had not had to chisel it out.

Gonna give some to the hens today….bet they won't care if it is in chunks and just placed on the treat tray.

And for me, just took a gingerbread (from a mix) out of oven….and I get to eat it today.

 

[N F C]

Really nice. I'm planning putting a skinny tree in my kitchen, and these would be fantastic. Got loads of buttons and fake garland…

gotta get some cinnamon sticks…looks like you flattened them?

Those glue guns are mean…somehow I always touch the hot wax..ouch!

These would be cute on a skinny tree! I didn't flatten the sticks, I just put the side where the rolled edges are on the back side (made them lay flatter and easier to work on that way). And yeah, look out for the glue gun, I have real nice blisters on my thumb and finger from yesterday. Darn stuff is HOT, lol.

 

[N F C]

Flock Block update:

Yesterday scooped out one pan of stuff and packed in a disposable aluminum pie plate, but left the other in the baking dish. Placed both in fridge. Today, they are more solid….but had to chip the one out of the baking dish because it stuck horribly to the bottom of the pan..

Wish I had removed and molded both last nite.

Went back to the recipe source and found the discussions about the recipe …..should have oiled the pan. I think it would have turned out well if had not had to chisel it out.

Gonna give some to the hens today….bet they won't care if it is in chunks and just placed on the treat tray.

And for me, just took a gingerbread (from a mix) out of oven….and I get to eat it today.

Lucky hens, I'm not going to tell our girls what yours are getting today because ours would be jealous.

I picked up 2 cookie cutters today to make gingerbread men and women. Anyone have a good recipe I could try?

 

[sandesnow]

Serves: 36 Yield: 36 cookies Ingredients:
Units: US
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon clove
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
1 In a medium saucepan, heat sugar, molasses, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves to boiling, stirring occasionally.
2 Remove from heat; stir in soda (it will foam up).
3 Stir in margarine till melted.
4 With a fork, stir in egg, then flour.
5 On a floured surface, knead dough till mixed. Divide dough in half, wrap half with plastic wrap; set aside.
6 Roll half the dough, with a rolling pin, slightly thinner than 1/4 inch.
7 Cut with cutters.
8 Bake at 325F on a cookie sheet for 12 minutes; cool on a wire rack.
9 Makes about 3 dozen 3" gingerbread people.

10 NOTES: I copied the recipe exactly as written. The flavour of these guys is a big seller for me. I rolled the dough out as thin as dared on parchment paper, (pretty thin.) pealed them off and transferred to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I baked for 9 minutes at 325. They reminded our family of gingersnaps and everyone loved them. I got a mix of Large snowmen, med. gingerbread men and med. stars.. Total cookies about 48.

This is great dough for gingerbread houses too.

**DO NOT REFRIGERATE FOR LATER USE with this recipe, it will dry out and be hard to work with if not used right away. Also, not a great recipe to double unless you have the time to use all the dough up.

Royal Icing for Decorating: This is a fairly fast drying very thick icing, adjust thickness by add 1/2 Tbsp water at a time for a thinner icing.

3 Large Egg WHITES
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
4 cups Icing sugar

 

[N F C]

Serves: 36 Yield: 36 cookies Ingredients:
Units: US
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon clove
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
1 In a medium saucepan, heat sugar, molasses, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves to boiling, stirring occasionally.
2 Remove from heat; stir in soda (it will foam up).
3 Stir in margarine till melted.
4 With a fork, stir in egg, then flour.
5 On a floured surface, knead dough till mixed. Divide dough in half, wrap half with plastic wrap; set aside.
6 Roll half the dough, with a rolling pin, slightly thinner than 1/4 inch.
7 Cut with cutters.
8 Bake at 325F on a cookie sheet for 12 minutes; cool on a wire rack.
9 Makes about 3 dozen 3" gingerbread people.

10 NOTES: I copied the recipe exactly as written. The flavour of these guys is a big seller for me. I rolled the dough out as thin as dared on parchment paper, (pretty thin.) pealed them off and transferred to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I baked for 9 minutes at 325. They reminded our family of gingersnaps and everyone loved them. I got a mix of Large snowmen, med. gingerbread men and med. stars.. Total cookies about 48.

This is great dough for gingerbread houses too.

**DO NOT REFRIGERATE FOR LATER USE with this recipe, it will dry out and be hard to work with if not used right away. Also, not a great recipe to double unless you have the time to use all the dough up.

Royal Icing for Decorating: This is a fairly fast drying very thick icing, adjust thickness by add 1/2 Tbsp water at a time for a thinner icing.

3 Large Egg WHITES
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
4 cups Icing sugar

Thank you so much sandesnow! I'm going to try this. I have bread occupying my table and baking sheet right now so might not get to do the cookies until tomorrow. I will be sure to let you know how they turn out!

 

[N F C]

Really nice. I'm planning putting a skinny tree in my kitchen, and these would be fantastic. Got loads of buttons and fake garland…

gotta get some cinnamon sticks…looks like you flattened them?

Those glue guns are mean…somehow I always touch the hot wax..ouch!

Do you have a Wal-Mart close by? Yesterday I saw a large plastic container of cinnamon sticks there, the brand was Badia, and I think the price was about $5. They had smaller containers too for around $2. The store I saw them at had their Badia spices in with the ethnic foods (not the other spices).

If you do make some of these ornaments, I'd love to see them! Homemade ornaments are the best.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I don't like gingerbread, I am not really a fan of cookies with molasses.
If you would like a change of pace try these:

Ginger Roll Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
1 egg
2 1/3 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Mix all the wet ingredients until creamy.
Sift or mix all dry ingredients together and add to creamed mix.
Chill for at least one hour.
Roll out. For small crispy cookies, roll thin.
Bake at 350°, about 10 min.