♥ Gingerbread Men..And Why Refrigerators Are Helpful ♥

Oh, gingerbread. Kind of amazing, aren't they? A toy, a decoration, and a sweet/spicy treat, they never seem to fail as the perfect winter cookie. Treated like a snack or the dessert to top off a heavy December dinner, they're winners with everyone...except, well, maybe themselves.

..Let me explain. These cookies, the first batch of gingerbread cookies I've ever made, were supposed to come out perfectly in my mind. They were made last minute for a holiday party with friends: a party that including the activity of decorating gingerbread men. The cookies were supposed to baked within an hour: baked and chilled in a measly half hour, then cut out in 5 minutes, then bake for 15 minutes, and cool for 10.
..Or so how it went in my mind.

Cruel, cruel reality was far from where my mind wanted it to be, giving me a big slap in the face when I realized this cookie baking process would take far longer than an hour. It took 45 minutes alone to make the dough after messing up the entire thing from the beginning...only realizing it right before I added the dry ingredients. Good bye, 3 sticks of beautiful, beautiful butter...

After that came my least favorite part of the process: adding the molasses. Being a baker-in-the-making, I'm used to sticky. I'm used to strong scents and smells. I'm used to waiting dreadfully long periods of time for sticky substances to poor into measuring cups and then waiting even longer for them to pour from the cup to the bowl. But molasses...it's the worst. It creates such magic, such beauty for the taste buds after it's been baked into a pastry, but beforehand... I can't. I just cannot stand the smell of molasses, no matter how pretty it is and how dark and alluring it looks. It's sticky, it's smelly, and it's slow: not something I'm typically in the mood for when I'm baking cookies that need to be at a party within an hour. It becomes even worse though after it's been mixed into cookie dough...creating a sticky mess in my beloved Kitchen Aid mixing bowl. Le sigh.

Now, say this were cake batter: cake batter is full of sugar, making it a sticky mess when it comes in contact with the counter or mixer parts. But that is not the case with cake: it goes from cake to bowl, with a possible spatula in the middle. Cookie dough, on the other hand, comes in contact with almost everything and anything: the bowl, the utensils, the table, your hands, the baking sheet, the cookie cutters...everything. This wouldn't be too big of a deal..if it weren't sticky as sin. When your dough is so sticky that it won't fall from your hand as you dangle a large chunk of it from your hand over the table..something must be wrong.

So of course, in my rushed-state-of-mind, my genius brain decides: oh Reanna, just use some powdered sugar! That always does the trick, it takes away stickiness and adds sweetness! What could possibly go wrong? You're even putting them in the fridge for a whole 15 minutes before you bake them, everything will work out just fine!

Yeah...no, no they won't.
My friends: this is what happens when you mix cold butter and eggs into your cookie dough, when you decide to roll it in powdered sugar (which causes cookies to spread when there's too much of it in a cookie) instead of flour before baking, and when you're in a rush so you only chill the dough for 15 minutes before baking.
I beg of you, all of you: learn from my foolish mistakes. Learn so that you do not one day open your oven, expecting beautifully shaped and browned gingerbread cookies because hey, they looked beautiful before they went in, and find that your hard, frustrating work has turned into a horrendous, puffy, fat mess, almost giving you a hernia and panic attack right in the middle of your kitchen.
Oh, did I mention that in the midst of all this, my kitchen was a disaster zone, I was a complete mess, and my beloved friends decided to pick me up early and come inside to get me in the process?
Yeah... not the best afternoon for CupcakeGirl, huh?

Everything, of course, worked out A-okay in the end. As..."unfortunate" (as a certain boyfriend of mine would say) the cookies turned out in looks, they came out marvelous in flavor; those warm fall spices created an amazing combination with the gosh-awful molasses, turning out a rich, soft yet chewy cookie, that paired great with milk chocolate chips. As my friends arrived, we through the rest of the darned-dough into a baking pan and sprinkled it with Hershey kisses, baking the dough as if it were a cake. We cut it like bars and served it warm, while the other already baked "cookies" were used in an Ugliest Cookie Decorating competition. Oh, did we all have fun with that.. (It really was not difficult to do with these cookies. What.so.ever.)

So, as I leave you with this probably now terrifying-sounding recipe on this cold January evening, don't be discouraged by my dreadful gingerbread man adventure. Alas, caused by my own stupidity, I disgraced this fantastic recipe, not following any of the helpful hints posted on the website and instead going by my own "intuition" (read: smartass-ness.) I've now looked through all the pictures of the successful attempts by other bakers on Allrecipes: all the cookies look picture perfect and neat, their gingerbread men actually resembling a "man". My suggestions for all of you now? Use SOFTENED butter and ROOM-TEMPERATURE eggs, roll your dough out in FLOUR, let it chill for AT LEAST THREE HOURS, and bake on separate, cold baking sheets as you go along. Another helpful hint I've also learned: put your ball of dough on one piece of parchment paper and place another on top. Roll out the dough using this method and save yourself the sanity I lost by trying to roll out sticky dough with a measly rolling pin. Trust me: you won't regret using that extra piece of paper at all.

♥ Gingerbread Men ♥
Adapted from Allrecipes.com: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/big-soft-ginger-cookies/
Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

Directions:

1. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. 
3. Roll dough out with flour onto a clean surface. Roll until about half an inch or so thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out preferred shapes and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before baking.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Bake the rest of the batch on cooled cookie sheets. Once cooled, frost, decorate, dunk in milk, or eat hot right off the pan: whatever your little heart desires.

Happy baking!

♥

♥Sugar Cookies♥

Like a handful of other pastries (ahem, cake brownies and pie), I've always had a sort of love-hate relationship with sugar cookies. As a child, the closest ones I ever had to "homemade" were the refrigerated Pillsbury ones; you know, the ones that came in a set of 12 with the little colored pictures on them. Unlike most cookies as a child, they never really "tickled my fancy": As I far as I knew, all sugar cookies tasted like the Pillsbury ones. They were (ahem: are) overly sweet yet bland, oily and chewy, nothing close to "fluffy and soft", always crispy. And, after I hit my health craze in 8th grade, I wouldn't even touch any Pillsbury products. I began despising all Hydrogenated oils, trans-fats, and artificial flavorings: everything the Pillsbury dough boy and his products are made of. It wasn't until this year that I finally discovered the sweet, fluffy, beautiful truth about sugar cookies. It was a revelation: they're actually edible and tasty too! Madness, no?

While it's been over 5 months since I've made these cookies (along with the handfuls of other recipes from summer), I feel the need to write about them anyway. Before this summer, I'd never made sugar cookies before and I was apprehensive: would they flatten in the oven and become gooey, oily messes on the pan? Would they be sweet enough? Too sweet? Would they be fluffy? I had no idea, and it didn't help that I had a package of Lofthouse sugar cookies sitting on my kitchen counter, laying around in their sweet, fluffy, dare I say, perfect glory. Typically I'm not a fan of most store bought cookies, but these... These are something else. The cookies are a bright, creamy ivory color, dusted with sweet powdered sugar. They're sturdy but melt in your mouth at the first bite, and  by themselves they're tasty enough. Then add on a smear of their colored frosting (which always matches the current holiday season), and wa-la: perfection. I could eat three, maybe four in one sitting if I wanted. They're unhealthily scrumptious, and with this in mind, mine had to be better.

I know it's ridiculous, absurd, and slightly unhealthy for my baking ego to attempt recreating processed, store-bought sugar cookies, made in a factory and probably filled with dozens if not hundreds of artificial flavorings, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, and sweeteners, but I couldn't help it. I never can: for muffins, for croissants, for breads and rolls and cupcakes and everything. Before processed pastries there were homemade ones, and if those were good enough for manufacturers to start mass producing, it's worth it to try my hand at making them.

 And I did, having great fun doing it. Have you ever seen those cute commercials, with a mom and her two kids, standing above their powdered-sugar covered table, rolling out cookie dough in those perfect little shapes? Well when I made them...it was almost as fun as it looked. The dough was a little sticky, but it was all good once it was rolled in powered sugar, making them that much sweeter. I cut out the shapes the old fashioned way, using round glasses dipped in more powdered sugar. The rolling pin and parchment paper made the process that much easier and refrigerating the dough overnight as the recipe instructed gave me a sense of assurance, letting me sleep easy at night knowing that the next day my cookies would not become oily puddles within my oven. When they were baked the next day, all my worries were baked away with them: out of the oven they came, perfectly circular and soft and sweet and full of loveliness. ☺

Now, I won't force you to use this recipe the next time you need a sugar cookie fix: I'll just strongly suggest using it. In addition to being one of the easiest cookies I've ever made, they're perfect for any of your sugar cookie needs: decorating them with your kids around the holidays, sending them to a distressed friend in need,  baking a batch to satisfy your family's sweet tooth, or just for the hell of it, because you can. They're sturdy but soft, which makes them perfect for frosting. Or, you know: for throwing a few sprinkles on top of them instead.

A few suggestions beforehand: make your dough, roll it out, and cut out your shapes the day before they're baked. Stick with rounder, more abstract shapes: even though they don't spread out, they do expand while baking and don't take well to intricate shapes like detailed snowflakes. "Gingerbread" men, snowmen, candy canes, Christmas trees, and simple snowflakes work out perfectly.

Sugar Cookies
Makes about about 1 dozen cookies

♥  1½ sticks of unsalted butter, softened (not melted; let sit out for about 2 hours before using)
♥ 1½ cups white sugar
♥ 2 eggs
♥ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
♥ 2½ cups all-purpose flour, bleached or unbleached
♥ 1 teaspoon baking powder
♥ ½ teaspoon salt
♥ Powdered sugar, for rolling

1.) ♥ In one bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt until just blended.
2.) ♥ In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes (with a stand mixer; for a hand held, 5 minutes). The mixer should be "fluffy" and creamy.
3.) ♥ Beat in  the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
4.) ♥ Cut out a piece of a parchment paper big enough to fit your cookie sheet. Place on large, clear working surface. Sprinkle powdered sugar over paper. Roll out dough on sheet with sugar, cutting out desired shapes. Cut out as many as will fit from first sheet, leaving about 1 inch between each cookie and pull excess dough from around shapes. Repeat with leftover dough on separate cookie sheet. 
5.) ♥ Refrigerate dough. I highly suggest letting them sit overnight, but if not, at least an hour or two before baking.
6.) ♥ Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake 6 to 8 minutes, making sure to check often to prevent burning and crisping from bottom. Remove from oven and slide cookies carefully onto cooling rack. Let cool and decorate the way of your choosing, or eat hot and fresh from the oven. ☺

Happy Baking!

♥

♥ My 28 Days of Holiday Cheer ♥

"I stand in the middle of my worn down living room examining the scene around me. To my right, my aqua colored sofa is covered in the belongings of my siblings. Their toys, dirty socks, crayons and Christmas wish lists lay scattered about the couch as well as on the small wooden table behind me. In front of me my TV stands, black and silent if only for a moment. Behind the TV on our cold, hard granite fireplace, stockings are taped all along the center. They hang empty, ready to be filled with little gifts and goodies in just a few days. As I look up, the lights are off but the room is still bright. My family’s gorgeous Christmas tree is shining, sparkling, bursting with color all around from its lights, flowers, and multicolored ornaments to the left of me. At my feet are just a few of the neatly wrapped gifts from the large pile I’ll be seeing soon on one of my favorite days of the year. The carpet is soft and the air is warm and sweet around me, filled with the aroma of cinnamon-scented pine cones my mother placed around the tree just yesterday. Christmas is just around the corner, and I am happy."

That little piece, written as the intro to an essay I wrote recently for my A.P. Language and Composition class, pretty much sums up my life right now. Today is the official start of my Winter Vacation, and life is good. I'm exhausted, but my exhaustion was worth my night of fun. After staying up until 2am Thursday night,  I finished everything I needed to do to prepare myself for my last school day of the holiday season. My necessary tasks? Baking holiday cupcakes!

..And baking cookies!

 ...And wrapping them!

...And making 60 candy grams!

...And wrapping gifts!

..And packing it all up in a Victoria's Secret Bag, because I like the Victoria's Secret bags.

("One Gift, A Thousand Fantasies." So classy.)

There was also the task of picking out my outfit for Friday. I mean, after dressing in Holiday colors the entire week, I needed a superb outfit to outshine all the others. And what a better way to do that than with red tights, an over sized Santa hat, red lipstick, and a fluffy green sweater?

No better way obviously.

Unless you add in a Christmas lights necklace.

 But that's far too ridiculous. Who in their right mind would do that?

Regardless, the candy grams were gratefully received, the cupcakes were happily eaten, and the gifts were gladly taken and (hastily) opened. People got smiles and laughs out of my outfit, hugs were given galore, and the people I cared about most were happy. Duty as an official Helper-Elf completed. ☺

In addition to it being the beginning of my winter break, it is also Day 17 of my 28 Days of Holiday Cheer! 

...

(Then the crowd pipes in and goes, "What's the 28 Days of Holiday Cheer?")

I came to a conclusion this year: Christmas is not the best day of the year. I celebrate it and yes, I enjoy it greatly, but it is not the actual day of Christmas that I enjoy the most. It is the buildup to the day that gets me all fuzzy and jovial and alive on the inside. Christmas is the measly 24 hours you're given each year to fit in everything that "Christmas" means to you: 24 hours to open presents, spend time with family, sing and dance to amazing Christmas music (read: Glee Christmas Soundtrack), pray or be thankful for everything you have, bake tons and tons of Christmas cookies, watch Christmas specials, etc., etc. No one has ever stated, however, that there is a law demanding these activities only take place on Christmas. Therefore, I'll enjoy the holidays before the actual day.

24 days before.

And 3 days after.

But not really after. The "holiday season" is called that for a reason: it is made up of more than one holiday, therefore I extend these days of cheer to the end of Hanukkah as well. Moreover, a handful of my dear friends are Jewish, so why not try and celebrate to see what all the fun is really about? (I may not be Jewish, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy freshly fried, crispy latkes. Or the sweet, silky taste of milk chocolate coins. Or hearing my Jewish friends sing Hanukkah songs loudly in the cafeteria while clapping their hands and dancing around. Or, even watching the Rugrats Hanukkah special [while in my pajamas and drinking hot chocolate. But that's just me.]) 

(The same also applies to Kwanzaa and the Proud Family Kwanzaa special as well. I know, I'm rather mature, aren't I?)

So in these 28 days, I celebrate the heck out of every fun experience of the season. In fact, I've even got a checklist for all of them.

Now that school is over, I've got much more time to focus on what really matters: becoming one with my Inner-Elf and getting all my elf duties done! This list of tasks includes, of course, a plethora of baking projects which probably won't be done by the holidays. But hey; I've got nothing else to do after the holidays either, so I don't see a problem.In addition to all my baking I've got to do (ahem: snickerdoodles, fudge, gingerbread, sugar cookies, challah, shortbread, apple pie; that's not even half!), this elf has lots of gift-buying and -making to do too! This process  is actually one of the best parts. Between seeing all the beautiful decorations around the malls, looking through all the holiday merchandise in the stores, and seeing all the busy people doing their holiday shopping too, nothing gets me more in my cheery mood.

But actually, I'll even go as far as to say that I actually enjoy giving rather than getting. There is honestly no better feeling than when you give a gift, and besides: I've got everything a teenage girl needs anyway. With my crazy family, my even crazier friends, my beyond crazy boyfriend, my demonic-but-adorable Maltese dog, and my pink Kitchen-Aid mixer...what else would I honestly need?

Well...besides a pink Kitchen-Aid food processor. 
..And maybe a new apron. 
...And maybe a few art supplies.
But really. I don't need anything else.

I'm serious. I really don't want anything.
Regardless of every single little (or big) material item I'd love to receive this year, I'm going to be as happy as can be this holiday season. This time of year only comes once, and instead of spending this time making ridiculous lists or staring in awe at my computer screen as I browse through gorgeous necklaces and beautiful scarves and shiny new food processors, er... I'll be going through my list, task by task, smiling as I go through and complete each one.
And hopefully, in the midst of doing all of this, I'll manage to spread a little bit more holiday cheer to everyone else too. 

Happy Holiday-Cheering! ♥