Photo Courtesy of oxmoor house
 

SNOW GLOBE COOKIES

Hands-on time: 1 hour Total time: 3 hours 45 minutes 
Makes 8 to 10 cookies

 

¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¾ cup molasses
¼ teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 large egg
3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
Parchment paper
1 recipe Royal Icing
Blue, green, red, yellow food coloring paste
White nonpareils, yellow stars, red sanding sugar

 

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low; whisk in brown sugar and next 6 ingredients. Place the mixture in the bowl of a electric stand mixer; let stand 30 minutes. Add egg, beating at low speed just until blended.

2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl; gradually add to the butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with a 4-inch snow globe cutter, reserving the remaining dough. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Create other desired shapes, like mini gingerbread men and trees, using mini cutters and the remaining dough. Place the shapes 1 inch apart on a separate baking sheet.

4. Bake the snow globe cookies at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks, and cool completely (about 20 minutes). Bake the mini gingerbread men, snowmen, and tree cookies for 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks, and cool completely (about 20 minutes).

5. Make Royal Icing. Separate the icing into 5 bowls. Add blue, green, red, and yellow food coloring to each of 4 bowls, one color icing to each bowl, leaving one bowl for plain white. Spoon each color icing into individual zip-top plastic freezer bags.

6. Snip 1 corner of each icing bag to create a small hole. Squeeze the bag to decorate using white icing to create the snow. Add white nonpareils, and let stand 10 minutes. Fill in the rest of the globe with blue icing, and place the gingerbread men or tree cookies on top, while the icing is still wet. Decorate the gingerbread men and tree cookies with icing and yellow stars. Sprinkle white nonpareils for falling snow effect; let stand 10 minutes. Add red icing to the base, sprinkle with red sanding sugar, and decorate with icing. Let the decorated cookies harden for 1 hour before serving or storing.

Royal Icing

Total time: 10 minutes

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
5 to 6 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
Food coloring paste (optional) 

 

1. Combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, water, and corn syrup in a large bowl. Beat at medium-low speed with an electric mixer 5 to 7 minutes. Divide and tint with food coloring, if desired. Icing dries quickly, so keep it covered at all times. Makes about 3 cups

Recipe courtesy of Christmas Cookie Swap by Oxmoor House.