gingerbreadpersons icing!

[Tash]

i have to make gingerbreadpersons (yes we have females as well!) for our choir concert next week- now this is ok, except last year i had no idea how to do the icing, so grabbed some random recipe and used a little plastic bag thingo to pour it through- the biggest disaster of my life!! (actually not quite the biggest disaster, me and a friend made the ultimate worst gingerbread cookies EVER- they were like ridicuously hard bran cookies BAD recipe!)

anyway, what's the best icing recipe that dries quickly and how do you do the whole squeezing it out through a little hole thingy so they can have faces??

[pianistimo]

it's been awhile since i've tried icing gingerbread, but what comes to mind is to use a little cream cheese with the confectioners sugar (and maybe a little lemon juice, egg whites, vanilla, to taste and consistency)  you have to experiment sometimes.  anyway, when it all tastes good - put it in the icing bag (with tip on - hahha i forgot one time) and put it in the refrigerator.  then, when the icing is cold, it goes on pretty well.

just conf. sugar and water doesn't have a thick enough consistency, imo.

[Mozartian]

What we usually use is confectioner's sugar + milk + a little vanilla.
Just enough milk to make it spreadable, and if you put it in the refridgerator for awhile it'll thicken up some, too.
Then you put the stuff in a ziplock lunch bag and snip the corner- VERY small corner- and squeeze merrily away!

[allthumbs]

i have to make gingerbreadpersons

I'm sorry, 'gingerbreadpersons' Not allowed!

"Run, run as fast as you can,
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"

[Appenato]

gingerbread men already?? so early?? they're a christmas cookie! it's barely december! 

anyway... i use the same type of recipe as mozartian gave... the consistency of the frosting isn't so thick as to being hard to squeeze from the bag, but isn't thin enough to not set, either. it's... just right. it doesn't set immediately, so i set the cookies in the freezer for a little bit before i store them in the tin. that sets the icing well enough. k... if this makes any sense....

[Tash]

coool thanks- i think part of the problem last time was i only put water with it so it was kinda transparent, and the hole in the bag was too big...but i have learnt my lesson!!

btw the gingerbread man was of course male, but if we must term them generally they must be persons!!

man i love the gingerbread man in shrek he's the coolest!!

and yes i realise it's a bit early for christmas but our chrissie concert is next week cos that's when uni officially finishes for the semester- some of us may be enthusiastic singers, but not enough to bother coming into uni in the hols!!

[allthumbs]

btw the gingerbread man was of course male, but if we must term them generally they must be persons!!

There are no gingerbread women! There are only gingerbread men, so you can't term them generally. Read the story!

man i love the gingerbread man in shrek he's the coolest!!

I agree.

Cheers

allthumbs

[lau]

I just wouldn't frost the gingerbread men. To make it actually look a little pleasant, you would need some practice at frosting. If you need a good gingerbread recipe try this:

INGREDIENTS:
1 (3.5 ounce) package cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, cream together the dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover, and chill dough until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets. On a floured board, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into man shapes using a cookie cutter. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.

Best Wishes,

Lau

[pianistimo]

this is making me hungry.  i'm upstairs and i can't get down.  everyone's gone and i'm starving.  i'm eating lint off the carpet. 

*actually, i can get down the stairs ok - it's just a lot of effort.

[Tash]

there are gingerbread women cos i made some last year! they wore little dresses!! so they're not in your story, but they're in mine
thanks for the recipe but we were all given one in choir to make sure we all had good safe recipes that won't poison the audience hahaha
pianistimo you should get a mini fridge for your upstairs- if you want to be like my dad put it in the bathroom and fill it with beer...hahaha

[Mozartian]

pianistimo you should get a mini fridge for your upstairs- if you want to be like my dad put it in the bathroom and fill it with beer...hahaha

LOL

[pianistimo]

oh, thanks!  actually the mini-fridge is a great idea.  i think some sandwiches or something before they all leave again.

[Tash]

i think some sandwiches or something before they all leave again.

that is the funniest sentence on the planet hahahaha