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Crafty Cookies
Gingerbread Fashion Plates
"Impress your friends!"
Pull
together:
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ginger
pinch nutmeg
pinch cloves
1/3 cup butter or shortening
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup light or dark molasses
1 egg
| Cream
shortening with sugar, beat in the molasses and egg. Sift flour with soda,
baking powder, salt, and ginger. Add to molasses mix and combine well. Chill
slightly if the dough seems too soft.
Roll out on a lightly floured board and cut into shapes with floured (important!) cutters, or a sharp knife. The thickness of the dough depends upon the depth of the cutters. If using a large cutter, you'll need about a half inch thickness. Lift all XL gingerbread shapes from the board with a wide spatula - to avoid loss of limbs or accessories. Bake cookies on greased baking sheets or pans. They grow when they bake - so allow elbow room on cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven, 8 to 15 minutes, depending upon the thickness. Remove from the pan while still warm and cool on a rack. Yield depends on sizes. Roughly 2-3 dozen. In keeping with our multi-era-millennium fashion theme. These cute cookies are good for all year round. Frosting
tips: (cookies, not hair) came from our decorating maven Miss Shannon of Brooklyn, New York's
Heavenly Crumbs (718-623-6271). First timers should use polyurethene pastry bags - as they
are easier on the hands. Frosting mix is available in most cooking supply
shops, and you mix up your own stylin' custom colors. Spend some time planning your
color schemes in advance, beacause you can change tips midway, but not bags. We
used up four bags, with four mix and match tips. Put those art school classes to use
and save a buck by blending your own primary colors (Red Yellow Blue - and
just how did green get in our bag?) to get the exact shades that you want.
Just like tie-dye, intense, darker colors (black, red...) require more pigment.
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