SoCalSteemit Holiday Delights: Show Us Your Holiday Delight 4

[socalsteemit]

The Holidays are here in SoCal and that means kitchens are in high gear.

Great food can put smiles on a bitter face. Since our group is local and all about building community, we thought the best way to build community is to get to know each other a little bit better. Every Saturday until December 24th, @socalsteemit will post up a holiday delight to share with everyone in the hopes it might make it to your table to enjoy!

What better way to get to know each other than to have you show us Your Holiday Delight. Use the tag #socalsteemit on your post and drop a link to your post in the comments of that week. After December 24th a conglomeration of all those yummy recipes will be shared.

All entries will receive a 100% upvote from SoCalSteemit!

This weeks Holiday Delight: Gingerbread Cookies

_{Petr Kratochvil, Free Stock Photo}

One holiday delight that has stood the test of time are gingerbread cookies. The shear amount of various objects that can be molded from the dough is limitless. Just as limitless are the various toppings that can be added. Building gingerbread houses are a past time family favorite. From gumdrops to candycanes, whole towns can be recreated with yummy goodness for the delight of all to see. Building gingerbread scenes is half the fun, devouring all that hard work is the major payoff. A recipe is included to allow you to mold and build your own gingerbread delights.

The Recipe is from FoodNetwork.com and is as follows:

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly milled black pepper
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg

Directions:

• Position the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

• Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt and pepper through a wire sieve into a medium bowl. Set aside.

• In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at high speed, beat the butter and vegetable shortening until well-combined, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses and egg. Using a wooden spoon, gradually mix in the flour mixture to make a stiff dough. Divide the dough into two thick disks and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours. (The dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.)

• To roll out the cookies, work with one disk at a time, keeping the other disk refrigerated. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature until just warm enough to roll out without cracking, about 10 minutes. (If the dough has been chilled for longer than 3 hours, it may need a few more minutes.) Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick, being sure that the dough isn't sticking to the work surface (run a long meal spatula or knife under the dough occasionally just to be sure, and dust the surface with more flour, if needed). For softer cookies, roll out slightly thicker. Using cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and transfer to nonstick cookie sheets, placing the cookies 1 inch apart. Gently knead the scraps together and form into another disk. Wrap and chill for 5 minutes before rolling out again to cut out more cookies.

• Bake, switching the positions of the cookies from top to bottom and back to front halfway through baking, until the edges of the cookies are set and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on the sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire cake racks to cool completely. Decorate with Royal Icing. (The cookies can be prepared up to 1 week ahead, stored in airtight containers at room temperature.)

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