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Cooking with children can be both an exhilarating and daunting experience. It takes the tact and diplomacy of a UN peace-keeping soldier, and more importantly, the patience of Jove. Each child must be given an equal amount of measuring / mixing / kneading / rolling / cutting / decorating time. And one must swallow years of cooking experience and not stamp their foot and cry “No…that’s not the way you do it!!”. I’m an adult. I can deal with it. Just ;-).

My little helpers for the day were Jaimie, who was celebrating her 9th birthday (hence the reason for the cookies - to eat at her party), and 7 year old Emma. We have cooked a few times in the past. Pre-blog days there was a purple marshmallow experience, which to this day is remembered fondly and with awe - “…it was sooooo sticky.”

Anyway, gingerbreads are such a great project for kids to undertake. The recipe is easy to follow and the fun bit is at the end when you have all the naked biscuits lined up in a row, waiting to be dressed and decorated. This is where the kids (…and adults!) can get excited and let their creative juices flow.

Gingerbread Dudes
2 cups plain flour (all-purpose)
0.5 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
0.5 teaspoon ground ginger
0.25 teaspoon ground nutmeg
0.25 teaspoon ground allspice
0.25 teaspoon salt
75g butter
0.25 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon milk

Gingerbread Dude Lemon Icing
1 cup of icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Finely grated rind of half a lemon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Into a bowl add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground allspice and salt. Stir well.

Melt butter in a small saucepan/in the microwave, allow to cool slightly and then add molasses, brown sugar, white sugar, milk and a large egg yolk. Stir well.

Combine two mixtures together, having faith that it will eventually come together (despite the fact it might look quite dry). The kids will enjoy this bit, using their hands to bring the mixture into a dough.

Pat the dough into a disc about one inch thick, cover with cling film, and place in the fridge for half an hour. Distract the kids with a couple of games of hide and seek, and then make some icing (just mix all the ingredients together, adding more lemon juice to thin if required. You want it the consistency of peanut butter - spreadable but not runny).

Once the dough has chilled, take half and place on a floured baking sheet. Roll out to 5mm thickness using a floured rolling pin. Use biscuit cutters (or whatever takes your fancy) to cut out some shapes, and then place on a tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Re-roll and re-cut dough scraps, and then start on the second half.

Cook for 12 - 15 minutes, or until gingerbreads are no longer shiny on top and have developed a little golden tan. Leave on the tray to firm up as they cool. With an 8cm cutter, this recipe should make around 20 gingerbread dudes.

Then comes the fun bit. Get thee to a table with excited children, cooled gingerbreads, icing, icing trowels, sprinkles, dragees and lollies, and just go sick! Once iced and decorated, allow gingerbreads to sit undisturbed for an hour to allow the icing to harden.

This is not a particularly strong tasting gingerbread, so it is ideal for little-r tastebuds.

Written by mellie on June 23rd, 2006 | Tags: Uncategorized | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL