I went by the National Arboretum on Saturday to check out the Conifers and Bonsai in the snow (we got a whopping three inches on Thursday). Me and my buddy had almost the entire arboretum to ourselves. Was pretty great.
I had abut 1/3 cup of gingerbread cookie dough left so I decided to use it as a tart crust.
Just press the dough and form it into the tart pan. Pre bake it at 350F for about 5 minutes.
While its baking prepare the filling:
1/2 cup Creme Fraise
1/2 brick of cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup of raspberry preserves
1 teaspoon of Pomegranate molasses
NOTE: these portions are meant to fill an 8″ tart tin. For 11″ increase ingredients by 25% (except for egg).
Blend filing until smooth and pour into pre baked shell. Bake tart for approximately 25 minutes or until Raspberry filling is consistently baked (no shiny/wet looking center).
Cool, chill and serve!
With two thirds of the gingerbread dough I created I rolled out and cut 15 ornaments for my christmas tree. Gingerbread ornaments are awesome. I dont think there is a single thing more christmas like (other than perhaps a christmas tree) than gingerbread men.
(If you choose to make some ornaments don’t forget to poke a small hole in each prior to baking). I ended up decorating my ornaments with royal icing (2 egg whites, 3 cups powdered sugar and1/2 tsp cream of tartar) and silver Dragees (size 4).
One thing I forgot to do to these cookies is coat them with an egg wash. it gives the cookies (ornaments) a nice mellow golden brown color and also makes the royal icing stick to the cookies surface easier. Egg washs are simple just combine one or two egg yolks (depending on how many cookies youre making) add a tablespoon of granulated sugar, beat until fully combined, and brush on to the surface of the unbaked cookie.
I love gingerbread. I love gingerbread houses and gingerbread ornaments and gingerbread flavored drinks etc…
So I sat down and decided to make some solid gingerbread dough. The one thing I hate about gingerbread is the chilling period when working with the dough. I have searched and searched for a recipe that doesn’t require chilling yet produces decent results. Unfortunately, I haven’t found one… and I haven’t had time to create one. So, I used a really simple script from foodnetwork.com to start out with. This dough created 15 ornaments and an 8inch tart crust (although you could probe stretch it easily to 11 inches).
Im not feeling so great so naturally for lunch I went to the new Gelato place next door (Pitango) and got the most amazing gelato Affogato. Cinnamon gelato with two ‘shots’ of their ultra dense hot chocolate (chocolate has medicinal benefits right?). So good. so creamy.
If im feelin better tomorrow ill grab a traditional affogato with cardamom gelato… sounds kinda perfect.
Photograph by Clint Thompson.