Gingerbread Men

When I think of the holidays I think of gingerbread houses, hot chocolate, fires, snow, and sweaters. This year I decided to do something that I never do during the holiday season and make gingerbread men. I think that gingerbread men are adorable and something that the whole family can make together. I got the idea to make gingerbread men when I was at school with my friend, who just made gingerbread men in culinary class. After I ate one, I wanted to make some for myself. They were so easy to make and so much fun to decorate. I hope you enjoy my recipe for gingerbread men! Have a wonderful holidays season, and a happy new year!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:
1 cup icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
(food coloring is optional)

First sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.

Then, cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and molasses into the butter mixture, and mix all the ingredients together. Next, slowly add the flour mixture 1/2 a cup at a time until all the ingredients are combined.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When you are ready to bake your cookies, pre heat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch in thickness.  Using a cookie cutter cut out your gingerbread men, and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes or until the dough is set and the edges are turning brown. Let the cookies cool for about 30 minutes before frosting them.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together icing sugar, milk, vanilla, and food coloring together until thoroughly combined. Put the icing into a piping bag or a zip log bag and decorate your gingerbread anyway you want.

Let the frosting set, then enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

During the holiday season nothing sounds better than some sort of pumpkin dessert. On Thanksgiving I eat almost the entire pumpkin pie myself because when I think of fall, I automatically imagine a pumpkin. A few weeks ago I was craving pumpkin and bread pudding, and I came up with this recipe. It is so simple, yet it seems like it took hours to make. I hope you enjoy my recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding.

Ingredients
1 loaf Challah
1/2 stick melted butter
1 can of pumpkin purée
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon clove

Pre heat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. Cut the challah into bite sized cubes. Place the challah into a baking dish, (about a 2 quart baking dish) and drizzle with melted butter. Toss the challah and butter until thoroughly coated.

Next add the milk, cream, sugar, pumpkin, eggs, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and clove into a bowl and stir together until combined.

Pour the custard mixture on top of the bread until the bread is coated (there will be extra custard). Using a spoon, carefully mix the bread and the custard together so that the bread is completely covered. Let the bread soak for about 5-10 minutes.

Then put the baking dish into a larger pan and add about an inch of hot water into the larger pan. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and when pressing lightly the bread springs back.

Let the bread pudding cool down for about 15-20 minutes, then enjoy!