Tonight was the big night of experimenting with recipes for gingerbread cookies sent to me by three readers.
It was a dramatic moment to see The Empty Man anticipating the spicy dough filling his belly while this baker gathered the ingredients, revved up the mixer and plowed into cookie dough heaven.
Rolling the the sticky mass proved the daunting task as, per directions, the depth of the dough becomes critical: More than 1/4 dough does not cook well enough, while less than 1/4 inch thick cookie men leads to broken limbs and (GULP) heads.
They entered the oven on their cooking stone. Oops. One of those men looks like he ate too much molasses…
Nine minutes later, the warm, brown cookies emerged, sweet smelling and enticing.
With the dexterity of a paramedic, I slid the still soft men onto the cooling rack with the kitchen “backboard”—a large spatula.
Envisioning a coating of sweet frosting to add the finishing touch, the ultimate question niggled at my wondering mind:
Would this be the winning recipe?
Come back on December 26 when the winner will be announced.
And have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!