We are thrilled to welcome Liz Marden & her daughter Kat Marden from Liz Marden Bakery & Cafe in Kennett Square, PA as guest bloggers for Behind-the-Plants! Liz and Kat created more than 8,000 gingerbread cookies, as well as two stunning gingerbread models of the Conservatory and the Peirce-du Pont House that are used throughout this year’s Christmas display. They share their “construction grade” gingerbread recipe below!
Construction Gingerbread Recipe
All Purpose Flour 6 ¾ cups
Ground Cinnamon 1 Tablespoon
Ground Ginger 1 ½ teaspoons
Salt ½ teaspoon
Light Corn Syrup 1 ½ cups
Light Brown Sugar 1 ¼ cups firmly packed
Butter 1 cup
Yield: 1 Gingerbread House or a lot of ornaments!
Gather your ingredients
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 F. Get all of your ingredients and measuring cups together. Choose cookie cutters!
Step 2: Sift flour, cinnamon, ginger, and salt and place in large bowl.
Combine corn syrup, brown sugar and butter over heat
Step 3: In a saucepan over medium heat, combine light corn syrup, brown sugar, and butter, stir. Do not boil – heat only until butter is melted.
Stir until well mixed and dough is formed
Step 4: Pour butter mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and stir until well mixed and dough is formed.
Step 5: Roll out gingerbread dough with a rolling pin on a piece of parchment paper* while the dough is still warm – if dough cools put in microwave for 45 to 60 seconds to reheat. This makes rolling much easier.
*Parchment paper is available at quality kitchen supply stores.
Cut out the cookies, and peel away excess gingerbread
Step 6: Using your chosen cookie cutter, cut out the cookies, peel away excess gingerbread from parchment paper and save to re-roll. If you are going to hang the ornaments, poke the holes now with a straw, taking away the excess gingerbread.
Create holes with a straw so that ornaments can be hung later
Step 7: Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch approximately 15 to 25 minutes.
To Decorate: We like to make royal icing the easy way – with meringue powder. Mix it up, make it any color then pipe away! We used a pastry bag with a #4 round tip. You can also use a plastic bag that zips with the corner snipped off.
Use royal icing to decorate
Royal Icing Recipe
Meringue Powder 3 Tablespoons
Confectioners’ Sugar 1 lb.
Water, lukewarm 7 Tablespoons
Combine meringue powder and confectioners’ sugar in bowl. Whip with electric hand mixer on low speed, adding water one tablespoon at a time. Then continue to whip on medium speed for 8 minutes until icing becomes stiff, but not too stiff to pipe. Keep royal icing bowl covered at all times with a damp towel to keep it from drying out!
Voila! Easy, homemade ornaments beautiful enough to decorate any tree!
Gingerbread men fashioned into a garland - at Longwood Gardens
I love this idea! But does anybody know: if these ornaments are sprayed on both sides with a clear varnish, can they be saved and used from year to year? I know that a lot of the gingerbread at Longwood was made starting in July–so it would seem that these could maybe be preserved in some way or another for a long time?
Great sounding, looking and idea – Liked it so much I gave full credit to you guys and shared with my readers as well. I do indeed love Ginger Bread folks. Thanks.
[...] Note: to see images/photos of these steps check out the article itself from Longwood Gardens. [...]
Hi Andrew! Yes, the ornaments can be saved from year to year, as long as they are kept in a sealed container away from insects and rodents, and are kept in a dry, non-humid environment. For the display at Longwood, we shellacked the cookies on both sides and used puffy paint instead of icing to decorate. Of course, this makes them non-edible. Hope you have fun making these at home! Please share some pictures on our Facebook wall if you do!
Thank you!