Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gingerbread

Help me make gingerbread friends!

pinksoftsoap — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:03:57 -0800

Calling all bakers: I need much help! I have convinced myself to pursue what may be a too-ambitious project for the holidays, that is, baking gingerbread men and women decorated to look like my friends. I do not bake. HOWEVER, I am quite crafty and creative otherwise. (This is a surprise so I am on my own.) I am hoping to make about 20 cookies (one per friend), slip them in little plastic baggies and give them out as gifts. I have many questions that google offers too many answers to:

1) What is the yummiest gingerbread cookie recipe you have ever baked/tasted that would still be able to hold a gingerbread person form? Taste is important - I have had really cool looking cookies from the bakery that taste like sawdust.

2) Where can I get affordable cookie cutters/decoration supplies in New York? What size should I get that would make the gingerbread people large enough to decorate with detail but not too large that I end up having to bake tons and tons of dough?

3) What do I use to decorate them that wouldn't be too hard to do? Ideally they would end up looking more like this: http://www.coppergifts.com/productcart/pc/catalog/cg1-3166_2_300.jpg rather than this: http://www.coppergifts.com/productcart/pc/catalog/cg1-4744_1_300.jpg

4) How much earlier can I bake these cookies before giving them out without them tasting stale?

5) Any process tips? I imagine I will do all the baking first so I end up with a bunch of naked gingerbread people and THEn proceed about taking my time in decorating.

6) What essential supplies do I need to buy? I do not bake so I pretty much have nothing. So far, I am planning to borrow a folding table for space, pick up a rolling pin, borrow a mixer..

I am committing next weekend for this project and hoping to procure everything I need by then. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

What's a good recipe for gingerbread construction materials?

ErWenn — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:35:40 -0800

I'm thinking about building a gingerbread house this year, and as usual for food topics that have yet to show up on Good Eats, I'm at a loss for where to find a good recipe. I'm looking for something that balances structural integrity with taste because I think it's utterly ridiculous to build something out of edible materials and then not eat the thing. Besides, eating the roof off of a gingerbread house must be at least twice as much fun as biting the head off a gingerbread man.

If you can also point me to a good recipe for the frosting stuff that you use to stick things together. I think it's called "royal frosting", but I'm not positive on that.

Grant Me This Christmas Miracle!

Sassyfras — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:29:03 -0800

Does anyone know where I can buy cheap generic gingerbread man cookie cutters in or around Mesa, Arizona? I want the regular size – not the mini, and I want around 20 of them. I have already tried Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, two WalMarts, The Orange Patch Too, Big Lots, and The Dollar Tree.

My google fu has failed. I am not worthy of my cable modem. =(

damnjezebel — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:53:09 -0800

Don't ask me why, but this question reminded me to ask this - help me find a possibly nonexistent song from a MILK commercial in the 90's! In the mid nineties, there was a cutesy MILK commercial. Remember those? Trying to get kids to drink milk? Yeah, well this one featured an old timey 1920'sish sounding song. The star of the commercial was a cute gingerbread cookie about to get eaten. The person trying to eat him attempts to shove him into a glass of milk, but the cookie gives him attitude and tries to get away. In the background, this song (that sounds like it's on an old record) plays:

(please note that most of these words are correct - i've seen that commercial at least 100 times and I can sing it almost perfectly)

Sugar and spice, and everything nice.
Nibbling on your neck is my only vice.
Gotta tell ya, cookie - I'm sweet on you.
Lucky little cookie, I'm sweet on you.
You're my sugar plum,
my cookie crumb,
the apple of my eye,
I tremble/crumble at the thought of you...
Gotta tell ya cookie - I'm sweet on you.
I'm sweet on you.....

If I didn't have such a shit voice, I'd sing the song for you and link to it. And I don't have a 5 year old that can do it to make it sound cute, so just work with me.

My google fu has failed me. Seriously. I've tried every possible combination of the lyrics. I've tried the main words and gingerbread, cookie, milk and commercial (no comma's)... this is one of those great mysteries that, when i find the answer, I'll kick myself, I KNOW IT!

At the very least, help me find the commercial. At the very most, help me find if the song is real and - if it is - who sings the damn thing and where I can find it!