Gingerbread Ravioli Recipes

Steps:

• Soak 1/4 thinly sliced red onion in ice water, 20 minutes; drain. Meanwhile, cook a 9-ounce package cheese ravioli as the label directs; drain and rinse under cold water. Whisk 1 tablespoon each olive oil and lemon juice, 1 grated garlic clove, 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Add the ravioli, onion, 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup chopped oil-cured olives and some chopped parsley; toss to combine.

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl until well blended.
• Beat the granulated sugar and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl starting on low speed and increasing to medium, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the molasses until combined, then beat in the egg (the mixture will look curdled). Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture a little at a time until the mixture comes together. Then increase the speed to medium and beat until well incorporated and a sticky dough forms. Divide the dough in half, flatten into 2 disks and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• Position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Keeping one disk refrigerated, roll the other disk on a well-floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch, sprinkling flour on and under the dough as needed and sliding a spatula underneath every so often to prevent sticking. If the dough looks crackly or breaks apart, press it back together from the outside edge in. With a 4-inch gingerbread man cookie cutter, cut out cookies as close together as possible. Pull away the extra dough around each shape and use a small spatula to transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Gather together the scraps, leaving behind the excess flour, knead a few times to form a smooth dough again and reroll in the same way. (If there are any pieces of stuck dough on your surface, scrape them away with a spatula, flour the surface again and then continue to roll the dough.)
• Bake the cookies in the center of the oven racks, rotating them from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until slightly firm to the touch but not brown, about 12 minutes. Cool the cookies 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely before icing. The cookies will continue to firm as they cool. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
• Meanwhile, make the royal icing for decorating. Combine the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 6 tablespoons water and beat with an electric mixer on low until the icing thickens. The icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly. (If overbeaten, it will get aerated, which makes it harder to work with. If this happens, let the icing sit for a bit to settle, then use a rubber spatula to vigorously beat and smooth it out.)
• Spoon about 1/3 cup of icing into each of 3 separate bowls (cover any remaining icing with plastic wrap and reserve in case you need more). Leave 1 bowl white. Dye the second bowl black and the third light brown. Thin out the light brown icing with 1 teaspoon water. Transfer the icing to separate resealable plastic bags. Snip a very tiny hole in the corner of the white and black icing bags, and snip a larger hole in the corner of the light brown icing bag.
• Place each cookie right side up in front of you. With the black icing, pipe an outline around the head of each cookie, around the arms and across the chest with a bowed line. Turn the gingerbread man upside down so it is standing on its head; now you can see the shape of the reindeer's head. Pipe black antlers coming out of the top of the head, over the gingerbread man's legs and feet.
• Using the loose light brown icing, flood each reindeer's head, using a toothpick to nudge the icing into any tight spots. Place a red cinnamon candy in the center of each face for the nose. Dry until set, 40 minutes to 1 hour.
• Once the brown base has dried, pipe on the rest of the face. Pipe 2 white dots above the nose for the whites of the eyes, and 2 white dots on the underside of the ears for downy fur. Use the black icing to pipe a smiling mouth and eyebrows. Once the white icing has slightly dried, pipe in black pupils. Give your reindeer some personality! Let the icing dry until hardened, 1 hour or ideally overnight.
• The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days, but are best eaten fresh.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
• In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
• Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C). Grease and lightly flour one 8 inch square baking pan.
• Cream shortening and sugar until light. Add the egg and molasses and beat thoroughly.
• Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, ground ginger, and ground cinnamon.
• Bring water to a boil and add alternately with flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy.

Steps:

• Put honey, butter and sugar into a pot and heat over low heat until sugar is dissolved completely. Remove from heat and let cool down slightly.
• In a bowl mix together flour, cocoa, gingerbread spice.
• Add honey mixture to flour and mix using the dough hook. Add egg and mix again.
• Dissolve salts of hartshorn in 2 tablespoons of milk in a small bowl.
• In a second small bowl dissolve potash in 1 tablespoon milk.
• Add first salts of hartshorn mixture to dough and mix well. Than add potash mixture and mix well. Wrap dough into cling film and set aside for about 24 hours.
• On the next day: preheat oven (355 F, 180 C). Line out baking tray(s) with parchment paper.
• Dust the work space with some flour and knead the dough a few times. If the dough is too sticky dust it with flour. Divide the dough into smaller parts you can handle easily.
• Roll out one part of the dough very thinly (about 1(8 inch thin). Dust the dough with flour from time to time, so that it is not sticky. The dough should be elastic, but dry. Halve dough.
• On one part mark squares of about 2 inches. On each square placs some filling (see below). Now cover it with the second half of the dough and press slightly with your fingers in between the fillings to mark the ravioli. Cut out the ravioli with a knife.
• For each ravioli: press the edges slightly with your fingers. Seal the edges by pressing a fork into the edges.
• Place ravioli on baking tray and bake for about 12 minutes until ravioli a slightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool completely on cooling rack.
• Keep them in an airtight container. They will get better with time, but I guess they will not stay that long.
• FILLING: You can use almost any filling you like. Take my fillings as an idea for your own fillings.
• Filling 1: chop dried fruit and walnuts an mix them together. Place a little of filling in the center of the ravioli.
• Filling 2: soak raisins in a little rum. Take two or three soaked raisins and wrap them in a little piece of marchpane and place it in the center of the ravioli.
• Filling 3: you can use you favorite jam. I use about 1/2 teaspoon for each ravioli.
• Filling 4: cut solid praline paste into cubes of about 1/2 inch in size and roll them between your hands to form a ball. Place it in the center of ravioli.
• CUSTOM YIELD: is a vague guess. It depends on how thin you roll out the dough and which size your ravioli have.
• NOTE on potash: when you dissolve potash in milk a "strong" smell might occur. This is normal.
• NOTE on potash and salts of hartshorn: these are very typical for German christmas bakery. They work a little like baking soda/powder, but give a very different flavour to the cookies.
• NOTE on gingerbread seasoning: the one I use contains cinnamon,coriander, aniseed, allspice, cloves, star-anise, cardamon, ginger, and vanilla. I always use a commercial product.
• NOTE on time of making: this is a guess. Sometimes I need longer, sometimes I'm faster. But it doesn't matter, because it is such fun to make these.
• SERVING & PRESENTATION: Why don't you try to present gingerbread ravioli like a pasta dish? Here the idea (and take a look at the pics). With a few drops of green food colouring make green coconut flakes (to represent chopped herbs). Roll small pieces of marzipan into little balls and colour them red (to represent cherry tomatoes). Grate white chocolate (to represent parmesan cheese). Put some raspberry jam (tomato sauce) on a pasta plate. Sprinkle some green coconut flakes over sauce. Place some gingerbread raviolie on the plate. Sprinkle with some white chocolate. At last place the marzipan tomatoes around the ravioli. Ready to serve gingerbread ravioli.
• -- and now: ENJOY and HAVE FUN.