Rudolph Cookies

Reprinted with permission. From Gingerbread Wonderland by Mima Sinclair. © 2016 Kyle Books. Photography © Tara Fisher.

• Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes, plus cooling and setting
• Total Cooking Time: 20 minutes
• Servings: Makes 40 cookies

You start with a gingerbread man, turn him upside down, and then you have Rudolph. It is simple and brilliant—the kids will go crazy for these!

You will need a gingerbread man cutter of approximately 4 inches.

Ingredients

• 1 x quantity of Dark Gingerbread Dough (see our link)
• 3 x quantity of Royal Icing (see our link)
• red and black food coloring paste
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• edible gold dust powder

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with silicone baking sheets or parchment paper.
2. Cut a large piece of parchment paper and roll out the gingerbread on top of it to   inch. Using a gingerbread man cutter, cut out pieces of dough and use a palette knife to transfer them to the lined baking sheets.
3. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes until hard. Bake in the oven in batches for 10 minutes until golden brown at the edges. Let cool for 5 minutes then carefully transfer with a palette knife to wire racks to cool completely.
4. Add a little water to the royal icing until you reach soft peak consistency. Get three small bowls and spoon 2 tablespoons of icing into each. Add red coloring to one, black to another, and leave one white. Cover each with a damp cloth and then cover with plastic wrap.
5. Add the cocoa powder to your remaining bowl of icing with a little water to bring it back to soft peak consistency and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle. Pipe outlines of Rudolph’s head and antlers. Add a little extra water to the remaining brown icing to make flood icing—a thick but runny consistency. Spoon or pipe into the centers of the cookies to fill the centers with icing. Let set for 4 hours or overnight.
6. For the red noses, repeat the process with the red icing, piping outlines, then filling with the flood icing. Use the white icing to pipe eyes. Let set for 15 minutes then pipe little black pupils and mouths with the black icing. Very carefully, using a paintbrush, dab the gold dust powder and brush gently over the antlers. Let set completely for 1 hour.