12 Days of Christmas Cookies Day 6: Drunk Gingerbread Men

 

It is Day 6 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, and I must tell you, I am starting to experience cookie fatigue.  I know, I'm only halfway there!  I have to keep going, right?  If it wasn't for some flat, pancake meringues, and some not quite right maraschino cherry cookies, I would be right on track.  However, I hit some snags this past week-end.  I have some catching up to do!

These Drunk Gingerbread Men are perfect for Santa Claus.  You know what?  Santa works so hard all year round.  Wrapping all those presents and filling all those stockings is really hard work!  On Christmas, maybe Santa doesn't want some regular old cookies.  Maybe he doesn't want a regular glass of milk either.  You know what Santa probably needs after all that hard work?  Kahlua.

Before I get too much into these cookies, can I ask a question?  Are there any foodies out there who just aren't decorators?  I have to say that once I sat down to decorate my gingerbread men, I thought: 'is this part supposed to be fun'?  I wanted to throw my icing bag across the room.  Decorating rage?  Is that a thing?

Don't get me wrong, I love baking...I loved rolling out the dough, cutting out the gingerbread men, baking them, and making the icing.  But decorating is just not my forte!  Though the gingerbread men were supposed to be drunk, a large proportion of my gingerbread men looked like they were decorated by a heavily intoxicated person.  You don't want to know how many I had to decorate to get the one good gingerbread man above.  He was my gingerbread 'model'.

By the way, that thing in the photo above wasn't supposed to be an Olympic torch.  It was supposed to be a martini glass...

Now, on to the cookies.  These cookies offer a double dose of Kahlua.  First in the cookies.  I can't say I actually could taste the Kahlua in these cookies...I was so distracted by the ginger, the molasses, the cinnamon, the nutmeg, the cloves!  Oh my goodness, these gingerbread men were filled with spicy, delicious flavor.

The Kahlua really comes into play in the icing.  This icing is so rich and creamy, and has a distinct Kahlua flavor.  I love coffee and I love caramel (translation: I love Kahlua)...this icing and I were meant to be.

When combined, the spicy flavors of the gingerbread men definitely overpower the awesome Kahulaness of the icing, therefore I recommend slathering your gingerbread men with the icing so that you get some of those Kahlua flavors.  That way you don't have to bother with the decorating part anyway ;)

 

Drunk Gingerbread Men

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 3 tablespoons Kahlua
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Recipe adapted from Food.com.

Combine shortening, butter and sugar; beat together until creamed.  Add egg, molasses and Kahlua.  Mix well.  

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.  Add in batches to wet ingredients.

Form dough into a ball.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.  This dough is quite moist and it is important to chill it in order to roll it out.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Roll out dough to a thickness of approximately 3/8 of an inch on a well floured surface.  Cut with a cookie cutter and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are cooked on the bottom.  I prefer my cookies not too crunchy and cooked for closer to 6-7 minutes.

Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.  

Let the cookies cool completely before icing them.

 Kahlua Icing

• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/8 cup Kahlua (plus more!)
• 1.5 tablespoons shortening (room temperature)
• 1.5 tablespoons butter (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoons corn syrup

Recipe adapted from Food.com

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients with an electric mixer.  Add more Kahlua by the tablespoon until the icing is the consistency that you'd like.  For me, I had to add an extra 1/8 cup of Kahlua or more.

Use an icing bag with appropriate tip to ice gingerbread men, or alternatively slather them with the icing (as I recommend!)