Gingerbread Men

Come every Christmas, I can never resist the temptation to buy a gingerbread man though most of the time, I end up disappointed by how Styrofoam-like it tastes. I figured since Bubs would enjoy helping me bake, it would be a piece of cookie cake to try out a gingerbread man recipe.

I used this recipe after extensive searching. Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients or steps. I subbed the spices listed with Tesco's mixed spice, added more cinnamon in. You can find molasses in most organic shops or the organic section in supermarkets. It adds a smoky, slightly bitter aftertaste that Hubs didn't like but Bubs, who has a sweet tooth, devoured them down. If you're still not a fan of molasses, I think you can adjust the quantities to add in golden syrup which would make for a paler gingerbread man.

Gingerbread Man Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
3/4 teaspoon baking soda 
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature, softened) 
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed 
1 Tbsp ground ginger 
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves 
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 large egg 
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses 
Optional raisins, chocolate chips, candy pieces, frosting

Royal Icing  
1 egg white 
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)

Method

1 In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

2 In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Mix in eggs and molasses. Gradually add the flour mixture; combine on low speed. (You may need to work it with your hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.) Divide dough in thirds; wrap each third in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight. Before rolling out, let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. If after refrigerating the dough feels too soft to roll-out, work in a little more flour.

3 Heat oven to 350°. Place a dough third on a large piece of lightly floured parchment paper or wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate again for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to cut out the cookies. Use either a cookie cutter or place a stencil over the dough and use a knife to cut into desired shapes. Press raisins, chocolate chips, or candy pieces in the center of each cookie if desired for "buttons".

4 Transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Bake until crisp but not darkened, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit a few minutes and then use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

The toughest part was waiting for the dough to be chilled in the fridge when you've got an impatient Bubs literally hanging off your legs asking "can I eat the gingerbread man nowwwww?" For minimal mess, roll the dough out sandwiched between 2 pieces of baking paper.

I quickly learned that the thicker the dough, the easier it is to cut out the cookies. Prob something Bubs could have told me based on his extensive Play Doh experience ;) The dough softened very easily and I kept having to re-chill it back in the fridge.

All lined up and ready for the oven. The colour and texture kinda reminded me of durian kuih though it smells nowhere close to that.

Ta-daaa - gingerbread men all ready for Bubs to eat. That boy had a lot of sadistic fun pretending to be a giant, catching them as they "ran" and chomping their body parts off. I tried using the corner of a ziplock bag to frost features on but the tip was too big and all I ended up with were just messy white blobs. I think I might have to get a food pen writer.

Meeting Lat

There's something appealing about a Lat comic, the gentle, nudge your ribs kinda laughter and the fact that Malaysians from all walks of life can relate to it. I was so excited when I heard that a dialogue with Lat would be part of the Georgetown Literary Festival and went through Mum's massive Lat comics collection to pick some books to bring there, hoping that he'd autograph them.

My childhood favourites were Kampung Boy, Town Boy and Lots of Lat (one of the oldest I could find in Mum's collection).

An outfit of the day snap before heading to Sekeping Victoria because I'm vain ;)

 

Meeting the man himself. Lat was so friendly and approachable. The line to get his autograph was moving pretty fast so he was able to spend a few minutes each talking to his fans. He had a razor sharp memory and I was surprised he was able to correctly recall the year the books were published just based on the cover alone.

As with his comics, the audience at Sekeping Victoria was large and varied from all races :)

The Xmas Tree

Since we follow a retail Xmas, the tree has been up for a couple of weeks now. Bubs and I made a tag team and hounded Hubs relentlessly until he finally agreed to bring down the tree and set it up for us. Don't you just love how families work together to get things done? ;)

We went through the box of ornaments and Bubs had a ball playing with each one.

I'm still happy I'd the sense to grab a bunch of these gingerbread men ornaments last year when they were on special. Very small kid friendly and so much fun to mess around with.

Hubs draped the fairy lights around the tree and tested them.

And the Xmas tree is up! One thing hasn't changed: if you see those tiny red faux gifts up on the tree, we actually had a whole bunch of them and Bubs had the bright idea that each one might contain real presents in them so he sneakily unwrapped most of them. These two escaped unscathed and I moved them up to the higher branches. The tree is still sparse so we're waiting for Fairy Godma's next visit back to Penang with a box of Ikea ornaments.

Ending this with a footnote ... literally, Bub's style :)  He has just discovered the camera function on my phone.

Xmas Cards

I saw a couple of ideas around on Christmas Cards simple enough for young children to do and Bubs was so excited about crafting these.

We got a couple of coloured fabric tape from Daiso and cut out different lengths of the tape. Bubs helped me remove the sticky backs from the tape and as I steadied the tape over the card, he pressed down firmly on it. 

I helped him draw a star on the top and a tree trunk at the bottom. To add a pop of sparkle to the card, we used glitter glue that came in a pretty mix of red, green and silver chunks. Bubs then carefully squeezed the glue over the card and added some drawings of his own.

According to him, these were presents under the tree. The green object is a ball and the blue one a spaceship. A not so subtle hint for Christmas presents from him? ;)

We also did potato stamping - thank you Hubs for carving out the trees. I'd have prob sliced off my fingers if I attempted to do that.

Bubs hard at work, concentrating where to to stamp the red and green trees on. He then added his favourite: glitter glue. I swear that kid would prob cover himself with it if I let him.

There you have it: easy Christmas cards :)

The Alley, Stewart Lane

I'd been patiently waiting for the day when I could find decent churros and cronuts in Penang so when my cousin Joey posted some photos, I pounced on them faster than a fashionista at a Zara sale. The Alley is a newly opened cafe tucked away in Stewart Lane, the tiny little side street close to the Goddess of Mercy temple in town. Parking is a total pain but trust me,  it's worth it.

I liked how the proprietors retained the old store sign of the original shop which used to sell Chinese religious paraphernalia. The simple chalkboard proclaiming the soup of the day being coffee, is no joke at all. The Alley definitely serves a thick brew.

They've a small range of Malaysian-designed Pestle & Mortar tees. I was hoping that I could be able to find this pair of shorts there but no luck :(

The simple yet decadently rich drinks and desserts menu is available at the counter. Pick what you want (the friendly counter staff are very helpful), pay after ordering and your choices will be served to you. It took forever for me to choose dessert. How can you have 4 different types of choices for churros and cronuts EACH and not expect me to order them all? #firstworldproblems ... I was dithering between chocolate, Nutella, cinnamon sugar and salted caramel. I was about to eschew chocolate until the counter staff told me that this is a special blend prepared by the chef. Oh boyyy ...

There's a slight wait time for the churros and cronuts as everything is prepared freshly to avoid it from being soggy. You can while the time away by snapping photos as the cafe is chock full of photographic opportunities.

 

Oh Hubs ... what did you do to my baby?

The love of my life taking a photo of the other love of my life.

Says it all ;)

The mocha (RM11) was strong, heady and had such an inviting aroma. Considering the fact that it came in a huge cup, I thought it to be of good value. For this non coffee lover, I found the mocha to be strangely irresistible and it went well with all the food that we ordered. 

The Alley's churros (small for RM9) was s crispy on the outside and pillow-y soft inside. The chocolate dip was a perfect accompaniment though I wish there was more provided as there wasn't a lot to dunk the churros with. Hubs preferred the one at Burps & Giggles though he thought it was nice too. 

The cronuts (RM8 each) were the highlight, a cross between a croissant and a doughnut, these were soft, flaky and drenched generously with toppings of your choice (we went with Nutella and salted caramel). On the side of the plate was a small thumb sized piece of fried dough with additional sauce. Bid goodbye to your waistline, you'll be losing it for a VERY yummy cause.

Would we go back again? Absolutely. We felt that this is one of the few good cafes in Penang located in a hip, tourist-y area that had prices matching the quality of its food. This time we'll park further away so give a chance to burn off more calories walking ;)

 The Alley,
5, Stewart Lane, 10200 George Town, Malaysia