With a full-time job, it’s been a little difficult keeping to my Christmas baking schedule. But I knew that I’d definitely be baking and decorating Christmas-themed gingerbread cookies this year, having given them a miss last Christmas.

Plus, I’d been longing to make these edible Christmas tree ornaments since I saw the beautiful designs on Joycelyn’s blog last year.

These gingerbread cookies were baked and decorated over the course of 2 work day evenings and this past weekend. The challenge with cookie decorating in humid Singapore is, as I’d already blogged about previously, that the cookies turn soft very quickly while the icing air-dries.

I had high hopes for these cookies since they remained really crisp, even after 2 days in an air-tight container. But wet December weather finally decided to reappear right after I’d laid down the first layer of royal icing; the poor cookies didn’t stand a chance against the damp, although I have to admit that the royal icing did dry beautifully.

Still, I managed to capture a few decent shots of the ornaments and Christmas tree this morning despite the afternoon rain. I’m particularly happy with how the Christmas tree cookie turned out, given that this is the first time I’ve worked with sprinkles and sanding sugar.

Many thanks go out to Joycelyn for sharing generously sharing her gorgeous decorated cookie design ideas!

These gingerbread kids are a slight variation of the ones I made 2 years ago. There’s still a 3D gingerbread tree waiting to be assembled, but there just isn’t enough time on the weekend to do everything I’d planned. And then there are the vanillekipferl to be baked. Things aren’t looking too great for the macaron “croquembouche” at the moment.

But I’m not complaining; I’m really pleased with what has been accomplished in the kitchen this weekend despite the weather and everything else that’s going on this time of year. With that, I leave you with a photograph of my favourite design of the lot.

Happy holiday baking, everyone!

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Cookies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.