With the holidays fast approaching, the Walt Disney World pastry chefs have been hard at work, designing and building their signature gingerbread creations for display at the park. Among the creations, which you can see in the gallery below, are a Frozen ice castle, a life-size gingerbread house, and a functional carousel with chocolate horses.
Once you’ve looked through the gallery, you’ll find Disney’s own gingerbread recipe, courtesy of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.
And if you want to know more about these incredible creations, head over to the Disney Parks Blog for some “Fast Facts,” like this amazing statistic: In all, 423 pounds of chocolate and 311 pounds of honey went into the creation of the Frozen ice castle!
Gingerbread Cookies
Makes 36 cookies
Ingredients
2 sticks softened butter
2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 2/3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 1/4 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground star anise
1 teaspoon ground fennel
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
Ingredients for decorations optional
1/4 cup milk
1 cup colored sugar granules
Directions
1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth using an electric mixer. Add the eggs and mix until combined.
2. Sift all the remaining dry ingredients in a separate large mixing bowl and mix well. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until a dough forms
3. Remove dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap; place in refrigerator until firm, two to four hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease cookie sheets.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator and allow dough to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes, until pliable. Divide dough in half and place on floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out until about 1/8 inch thick. While rolling, flour the work surface and rolling pin as needed.
6. Cut out desired cookie shapes with cookie cutters. Transfer cookies to a greased cookie sheet, placing them 1 inch apart.
7. Lightly brush cookies with milk and sprinkle with sugar granules as desired.
8. Bake until firm and edges begin to darken, 10-14 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for a minute, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Cook’s notes:
You can find star anise in the ethnic aisle in your local grocery store. To get the best flavor from this spice, you will need to grind the whole star anise pod. For the neatest edges, dip your cookie cutters in flour before cutting out each cookie.
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