After I made my gingerbread house this year, I had some gingerbread dough leftover. The recipe I used for the gingerbread house comes from Food52 is meant for building structures — it’s sturdier, doesn’t spread as much as traditional gingerbread recipes, and made for construction rather than eating. Of course, if you want to eat it, it is 100% edible and still has all the flavours and spices of gingerbread. You can always sub for half butter half shortening if you intend to eat these garlands shortly after making them!
These garlands are extremely easy to make. You make the gingerbread dough according to the the recipe and use your festive cookie cutters to punch out the shapes. The extra step you have to take is to punch out one or two holes for threading the twine when assembling the garland. Generally, you want to have two holes for each cookie. This prevents the cookie from sliding on the string as much and makes it easier for you to have evenly spaced cookies on the garland. There are some shapes, like the candy cane or the star, where you’re only able to punch one hole for the twine. It’s fine! Just alternate between cookies with two holes and one hole when stringing the cookies. I used the opening of a round piping tip to punch out the holes. Alternatively, you can use a straw.
After you bake the cookies and allow them to cool, decorate them with royal icing and sprinkles of your choice. I opted for white and red sanding sugar for my cookies to keep the design and colour palette simple. Allow your cookies to dry completely before stringing the cookies, or else the twine will smear the unset icing. After you’re done, hang the cookie garland on your tree, above your fireplace, or any place that needs a festive touch. Another bonus? The garland makes the room smell like gingerbread cookies all the time.
Happy baking!
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