Gingerbread Heart Cookies

Aren't they girly in the extreme?

As I took this photo I couldn't stop singing the words of one Johnny Farnham...

"Two strong hearts, we'll stick together like the honey and the bee...you and me!" But I quickly stopped myself when my two-year-old looked at me like I was...well...a dag. The dag that I am.

Let me show you what I mean when I tell you I am slightly...umm...heart obsessed.

This piece was created by Janette, who runs My Sweet Prints. If you haven't checked this gorgeous online art shop out, SHAME ON YOU!  You, really must. She creates such gorgeous and unique stuff. I also love her Bus Scrolls for nurseries and kids rooms.

What else decorates my walls you ask?

Yep, more hearts. And a super cool personalized eye chart by My Sweet Prints of course.

No, Janelle is not paying me, I just really like her work!

This next example is quite concerning really...

...Heart shaped earrings on a little handmade dish with a heart on it...Oh my.

I have to tell you, I did start getting concerned whilst writing this post, so I walked from room to room to see the extent of the damage...

It was like a heart had THROWN UP in my house!

My inspiration board...covered with various heart vomit...

The artwork on my bedroom wall...

Even my baby daughter Lola May's room wasn't safe...

You are digging Lola's Babushka Doll aren't you? My super talented friend Amber made it. She also does all my graphics for the website and business in general. I heart Amber. I would link to her website but she doesn't have one yet.

Here's a little patchwork number to throw into the mix.

Wish I could do patchwork, but as I've shared many times before, I am HOPELESS at craft.

I bet Amber could make it.  Janette too....Oh well, I spose this post prooves I am heart obsessed AND a crappy crafter...but you don't care do you?

You just want me for my GORGEOUS Gingerbread Heart Cookies!

Super cute for a girly afternoon tea or a bridal shower you say? I concur...

We also had heaps of fun decorating our cookies with letters for each person in our family...

I say "we" had fun. Really I had fun "trying" to decorate, while my two-year-old shoved his face with the cookies and my baby girl rolled around on the kitchen floor banging plastic bowls together...The letters are pretty crappy as I was using a squeezey bottle with too large a nozzle. Oh well.

Check out my super cute heart cookie cutters...

Neon pink. What's not to love?

The smallest heart is actually really cute in a cookie. I plan to make them as part of Lola's upcoming 1st birthday party sweets!

No, the party is NOT heart themed. It will just be uber girly!

Many decisions remain unmade. The most important of which? The cake.

One thing is for sure, it WILL come from the 1972 edition of the Women's Weekly Book of Birthday Cakes. My mum handed her copy down to me all covered in flour and sticky old buttercream. I plan to hand it down to Lola one day!

Her cake will be made from scratch. And the decorating will be sub-par. Much like that of my little boy's 1st B'day Cake.

He wanted a garbage truck of all things...

I really did try despite my lack of piping, decorating and artistic skills in general!

I digress again!

Here is how you make my Gingerbread Heart Cookies!

Ingredients:

150g butter, chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed DARK brown sugar (once you go Dark you never go back as it's super treacley)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground ginger (I do a heaped teaspoon as I like it spicy)
1 teaspoon mixed spice (heap it)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups plain flour

Basic Royal Icing:
1 egg white
1 1/4 Pure Icing Sugar (no icing mixture this time please!)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice & couple of drops of pink food colouring if you wish!

Method:

1. Place butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan over medium heat and 'simmer down now!' Cook while stirring for 3 minutes till sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil & remove from heat. Stir in bicarb. It will go all crazy and fizzy. Embrace it.
2. Stir in egg, ginger, spice, baking powder and flour till combined.
3. Preheat oven to 180 fan forced. Grease and line 3 trays with baking paper. These babies are sticky suckers.
4. Roll into one big dough ball between 2 sheets of baking paper.
5. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.
6. Unwrap the dough and roll till it is 7mm thick. I think gingerbread needs to be chewy and not skinny and crispy. This is just my opinion, so feel free to roll to your desired thickness and just bear in mind a shorter cooking time.
7. Once you have your desired thickness cut out shapes and place on baking tray 2cm apart.
8. Keep re-rolling and cutting till dough is goneski!
9. Bake one tray at a time till they are JUST firm to the touch. I say start checking at 6 minutes. Max cooking time is 8 minutes, unless you want GingerCharred Bread.
10. Let stand on trays for 5 minutes then transfer to rack.

Make Icing:
1. Royal icing is super basic. Just beat the eggwhite with a fork till foamy. Beat in icing sugar gradually and then add lemon juice. The lemon juice will break through the sugar and make it more stirable. Then one drop at a time add your food colouring till you have your perfect shade of pink!
2. I used a squeeze bottle to outline the cookie and then I "flooded it" with the icing to fill in between the lines. If you want to see it done really well by MY HERO Martha Stewart, check this out! You can click on watch the video (albeit after a cheesy commercial, but it is very educational indeed.
You could always spoon into a ziplock bag, snip the corner off and do it the old school way too.

What shapes are you obsessed with? I have a friend that is into the "&" symbol. She has it all over her house! Or are you more of a "@" person?