A CHRISTMAS WISH:
All you need is love and gingerbread cookies. And tea. You always need tea.
Back in the late 1980's I did some work as a freelance designer for Better Homes and Gardens magazines. They filmed at my house a few times, mostly as background of our house, yard, and my little workshop. I was never a featured article, but I thought I was pretty special and on my way to fame and fortune. Then the editor I worked with moved to another career, and that was the last I heard of them. The pictures appeared in their books and magazines for at least ten years afterwards. They often re-used photos.
This picture was part of a photo shoot in my house using several different trees. This was in my front room. I made the ginger bread cookies for them. They were big! Some almost as big as the cookie sheet, so I could only bake two or three at a time. They gave me the recipe and ingredients, and paid $50.00. I thought it was a a really great deal just for baking cookies. What did I know about business? They paid $200.00 a day for filming, and of course paid for any designs they bought. I wish I had kept more of the photos, but I guess I didn't.
The gingerbread recipe was very easy to work with. Since it was such big pieces, I suppose it would work for gingerbread houses. I don't ever expect to make a gingerbread house, even for the vast sum of fifty dollars!
"Better Homes" Ginger Bread
1 cup dark corn syrup
3 cups sugar
8 oz butter
2T baking soda
3 T ginger
2 T cloves
2 T cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg
9 cups flour
Melt syrup with sugar and butter. Stir and heat. When mixture just starts to boil remove from heat and pour into large bowl. Stir in baking soda and spices. Stir in egg and cream. Add flour one to two cups at a time. Work til smooth. Chill overnight. Roll out. Cut around cardboard shapes . Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake on greased cookie sheet, for five or six minutes until dough has stopped puffing. Let cool several minutes, and then remove to flat surface.
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