Keep Calm and Add Butter

[Megan Sims]

Megan Sims walked into her teaching area, as she could never see the home economics room as being classroom. She carried her satchel over to her work bench. Opening the satchel she pulled out the sheets of lilac paper with that day's recipe on it and walked around the classroom, placing two sheets on each work station:

GINGERBREAD MEN

Ingredients:
Gingerbread:

1. 3 cups all-purpose flour
2. ¾ cup dark brown sugar
3. 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
4. 1 tablespoon ground ginger
5. ½ teaspoon ground cloves
6. ½ teaspoon salt
7. ¾ teaspoon baking soda
8. ¾ cup (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened slightly
9. ¾ cup molasses
10. 2 tablespoons milk

Icing:

1. 1 egg, separated
2. 1 cup pure icing sugar, sifted
3. 8-10 drops red liquid food colouring
4. 8-10 drops green liquid food colouring
5. M&M's, to decorate

(The food colouring can be of your choice.)


What to do:

1. In food processor work bowl fitted with steel blade, process flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda until combined, about 10 seconds. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and process until mixture is sandy and resembles very fine meal, about 15 seconds. With machine running, gradually add molasses and milk; process until dough is evenly moistened and forms soft mass, about 10 seconds. (Alternatively, in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking soda at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add butter pieces; mix at medium-low speed until mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 1½ minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, gradually add molasses and milk; mix until dough is evenly moistened, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds.)
2. Scrape dough onto work surface; divide in half. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll ¼-inch thick between two large sheets of parchment paper. Leaving dough sandwiched between parchment layers, stack on cookie sheet and freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. (Alternatively, when not in class, refrigerate dough 2 hours or overnight.)
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
4. Meanwhile, place egg white in a clean, dry bowl. Use an electric beater to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Divide icing among 3 bowls. Cover 1 bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Add red colouring to 1 bowl and stir until combined. Add green colouring to remaining bowl and stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
5. Remove one dough sheet from freezer; place on work surface. Peel off top parchment sheet and lay it back in place. Flip dough over; peel off and discard second parchment layer. Cut dough into gingerbread people or round cookies, transferring shapes to parchment-line cookie sheets with a wide metal spatula, spacing them ¾-inch apart. Repeat with remaining dough until cookie sheets are full. Bake cookies until set in centres and dough barely retains imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 11 minutes, rotating cookie sheet from front to back halfway through baking time. Do not overbake. Cook cookies on sheets 2 minutes, then remove with wide metal spatula to wire rack; cool to room temperature.
6. Gather scraps; repeat rolling, cutting and baking in steps 2 and 4. Repeat with remaining dough until all dough is used.
7. Once cookies are cool, place prepared icings in small plastic bags. Cut a small hole in a corner of each bag. Pipe icing over gingerbread men to decorate. Finish with M&M's. These will store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Returning to her own work station, she sat down behind her bench - the only one in the room that had a stool behind the bench, as at the other stations, the students would be too busy working to be needing to sit down, and any that complained would just have to deal with it, or transfer out of her class if they so wished.

Once all of the students had arrived at picked their workstations, the woman knew it was time to get started. "Welcome, everyone." She smiled around at the students. "As you will have seen, today you are going to make gingerbread men. You have the choice of making a batch each or making a batch between you. Before we get started though, let's have an icebreaker. I want each person to say their name and one fruit or vegetable that starts with the same letter as you first name. I'm Ms Sims, a vegetable that starts with m is Mloukhiya, the Moroccan term for okra." She looked at a brunette girl who had been in her class the previous year. "You can start."

Once everyone had introduced themselves, Megs spoke up again. "For those of you who are new to my class, you will find everything you need for the recipe in your pantry of fridge. If you need any help, don't be afraid to ask either me or the person you are working with."

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney headed out of her pre-algebra class, shoving her text book into her bag as she went, she was super excited about the next class. Creative Cooking was the best class ever when held just before lunch, because it meant that if she didn't quite get finished before class was over, all she was missing was lunch - as if she hadn't finished and had to head to another class, she had no choice but to head to the next class.

She skipped into the home economics room and grinned at the teacher. "Hey Ms S." She sang and she danced her way to the workstation she had been using since she had joined the school the year before. "Ooh, gingerbread men. Spicy!" She pulled her recipe folder out of her bag and added the recipe sheet to it, also removing the other sheet from the top of the bench to show that the other spot was taken. She had worked with Miranda since she had started this class and didn't want that to change just because it was a new school year. She shook off the varsity jacket she was wearing so that she was just wearing her cheer uniform, she couldn't wait until the cheer meeting the next weekend, when they got to find out who was going to find out who the new cheer captain was going to be.

Once class started, she listened to Ms Sims, and arched an eyebrow at the icebreaker, but just shrugged her shoulders as she tried to think of an interesting fruit or vegetable, because there were loads of boring ones that start with the same letter of her first name. Both of her eyebrows shot up when Ms Sims looked at her. Me? She mouthed, her mouth falling open before she recovered herself and gave a bright cheerleader smile. "Hi, I'm Cortney, but you all can call me Cort." Even her introduction sounded like a cheer. "A fruit beginning with c is Clementine. Which is a variety of mandarin."

Once they were given the nod to get started, she looked at Miranda. "If you get the bowls and things out, I'll get the ingredients." She got to work, taking out all the things they needed to make the gingerbread men. "What Ms S said about either making one batch together or making one each. Why don't we do both and make a double batch?"

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne made her way out of her maths class, hugging her textbook to her chest as she kept her head down and made her way to her next class. Things had been a little rocky before school started up again, but she had made it through everything without gaining any new scars, physical or psychological, so she should be walking with her head held high, she didn't though because her social worker was still trying to get her fostered by a family so that she was only at the Academy five days a week.

She walked into the home economics room and walked into an empty station. She knew that Cortney would want to work with Miranda, as the two girls had been working together for the previous year, and she didn't just wanted some space for at least the next couple of minutes.

When class started, she was interested in the teacher's idea of an icebreaker, and when it was her turn to speak, she decided to stick to simple. "Hello, my name is Jayne. A fruit starting with j is June Plum."

When they were told they could get started, she looked at the other person at her station. "I'll get all the utensils out if you want to sort out the cooking stuff." She gave a small smile, feeling better already. "Do you want to make a batch each or just make one? Which would probably be easier as then we would only have half a batch each to work with when it comes to rolling out. And one of us could wash the dishes while one half is in the freezer and then the other can dry them."

[Peter Holden]

Peter was pleased as usual to attend his Creative Cooking Class, as it gave him a chance to work with food, which he didn't get to do much at Blue Ridge since there wasn't a full kitchen that he could work with all the time. Walking into the classroom, he wasn't surprised to find that there were only girls so far, which was how the class usually was, but he didn't really let it bother him too much. 

Upon entering, he greeted Ms. Sims with a smile and found a place at a workstation next to Jayne. He had worked with the girl last year and it had gone rather well, so he may as well do it again. Smiling at the younger girl, he asked, "Do you mind if I work with you?" He looked at the sheet on the work surface and was pleased. Gingerbread men were fun, as long as the dough didn't get too warm and sticky when it was being rolled out.

Listening to Ms. Sims' introduction, Peter grew more excited to begin working on the cookies, but first came the icebreaker. When it came his turn, he spoke up briefly, "Hello, my name is Peter, and a fruit beginning with p is a pear." Turning to Jayne, he smiled as she took the lead, "Sure, that sounds like a good plan." Turning to the cabinets, he took out all of the ingredients they would need, lining them up neatly and separating the icing ingredients from the cookie ingredients. The only item he excluded was the milk, which he would keep in the fridge until they needed it.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda washed her hands before she left the bathroom, heading in the direction of the creative cooking room. She was looking forward to the class, and not only because of the wonderful food they always seemed to create, but mostly because she got to work with Cortney, who was the reason the food wasn't horribly burnt or oversalted. As she entered, she saw that she was by far not the first to enter, but she wasn't late either. Heading over to Cortney's table, she mocked a frown as she saw the table, devoid of a second recipe, "Is this spot taken?"

After she had stored the recipe that her friend had saved for her in her own binder, she looked over it until Ms. Sims started the class, listening as students introduced themselves, most of whom she already knew. When it came to be her turn in the icebreaker, she thought for a moment, then shrugged and went with, "My name is Miranda, Mir if you want, and a fruit that begins with an m is a mangetout, which refers to both snap and snow peas, and means 'eat all' in French."

After the introductions had concluded, she listened to Cortney's instructions and grinned, hurrying to comply. As she heard the options before them, she nodded, "A double batch sounds great." It wouldn't be much more work, and she didn't mind not making everything herself.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe was lost, although she would never admit it. She had managed to find her previous classes without trouble, but now, the Creative Cooking classroom seemed to be eluding her. After a few circles of the elective wing, looking into the glass windows on the doors, she made a guess as to which room it was and entered, looking around. Deciding to go with it, and take the absence if she was in the wrong room, she walked up to a bench that had a free spot and eyed the younger-looking girl, but didn't ask if it was okay to work there.

Well, she was in the right class, anyway. As she read through the instructions that were in front of her, she half-heartedly listened to the teacher, grimacing at the 'icebreaker'. How childish were they? When it came to introduce herself, she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and said, "My name is Adonya, call me Blythe, and a fruit that starts with an A is the Amla, or the Indian Gooseberry."

As her partner made no move to start working together, she asked, "One batch together or one each?" Unwilling to admit that she had no clue where to start, especially with a partner, she considered their options. "Why don't you get out the ingredients, and I'll set up the food processor?"

OOC;: She's working with @morgan. Morgan, just write your next post as if Adonya joined Ekaterina towards the end.

[Deleted]

Ekaterina walked quickly to her next class. Her next class happened to be creative cooking. She thought it sounded like fun when she choose her electives. She didn't do a lot of cooking. Mostly baking was what she did when she had time to bake. Ekaterina loved to make cookies though sometimes they didn't turn out to well. Most of the time they turned out great though. 

She walked to the door which was her creative cooking class and walked in. She noticed a lot of the tables had students standing by them with only one recipe on the table. Ekaterina walked over and took an empty table that had two sheets of paper on the table. The recipe was for gingerbread men. It sounded a bit like the gingerbread cake Ekaterina would make for special occasions like Easter and Christmas. Ekaterina hoped that it would turn out just as well as when she had made the gingerbread cake. The teacher explained that they would do an icebreaker. "Hi. My name is Ekaterina. A fruit beginning with the letter e is the elderberry." Ekaterina said as it was her turn. Ms. Sims also said that everything they would need would be in the pantry or the fridge. Ekaterina also heard Ms. Sims say you could each make a batch or make one batch with your partner. Ekaterina looked next to her just to see if anyone had joined her while she was listening to Ms. Sims. A girl named Adonya she though had joined her at the table though. "We can make a batch together." Ekaterina said to her partner.  "Ok." Ekaterina said to Adonya. Ekaterina walked to were the pantry was and got everything she'd need out of the pantry and set them down on the table before grabbing everything she'd need out of the fridge.

(Ok. Sorry about that Cara.)

[Megan Sims]

Megs listened as each student introduced themselves, she was impressed with the range of produce the children used to go with their own names; especially when she was expecting all of them to use the boring, simple choices - and this told her that they were serious about the class and keen to learn.

"Just a little history on Gingerbread while you're busy." She spoke up as the students started getting things together to create their masterpieces. "Originally, the term gingerbread (from Latin zingiber via Old French gingebras) referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. Gingerbread is often used to translate the French term pain d'épices (literally "spice bread") or the German term Lebkuchen or Pfefferkuchen (pepperbread, literally: pepper cake). The term Lebkuchen is unspecified in the German language. It can mean Leben (life) or Laib (loaf), while the last term comes from the wide range of spices used in this product.

"Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis (Gregory Makar) (Grégoire de Nicopolis). He left Nicopolis Pompeii, to live in Bondaroy (France), near the town of Pithiviers. He stayed there 7 years, and taught the Gingerbread cooking to French priests and Christians. He died in 999.

During the 13th century, it was brought to Sweden by German immigrants. Early references from the Vadstena Abbey show how the Swedish nuns were baking gingerbread to ease indigestion in 1444. It was the custom to bake white biscuits and paint them as window decorations.

The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits dates to the 17th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies and town square farmers' markets. In Medieval England gingerbread was thought to have medicinal properties. One hundred years later the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, UK became known for its gingerbread, as is proudly displayed on their town's welcome sign. The first recorded mention of gingerbread being baked in the town dates back to 1793; however, it was probably made earlier, as ginger was stocked in high street businesses from the 1640s. Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century.

"In England, gingerbread may refer to a cake, or a type of cookie / biscuit made with ginger. In the biscuit form, it commonly takes the form of a gingerbread man. Gingerbread men are first attributed to Queen Elizabeth I, who allegedly served the figurines to foreign dignitaries. Today, however, they are generally served around Christmas.

Parkin is a form soft gingerbread cake made with oatmeal and treacle which is popular in the northern England.

In the United States, this form of gingerbread is sometimes called "gingerbread cake" or "ginger cake" to distinguish it from the harder forms. French pain d'épices is somewhat similar, though generally slightly drier, and involves honey rather than treacle. Original French gingerbread did not contain ginger.

In Germany gingerbread is made in two forms: a soft form called Lebkuchen and a harder form, particularly associated with carnivals and street markets such as the Christmas markets that occur in many German towns. The hard gingerbread is made in decorative shapes, which are then further decorated with sweets and icing. The tradition of cutting gingerbread into shapes takes many other forms, and exists in many countries, a well-known example being the gingerbread man. Traditionally, these were dunked in port wine.

In the Nordic countries, the most popular form of ginger confection is the pepperkaker (Norwegian), pepparkakor (Swedish), brunkager (Danish), piparkakut (Finnish) and in the baltic countries piparkūkas (Latvian) or piparkoogid (Estonian). They are thin, very brittle cookies / biscuits that are particularly associated with the extended Christmas period. In Norway and Sweden, pepperkaker/pepparkakor are also used as window decorations, the pepperkaker/pepparkakor are then a little thicker than usual and decorated with glaze and candy. Many families bake pepperkaker/pepparkakor/brunkager as a tradition with their kids. In English, pepperkaker/pepparkakor/brunkager would be referred to as ginger biscuits rather than gingerbread.

In Switzerland, a gingerbread confection known as "biber" is typically a three-quarter inch thick rectangular gingerbread cake with a marzipan filling. Biber are famously from the cantons of Appenzell or St. Gallen and respective biber are artfully adorned with images of the Appenzell bear or the St. Gallen cathedral by engraving or icing.

In the Netherlands and Belgium, a soft and crumbly gingerbread called Peperkoek, Kruidkoek or Ontbijtkoek is popularly served at breakfast time or during the day, thickly sliced and often with butter on top.

Gingerbreads are known in Russia. The most famous gingerbreads there are baked in the ancient cities Tula (Tula gingerbread, Тульский пряник), Vyazma, and Gorodets.

In Poland, gingerbreads are known as pierniki (singular, piernik). The most famous are called Toruń gingerbread (piernik toruński), a traditional Polish gingerbread that has been produced since the Middle Ages in the city of Toruń. It was a favorite delicacy of Chopin's when he visited his godfather, Fryderyk Florian Skarbek, in Toruń during one of his school vacations.

In Romania, gingerbread is called turtă dulce and is usually coated with sugar glazing.

In Brazil, a type of cake similar to gingerbread is known as pão de mel ("honey bread"), it can be as big as a coffee cake, or bite-sized, and it's usually coated with chocolate.

There is also a very popular local variety of gingerbread in Bulgaria. It's called меденка ("made of honey"). Traditionally the cookie is as big as the palm of the hand, round and flat, covered in a thin layer of chocolate. Other common ingredients include honey, cinnamon, ginger and dried clove.

It is also made in Karakol." She was reading from something she had printed out the night before, and when she dismissed the class, she would ask if any of them wanted a copy and would have it ready for them at the next class.

Gotta love Wikipedia

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney looked up from the recipe as a shadow fell over her and she grinned at Miranda. "Of course it is, can't you see my imaginary friend standing right there?" She asked, her eye opened wide as though she had taken offence before she laughed and handed her friend the other recipe. "I wanted to make it look as though the other spot was taken." She shrugged.

She read through the recipe as she took the ingredients out of the pantry and fridge and lined them up on the bench in the order that they would need them, leaving the icing sugar and food colourings in the pantry for now, as they would just take up room on the bench when they weren't needed. "If you want to throw everything together in the bowl, I'll get the oven on, get the trays ready and organise the paper." The recipe had said to divide the mixture in half once it was combined, but she guessed that they would be quartering it, so she got four trays ready with parchment paper on them. She then walked back to the pantry and pulled out the box of cookie cutters. "Do we have to make them into men?" She asked as she saw a rather large collection of animal cutters.

Once the dough was ready, and quartered, she helped Miranda sandwich it between the parchment sheets and then rolled two of them out. She placed her two in the fridge so that they could start firming up but without chancing them freezing while the other two were in the freezer. She then pulled two of the trays onto the bench they were working on so that they were ready for the cookies to be placed on..

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne looked over and smiled as a boy approached her. "Of course you can, Peter." She replied. They had made a good team the previous year, and she was sure that they would do the same this.

She got all of the utensils they would need, including the electric beater, and placed them on the bench, making sure to keep out of the way of where Peter was putting the ingredients, just in case he had a system going.

As soon as the dough was prepared and halved, she carefully rolled her half out and then placed it in the freezer to firm it up. She then set to work washing the dishes that they had made. It always amused her, that no matter what was made, there always seemed to be more dishes than there needed to be, but she didn't complain as she knew that the cookies were going to taste good.

Once her dough was out of the freezer, she placed it on a board - still keeping the paper under it - and pressed the gingerbread man cutter into the dough and placing the cut-outs onto the prepared cookie sheet and rolled the dough again until she had used all of it up, cutting out a few little shapes to finish it off. She then slid the tray into the oven and moved out of the way so that Peter could use the bench to work with his dough.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda grinned and stuck out her tongue at her friend, "That sentence makes no sense, of course I can't see her." She put her bag down at the station, still grinning, "I appreciate it, although I don't know how I feel about being demoted to imaginary."

As Cortney got the ingredients out, Miranda pulled out the bowls they would need. When she heard Cortney's instructions, she nodded, "Whatever you say, boss." The girl might be a year younger than her, but in the kitchen? Miranda was more than happy to step back and do what the junior suggested. She straightened the recipe and glanced over it again before she started following the instructions, throwing things into the bowl in the order that the sheet said to. She grinned as she heard Cortney's question, turning off the processor and turning to glance at the box that her friend held, "Oh, it'd be so awesome if we could do that!" She turned back to her dough, and before too long, it was done.

She helped Cortney with rolling the dough out, preparing it, then watched her friend put the trays into the freezer and refridgerator respectively. "Do you want me to go and ask Ms. Sims about the animal cutters?"

OOC;: Cara, if Cortney says yes, feel free to powerplay Mir as going up to Ms. Sims about it.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Adonya pulled out the food processor and the rest of the things they would need, although she left the trays stacked out of the way. It would be a while before they needed them, and for now, the space was what she needed.

With all of the ingredients on the bench, Adonya checked the recipe again and then started throwing them together, measuring everything out precisely. Yes, it might mean more clean-up later, but then, with a partner to halve the work, it would be easier, but otherwise, she could clean up this once.

When the dough was as fully combined, she put it between two baking sheets and started rolling it out, remembering back when Lawrence had been too young, she and her mother had made all kinds of cookies, some of the only time they had together. Now, it was usually just her in the kitchen, and she preferred it that way. After all, it was much nicer to bake in silence, or with music, or anything that wasn't 'you're in the way' or 'you're doing it wrong'. Who would blame her for that? In her musings, she had the work finished quickly, and she pushed the two trays of dough into the fridge to harden, turning to look at the cutters that they had as options.