The recipe calls for rendered goose fat (and I’ve never used anything else!) instead of the typical shortening. For spicing the cookies, my grandmother always used anise oil, ground clove, and black pepper.

My one special addition to the recipe that’s my own is a little orange extract to balance out the spice.

For those who don’t bake this special German Christmas cookie, what special family heirloom cookies do you bake?

Here is my stone:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028Y5TNY?ie=UTF8&tag=chickefindsma-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B0028Y5TNY

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to try gingerbread houses. I wanted to do a vegan recipe (even though I’m not vegan). However, I didn’t want to use margarine or egg replacer, which was what most vegan recipes were calling for. I decided on this recipe. http://www.vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=1243&catId=2 

Instead of margarine, I used real butter, and rice milk instead of soymilk. I have allergies to a lot of things, so I was apprehensive about the soymilk.

I knew when I added the vanilla and rice milk that something was amiss. I chilled the batter for a few hours, then tried to roll it out, but it was still pretty wet. I baked four cookies and they pretty much spread out on the cookie sheet and I don’t think they’re edible.

What did I do wrong?

Thanks.

In my experience, some cookies freeze better than others (pre-baking). Does anyone have experience with freezing dough for spritz cookies?  Can I pipe the cookies out, freeze them, pop them in bags, then bake them later?  Looking for any suggestions on how to spread out the work over a couple of weeks or so, since my full time job and toddler somehow mean that I don’t have all the time in the world for baking.

Thank you!
Catherine