Good morning 🐣

Check out days one, two, and three if you missed ’em.

We all know food plays an integral role in the Shrek Saga and hoo boy “Shrek 2” spares no expense, with an especially tense dinner scene between the newlyweds and Fiona’s parents.

Food gets people talking (and sometimes using it as an excuse NOT to talk), but in this series food can even take on a life of its own. We already talked about Gingy yesterday and welcomed him into our hearts, so I think today is a great opportunity to welcome him into our stomachs!

Last year’s SHREK WEEK featured a recipe for a mouth-watering onion tart (“Ogres are like onions… Onions have layers. Ogres have layers.”) but this year — again in collaboration with chef Liliana Dawidoff — I present to you a recipe for scrumdiddlyumptious gingerbread cookies.

I personally don’t have any man-shaped cookie cutters (though I do have a cat shape that my mom bought me because I’m one of those people), but I’d love to see photos of your own gingerbread men, women, cats, whatever. Send ’em in!

Recipe for gingerbread cookies 🫚

3 hours to chill dough • ~10 minutes to bake • makes dozens of cookies or one castle-sized walking, talking monstrosity named Mongo

Ingredients

• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• ⅔ cup unsulphured dark molasses
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

2. In another large bowl:

   • Beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy.

   • Add the brown sugar and molasses, beat on medium high speed until combined and creamy.

   • Add the egg and vanilla, beat on high speed for 2 minutes.

3. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, beat on low speed until combined. The dough will be quite thick and slightly sticky.

4. Divide the dough in half and tightly wrap each half separately in plastic wrap. Be sure to pat them down into disc shapes, then chill these dough discs for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.

5. After the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.

6. Flour your hands, working surface, and rolling pin. Roll out one of the dough discs until ¼-inch thick, then cut into shapes. Place the shapes 1 inch apart on your baking sheets. Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough is shaped. Repeat with the second dough disc.

7. Baking instructions for soft cookies (bake a little longer for crunchier cookies):

   • If your cookie cutters are SMALLER than 4 inches, bake for about 8 minutes.

   • If your cookie cutters are LARGER than 4 inches, bake for about 11 minutes.

8. Finally, allow the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring them to racks to finish cooling. After that, decorate them with your loved ones…

See you tomorrow! 💚