When I’m on Winter Break I want to do two things: play video games and eat cookies!!! I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIV since the launch of 2.0 over 2 years ago and while I’ve taken a little break to play FFXV recently, it is still my first MMO and I LOVE IT. In the game, you create your own character(s) who teams up with other players to save the world of Eorzea from evil, and in traditional Final Fantasy fare there are crystals, chocobos, magic, and jobs!
Jobs?!? Yes, Jobs. Classes, Roles, and Jobs have been a staple of the series all the back to the beginning when you chose your four “Warriors of Light” from the original (NES) options of Fighter, Black Belt, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. Eventually, they would “level up” (although I always thought of them as “growing up”) into more advanced classes. Final Fantasy III, which didn’t hit the United States until a few years ago with a remastered port, was the first game in the series to introduce the “Job System” as we’ve come to know it today. Basically, you start as a Freelancer who, through the power of different crystals, can take on the role of many different jobs learning special techniques. This system has come in and out of the series over the years.
Final Fantasy XIV brought the job system back with an homage to it’s roots – beginning as “classes” and eventually graduating to “jobs”. The game has since eschewed “classes” and have only included new Jobs in their expansions. (This recipe by the way only includes up to the “Heavansward” expansion and doesn’t not include any of the base classes from “A Realm Reborn”.) Anyway, as you play through the game your job or class is indicated by a little icon in your party menu bearing a unique symbol and a color based on your “Role” – tank, healer, or DPS. They seemed like the perfect shape and colors for some Christmas cookies, so I present to you my Final Fantasy XIV Job Icon Gingerbread Cookies!
To make the cookies you will need:
- For the Cookies:
- 3 c. AP Flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¾ c. soft Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- ½ c. molasses
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3” x 3” square cookie cutter (or a ruler and sharp knife)
- For the Royal Icing Decoration:
- 2 lbs powdered sugar (aka confectioner’s or icing sugar)
- 4 ½ Tbls meringue powder
- ¼ c. plus 2 Tbls warm water
- ¼ c. lemon juice (strained if using fresh)
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 Tbls. vanilla extract
- Brown, Green, Blue, and Red Food Coloring (I used Americolor gel paste: leaf green, royal blue, and a mix of burgundy and red red. Any brown color is fine)
- A toothpick or a scribe tool
- 3 plastic sandwich bags and a pair of scissors
- 1 piping bag fitted with a small round tip like a #2 or #3
- Gold luster dust (aka Pearl Dust)
- A little clear alcohol like Vodka
- A small paintbrush
- Some tissue paper
- A food-safe marker
- The Template found here: FFXIV Job Icon Template (If making different-sized cookies head to the “Templates” section and you can find an adjustable Word Document version of the template.)
And of course you’ll need things like a mixer, rolling pin, extra flour, baking trays etc., but you’ll figure all that out as you read along! 🙂
Let me show you how it’s done!
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F
- Whisk your dry ingredients (flour, salt, and spices) together in a mixing bowl and set aside for later.
- Cream together the butter and sugar either by hand or with a mixer until just combined. Don’t incorporate too much air.
- Mix in the egg, and then the molasses and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients and slowly mix until it’s all combined.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and bring it together into a ball with your hands. Sprinkle with more flour if it’s too sticky. Optional: Chill your dough in the fridge for 30 minutes – 1 hour. It will make it much easier to roll out and cut, but you MUST bring the cookies back to room temperature before baking.
- Roll out the dough to about a ¼ inch thickness and cut out 3″ x 3″ squares with your cookie cutter or with a ruler and knife.
- Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 8-9 minutes.
- Once the cookies are out, if their shape isn’t to your liking, immediately re-cut the cookies with your cookie cutter or knife. (Careful with metal cutters as the heat will heat up the metal, and to not melt your plastic cookie cutters!) Let cookies cool completely on a rack before decorating.
- Make the Royal Icing. Whisk the meringue powder, water, and lemon juice in the (clean) bowl of a stand mixer until frothy. Add all of the powdered sugar, and slowly mix with a very clean paddle attachment for 3-4 minutes. (Don’t go past medium speed, you don’t want to incorporate too much air). After 3-4 minutes add the vanilla and beat for another 5-6 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and mix for a bit longer.
- Color and thin Icing. Tint about a quarter of the icing red, and the same in blue, and green. Thin these icings to 15-second flooding consistency, which means if you run a knife through it, the icing will come back together in 15 seconds. The easiest way to do this with by spraying a little water from a water bottle into the icing a mixing it. This helps ensure you don’t make it too runny. Transfer these to the sandwich bags, press out the air, and seal. Tint the remainder of the icing light brown and make it medium consistency (It will hold its shape, but come back together when agitated) and transfer to the piping bag with the small round tip (cover tip with plastic wrap until ready to use). Optional: Make the icing a day or two in advance and keep sealed. The colors will deepen and the icing will dry on the cookies with a shiner texture. However, you can absolutely use it right away as well. The icing will just have a lighter color and dry with a matte texture.
- Flood the cookies in green, red, and blue. For this recipe you need 3 Blue, 3 Green, and 7 Red cookies. Cut a small tip off the end of the sandwich bag outline the cookie with the thinned icing then immediately fill in the center. Use a toothpick to smooth the icing out, bringing it into the corners and to the edges with little circular motions. Let dry for 8-10 hours or overnight.
- Print out template and take some small square of tissue paper and trace each design onto the paper using the food safe marker. Then trace over that design on the surface of the cookie so that the ink bleeds through.
- With the light brown medium-consistency icing pipe over the image on the cookie making sure to cover any of the ink from the marker. Use a toothpick to help shape the icing if you need. Shake the cookie vigorously to help smooth out the icing.
- Outline the cookie in the same way and let dry for at least 2 hours.
- Mix some gold luster dust together with a few drops of vodka and paint over the light brown icing design with the gold “paint”. Let the paint dry for 20 minutes or so before handling them.
And there you go – FFXIV Job Icon Gingerbread Cookies!
The great thing about these cookies is if you don’t know or didn’t want to make these designs you could use the same recipe with whatever holiday image you wanted!!
I’d like to acknowledge the recipes and techniques I borrowed to make these holiday treats. Here are some links you can check out!
Cookies: http://thekitchenpaper.com/gingerbread-cookies-wont-spread/
Icing: http://www.hanielas.com/2011/10/fresh-lemon-royal-icing.html
Decorating Technique: http://trending.sweetambs.com/videos/honda-cookies
