From Scratch

Whenever I make gingerbread cookies for the holidays, I wonder why I don’t make them more often. They’re really a delicious cookie, especially for those of us without a serious sweet tooth. We associate them with Christmas, of course, but with different cookie cutters they can be used for any holiday or none at all. And as cutout cookies go, they’re relatively fast to finish since they’re usually accented with frosting, not covered with it.

This is based on a Betty Crocker recipe and although it claims to yield 10 dozen 2″ cookies, I don’t see how it could. I cut the recipe in half and, using a 4″ cutter, I got a dozen people. I also got eight 2″ Stars of David and could have gotten two or three more with re-rolling. It’s a somewhat sticky dough; I had to add pinches of flour underneath it several times but it’s by no means an aggravating dough.

As you can see, I like to add “hair” to some of my gingerbread men and women. Just squeeze some dough through a garlic press onto wax paper, chill and add it after the cookies have baked for three minutes. If that’s too fussy, attach it from the start but the hair will have less definition — like the guy on the right with the comb over. 

By the way, the one with no eyes is yours truly, in memory of my mother, who was renowned for her fussy Christmas cookies and who told me at least a dozen times a day to puh-leeze get my hair out of my eyes.

Gingerbread Cookies

Adapted from Gold Medal Flour

The amounts I used for a half recipe are in parenthesis. Rather than divide an egg, I made up for it by using less than half the amount of water in the full recipe.

1 1/2 cups sugar - (3/4 c./150g)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened - (1 stick/113g)
3 tablespoons molasses - (1.5 TB)
1 egg - (1 egg)
2 tablespoons water or milk - (2 tsp)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (1.5 c.+ 2TB/200g)
2 teaspoons baking soda - (1 tsp)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon - (1 tsp)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger - (3/4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon salt - (1/4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom - (1/4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves - (1/4 tsp)

In a bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Stir to blend well. Set aside.

Using a wooden spoon, a hand mixer or a stand mixer, combine the sugar, butter and molasses and beat well, until creamy.

Add egg and water (or milk) and beat. Stir in flour mixture until thoroughly combined.

Turn out onto floured surface and divide into three pieces if making the full recipe or two pieces if making half. Form into balls, flatten slightly, wrap well and refrigerate at least one hour or until firm.

When ready to make the cookies, set an oven rack in the center and preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4 and line a baking or cookie sheet with parchment.

Remove one dough ball from the fridge, leaving the other(s) in, and roll the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/8″ to 1/4″, as preferred. Cut into shapes as desired and bake one sheet at a time for 6- 7 minutes.

Let stand on baking sheet for 2 minutes then move to a rack to cool completely before decorating as desired.

Related: Spiced Cutout Cookies

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Tags: Christmas, Hanukkah