Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

By Bob Sherman

I don't remember the source of this recipe because I have it written on a scrap of paper, but it is the best gingerbread I have ever tasted. In this article I will provide the recipe and some illustrated decorating ideas.

Recipe

Wet mix - Cream together the butter and sugar then add the egg and molasses, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Dry mix - Sift together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.

While blending add the dry mix to the wet mix a little at a time until fully blended.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I find overnight works best.This will make it easier to roll out.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick.

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and transfer them to an un greased cookie sheet. Optional: If you wish to make gingerbread ornaments, a hole may be made near the tops before baking.

Bake until edges are lightly browned (8 - 12 minutes depending on size of cookies).

Allow to sit on the sheet for 1 minute after removing from the oven, then use a spatula to transfer to cooling racks. Note: we never had cooling racks and used to place these atop bath towels spread out on a table to cool. So if you don't have cooling racks try that.

Allow the cookies to cool fully before decorating.

Hints And Tips

Always bake these one sheet at a time.

Always allow the cookie sheets to cool before placing more cookies on it.

Decorating

Use a skewer to make holes near the top to put a ribbon through if you wish to make these into ornaments.


I like to use royal icing on these as it hardens nicely and is very durable. Mix 1 pound of royal icing mix to 5 tablespoons of water. Whisk until stiff peaks form.


Prepare disposable decorating bags for each color by snipping off the ends and inserting tubes. Since these are fairly small cookies I used mostly a small round tube. Some folks simply use a bag with the tip cut off, but I find that I have better control with inexpensive decorating tubes.


Fold a 2 inch cuff at the top of each bag.


Separate some icing for each color desired. Add gel or powdered food color. I don't recommend liquid food color as it will alter the consistency of the icing.


On the bag with white icing I used a coupler to enable changing tips if desired. A star tube was used later to add star to the trees.


Spoon the icing into the bags, unfold the cuff, and squeeze it down towards the tip.


By filling the bags approximately 1/3 full they may be used with one hand using the following method.

1. Fold top corners to the center.

2. Fold top edge over.

3. Roll the edge until it look like this illustration.

The bag is now easily held and squeezed with one hand.


Decorate as desired. Note the hole on these ornaments for inserting a hanging ribbon.


An assortment of non traditional shapes in gingerbread.


Traditional gingerbread girls and boys.


Materials

The following materials and equipment were used in this article:

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Disclaimer: The information presented here is accurate to the best of my knowledge and common chocolate making practices as of the time of this writing - originally published in December 2007 and updated in November 2010. The author and the publisher accept no liability for the use or misuse of any of the information presented in this article. This article is presented for informational purposes and is used at your own risk.

Author: Bob Sherman

Publisher: Bobby's Craft Boutique Inc.

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