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December 17, 2011

Gingerbread Cookie Success!!

I have never before made any sort of Gingerbread or Molasses cookies, mainly cuz I never have molasses in the house.  The last big grocery shopping trip we made, I saw the molasses on the shelf and grabbed it, just in case I was feelin' crazy this Christmas baking season.  I thought about making gingerbread cookies the other night, but wasn't sure if I should be so daring.... this week was kinda challenging for me, did I need one more challenge?  All the other new recipes I tried had been disappointing.  It took 5, yes 5, days to get our Christmas tree decorated, and we apparently can only have decorations from thigh high or above.  If we go any lower, our insane "crack kittie" Bobbie, will attack.  I honestly didn't expect the tree to be standing the morning after decorating....  It was though, yeay!!!  
What the heck, let's give the cookies a shot.  

I decided to use King Arthur's recipe.  I have been hearing so many people rave about King Arthur recipe's and products.  Why not try it.  Oh my gosh...  LOVE King Arthur.  The recipe was a success.  Another cool thing about the King Arthur website is that for this recipe, they have a blog.  When I was making the cookies, I started to panic as the dough was like no other dough I have run into for a cookie.  That's when I saw that they had a blog, so I flipped over there and found that I was doing just fine!  There is a just a huge reason for refrigerating the dough, (it needs to chill and to set).  On day two, rolled and baked.  Day three decorated.  Not a stellar decorating job, but they are tasty and kinda cute! I rolled mine a little thicker so they are a soft gingerbread, I really liked that, instead of the thin crisp cookie

Now, I need to try King Arthur baking products now and see if they are as amazing as the recipes!




King Arthur Ginger Bread Cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice or cloves
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 1/2 cups flour

In a saucepan set over low heat, or in the microwave, melt butter, then stir in brown sugar, molasses, salt, and spices. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, let it cool to lukewarm, and beat in the egg. Whisk the baking powder and soda into the flour, stir dry ingredients into the molasses mixture. Divide dough in half, and wrap well. Refrigerate for 1 hour or longer. (Mine was in the fridge for about 24 hours)

Preheat your oven to 350°F. 

Take one piece of dough out of the refrigerator, and flour a clean work surface, and the dough. Roll it out as thin or thick as you like; for slightly less crisp cookies, roll it out more thick (I went just under 1/4 inch). Use flour under and on top of the dough to keep it from sticking to the table or rolling pin. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, cutting them as close to one another as possible to minimize waste. 

Transfer the cookies to ungreased cookie sheets. Bake the cookies until they're slightly brown around the edges 8 to 12 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat. 

I just piped on royal icing for decorating.  Kept it simple.

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