What is more Christmasy than gingerbread cookies? They are such a classic treat, not to mention they make your house smell like Santa’s workshop. If you know me, you know that I have a love-hate relationship with baking. Maybe it is because I love cooking, and with cooking there is wiggle room to be creative. That’s not the case with baking. You have to follow the recipes exactly or you end up with Pinterest fails (something I have just come to embrace when it comes to baking). Anyway, baking from scratch usually ends in me dropping some unfavorable four-letter words and wondering why I didn’t just go with store-bought.
Well, my child loves to help in the kitchen and especially loves to bake, so here we are. The problem I’ve found with other gingerbread recipes is that they either turn out too crispy, too flat, or you have to wait hours for the dough to chill. I even found one recipe that called for a 24 hour chill time for the dough. (You want to explain that to a preschooler? Ha! Yeah, right.) So after experimenting (and swearing) a lot, I landed on this perfect, fool-proof recipe. These cookies are soft, chewy and you can roll out the dough as soon as you are done making it with zero chill time. This means happy kids, happy bellies, a house that smells delicious, and a mommy with only nice words coming out of her mouth. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1tsp baking soda
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
- 2tsp ground ginger
- 1tsp kosher salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and either grease a baking sheet or line it with these silicone baking mats.
- Beat the butter and sugar in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth.
- Add the molasses and vanilla and mix until blended well.
- Beat in eggs one at a time.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients little by little. You may choose to switch to the hook attachment once most of the dry ingredients have been added.
- Once the dough is well blended and smooth, divide it into two or three smaller pieces and roll out on a floured surface.
- Use cookie cutters to cut your gingerbread men, trees, stockings, etc. and place them on the baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes or until the dough is golden brown and slightly darker around the edges.
- Let cool for a few minutes before icing.
- Set out with a glass of milk for Santa on Christmas Eve to ensure receiving good gifts.
This will yield about 3-4 dozen cookies. Decorate and place them in cellophane bags, tied with a festive ribbon to gift as class treats, teacher gifts, neighbor gifts, or just store them in an airtight container and keep them all to yourself. We won’t judge you! Happy baking!
