Fragrant and spicy, this cookie recipe will give you both soft moist gingerbread men and hard crispy cookies for ornamental decorations…it’s all in the processing.
Author:an adaptation by the Wilderness Wife
Category:Cookie
Cuisine:American
Ingredients
UnitsScale
3cups all purpose flour
3/4cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
6oz. unsalted butter, cut into cubes & slightly softened
3/4cup molasses
2 tbs. of milk, may need a little more dependent of dryness of flour
Instructions
Put flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle beater.
Stir dry ingredients together on low speed.
Add butter pieces and mix at low speed until ingredients resemble fine meal.
With mixer running, slowly add molasses and milk just until dough is evenly moistened. Then increase speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined.
Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface.
Divide dough in half.
Place the dough between two large sheets of parchment paper.
Roll out each half to 1/4″thickness.
While still between the parchment paper, stack the sheets of dough on a cookie sheet.
Freeze until firm. This will take about 20 minutes. If you want you can refrigerate the dough overnight. If refrigerating make sure it is for a minimum of 2 hours.
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper, while preheating oven to 350F.
Remove cookie dough from freezer.
Peel off top layer of parchment paper and then lay the paper back down on the dough.
Carefully turn the dough over so that the bottom becomes the top and gently peel away that layer of parchment paper and discard.
Cut dough into desired shapes with cookie cutters and using a large spatula, place them on the parchment lined cookie sheets. Keep them about 1″ apart because they will spread a little in the cooking process.
Bake them for 8 to 11 minutes, I turn the sheet front to back half way through the cooking process so they cook evenly. I test them when I am ready to take them out by pressing my finger lightly on the center of the cookie. If the cookie barely retains a slight indent, they are done. Do not over bake.
Let the cookies rest on the sheet for 2 minutes and then remove with spatula and let cool on wire racks. Decorate cooled cookies with Royal Icing.
Yield is difficult to predict as it is dependent on the size of the cookie cutters you use. This recipe makes about 30 3″ cookies.
