Special Gingerbread Cookies Recipes

THE MOST WONDERFUL GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
• In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
• Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
• Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
• Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
• Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
• Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
• Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
• Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
• Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
• Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
• Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
• After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
• I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one cookie sheet.
• Mix together the molasses, brown sugar, water and shortening.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, allspice, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Add to sugar mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Roll dough 1/4 inch thick on floured board. Cut with floured gingerbread cutter. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool and decorate with frosting.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Make the Cookies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Put the brown sugar, shortening, and corn syrup in a saucepan and heat on medium, stirring constantly until the shortening is melted. Put all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl; then add the warm sugar mixture, stirring until all of the ingredients are well blended. The dough will appear crumbly but will hold together when rolled out. Use the dough immediately, while it is still warm. If it starts to crumble, place it in a warm oven for 1 to 2 minutes until it softens a bit.
• To make decorated cutout cookies; Roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out gingerbread women and men with cookie cutters. Place the cookies on foil-lined cookie sheets and bake until golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on racks before decorating.
• To decorate, tint a recipe of royal icing to your desired colors. Keep the icing covered with a damp towel while you are working to prevent it from drying out. To cover a cookie with icing, thin some of the icing with a little water and spread it on the cookie with a knife or metal spatula. Leave some of the icing thick for piping borders or other designs, using the #2 tip. Add dragees, edible glitter, colored sprinkles, or other decorations to the wet icing. To attach candies to un-iced cookies, brush a thin layer of clear piping gel on the cookie with a small paintbrush and add decorations.
• Royal icing is very versatile. It is pure white and dries very hard, so it is perfect for making flowers and bows and delicate piped work. It can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 weeks. You should stir the icing to restore its original consistency after storage, but do not rebeat. Royal icing does not work well in high humidity.
• Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat slowly until they are all blended. Then beat at medium speed until the icing forms stiff peaks, about 5 minutes. Add more sugar if the icing is not stiff enough, or a few drops of water if it is too stiff. Use immediately or cover the bowl with a damp cloth to prevent drying when not in use. Allow at least 24 hours for royal icing decorations to dry, at room temperature.
• Yield: 2 1/2 cups

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• On medium-high speed, cream the butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until well combined. Scrape down the sides as necessary.
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between each to combine. Add the molasses and mix to combine.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, pastry flour, baking powder, ginger, salt, cinnamon and cloves to combine.
• Turn the mixer off and add one-third of the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer to low and carefully mix to combine. Continue this process until all the dry ingredients are combined and a dough has formed.
• Remove the dough from the bowl of the mixer onto a clean working surface that has been dusted with flour. Knead the dough to combine it into a smooth ball. If the dough seems warm or too soft to handle, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so.
• Using a rolling pin, roll the gingerbread cookie dough to a thickness of 1/4-to-1/2-inch. Using your gingerbread man cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place 1 1/2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheet. Re-roll excess dough to repeat this process until you have used all the dough.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack
• While cooling, put 1 ounce of the royal icing into a small bowl and dye it black. Put it into a pastry bag with a coupler and a plain #3 tip. Put another 1 ounce of the royal icing into a small bowl and dye it green. Put it into a pastry bag with a coupler and a plain #3 tip. Put another 1 ounce of royal icing into a small bowl and dye it red. Put it into a pastry bag with a coupler and a plain #3 tip.
• After the cookies are cooled, you can turn them into gingerbread men or reindeer.
• For gingerbread men: Using the white icing, add a squiggle line at the edge of each arm and each leg. Using the green icing, pipe 2 triangles together at the neck to create a bowtie. Using the mini chocolate candies, add eyes and buttons. Create the gingerbread man's mouth with the white icing.
• For reindeer: Flip your gingerbread man-shaped cookie upside down so the feet are at the top. Using the white icing, pipe antlers into the "feet" sections of your gingerbread man. Underneath the antlers in the center, pipe eyes and eyebrows. In the "arms" section of the gingerbread man, outline the edges to create your reindeer ears.
• Take a red mini chocolate candy and attach it to the center of the body (underneath the eyes) for the nose. Using your black icing, pipe a mouth underneath the nose. Put a small leaf tip onto your green icing bag and pipe 2 small leaves between the antlers. Pipe 3 small red dots in the center of the leaves as holly berries.

SPECIAL GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven 350 degrees.
• Stir together flour, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer about 30 seconds; add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
• Add molasses and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat on low until combined. To this, add the eggs, orange and lemon zest, beating on low to mix.
• Add flour mixture; stir with a spoon until combined.
• Divide dough into 4 portions; wrap each and chill about 1 hour.
• Grease cookie sheet. Roll out one portion of dough on a lightly floured surface approximately 1/4" thick. Best if not rolled thicker. (Tip: To keep things clean, roll the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap. Use immediately, refrigerate or place in freezer for future use. If frozen, defrost overnight in refrigerator. Keep refrigerated until ready to cut).
• Cut cookies to desired shapes and arrange 1 1/2" apart on a cookie sheet.
• Bake about 7 - 10 minutes or until edges are firm and light brown. Transfer to wire rack.