A Strong (& Delicious) Finish

Remember my goal of cooking at least one new thing a month in 2012?  For more details, see here.  Well, I was able to meet that goal and finish the year strong with some delicious homemade gingerbread cookies, one of my very favorite types of cookie.  A friend at school shared this recipe with me, and I made a few minor adjustments.  My cousin Sarah and I had great fun making these on Christmas Eve, and all the family enjoyed eating them throughout the week.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water (*I changed this to 1/2 cup water because I wanted the cookies to be a little moister, and it worked great.)
• 1 cup molases
• 5 cups all-purpose flour (*I used slightly less than 5 full cups, but at least 4 and 1/2 cups.)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1.2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Steps:

• Beat butter and sugar at medium  speed with an electric mixer until fluffy (3-4 mins).  Stir together 1/4 cup water and baking soda until dissolved, stir in molasses.
• Combiner flour and next 4 ingredients.  Add to butter mixture alternately with molasses mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
• Shape dough into a ball, cover and chill for 1 hour.
• Roll dough to 1/4 inche thickness on a lightly floured surface.  
• Cut with cooke cutters and place 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.  (*Time may be a little less depending on the thickness of your cookies.)

 

Pre-baking: We didn't have a cookie cutter for gingerbread men, so we made gingerbread hearts and stars. 

Just out of the oven, lightly dusted with powdered sugar, and ready to be enjoyed!