Classic Gingerbread Cookies

November 30, 2011

No holiday season is complete without a cookie jar full of freshly baked gingerbread cookies. This dough is perfect for cutout cookies like gingerbread men and women, snowflakes, and Christmas trees. This is a fun activity to do with the whole family.

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

3/4 cup molasses

3 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Powdered sugar for rolling out dough

Assorted candies and decorating sprinkles

Directions:

Let’s Start Mixing-up some cookie dough!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside until ready to use.

In a large bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, egg, and molasses.

Stir in dry ingredients and mix completely. Cover bowl and put in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.

Take out small portions, about 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup, of the cookie dough, and roll out 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness. Use powdered sugar instead of flour to roll out cookie dough. It won’t toughen cookies as flour does if too much is used.

Decorate cookies using candy and sprinkles or leave plain and ice and decorate after baked.

Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Remove from oven.

Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and carefully remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool another 10 minutes before using icing and decorating.