We Are Not Professionals

These cookies are not for sale. I know you must be thinking that you wish you could buy them because they would make amazing Christmas gifts. You are thinking WHY IN THE WORLD do these people not have a storefront somewhere? They should be making a small fortune with their cookie decorating skills!

Well, you would be right. But unfortunately we all have other things that keep us occupied so we reserve our artistic cookie talents for slightly silly family get-togethers and holiday functions.

You can, too!

But if your cookies do not turn out as perfectly as ours, well… I mean don’t feel bad about it or anything. We are not professionals. But we’re close.

In a big ‘ol bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Normally I would mix the wet ingredients together in a large bowl and gradually add in the dry, but these gingerbread cookies call for 3 cups of flour. that’s alot. So I did it backwards (though I still added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly). It worked nicely. No worries.

In this other bowl I beat together butter and sugar. Then I added an egg.

Just one egg?

Yes. Just one.

Then I poured in the secret ingredient that explains why gingerbread cookies can taste so good with only 1/2 cup of sugar: MOLASSES. Unsulphured molasses. I used Grandma’s (it’s a brand- probably not the fanciest high quality molasses, but they were easy to find at the grocery store, and I am pretty partial to affordable convenience).

Molasses stick to EVERYTHING. Save yourself a world of trouble and spray your measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray before adding the molasses. Your dishwasher will thank you.

After you’ve mixed together all your wet ingredients, add them to the dry. Then use a wooden spoon (or whatever you have handy) and slowly incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. Elbow grease required. When you have a big bowl full of cookie dough, divide it in half and wrap in plastic to refrigerate before you roll it out and get down with the cookie cutters.

When you roll  out your gingerbread dough, lightly flour your work surface, your cookie cutters, and your rolling pin. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. Go crazy.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Let the cookies cool and then use every spare sprinkle in the pantry, plus your imagination (and the frosting– recipe below).

Gingerbread Cookies (like a pro)

Ingredients

3 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2/3 cup unsulphured molasses

To Make

In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl beat together butter and sugar. Then add the egg, then the molasses. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and slowly combine. Divide the dough in half, shape into two discs, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for a couple hours, overnight if you want.

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease a cookie sheet. Take out one disc of dough and roll out onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes and bake on prepared cookie sheet for about 10 minutes. Let them cool completely and decorate to your hearts desire!

Cookie Frosting: Beat together 1 soft stick of butter, 2 cups of sifted powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add a tablespoon or two of milk until you like the consistency. We divided our frosting up and added food coloring. Then we ate the rest with a spoon.

****Note: I saved the second disc of gingerbread dough for some cheesecake bites that I’m making this weekend. If you want gingerbread AND cheesecake (MMmmmmm,I know, right?), I suggest you follow suit. Also, stay tuned.****