It is the holiday season and I really wanted to share baking with friends and family. So I started with gingerbread people.
The Backstory
A few years back, I had my first cookie decorating session back in 2019 with a friend who is really creative and talented, I shared what we did on this blog and hers were so much better than mine. I have improved some but I still don't hold a candle to my friend. I am fortunate that she agreed to decorate the cookies for me.
The Bake
For the gingerbread people, below is the recipe that I used which yielded 3-1/2 dozen cookies.
Ingredients
-
12 tablespoons (170g) unsalted butter
-
3/4 cup (159g) light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup (255g) molasses
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 4-1/4 teaspoons King Arthur Baking Gingerbread Spice*
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 3/4 cups (450g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Directions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.
- In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Note: This may take a few minutes.
- Add ginger and beat until combined.
- Add the egg and molasses, and beat until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet in 2 increments, beating between each addition.
- Form a dough ball, cover in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour. Yes, chill for 1 hour or more.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Divide the dough in two pieces, and roll each piece out on a floured surface to a little more than ¼" thick. Cut out as many shapes as you can, re-roll dough scraps, and cut out more. Repeat with other half of dough.
- On a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet, bake the cookies for 11 -13 minutes for soft cookies, or a few minutes longer for crisp ones. The soft cookies won't work for building a gingerbread house but decorating and eating work.
Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
*If you don't have gingerbread spice, use 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon allspice or cloves.
For decorating, the Royal Icing was a typical recipe with powdered sugar, milk, and corn syrup. And sprinkles were used. We did cut down on the powdered sugar for less sweetness.
The Result
The cookies not only tasted amazing they looked amazing. We had gingerbread men, women, and stars. The recipients really enjoyed them, they won't last until the holidays.
WILL I MAKE IT AGAIN
Yes! I have a request for gingerbread hearts for Valentine's Day! Maybe I can improve my decorating by then...or maybe I will just ask my firend to decorate again.
