Holiday Food Recipe: Gingerbread Cookies

Let me come clean on this one, right off the bat, I am not a fan of gingerbread cookies. I will eat them, as it would just be rude if I didn't try at least one. After all, someone took time to make them.

One thing that must be present if I'm to eat more than one: they must be soft cookies.

My family loves gingerbread and so do most of my friends, so I am the odd man out. Regardless, I decided that since there are so many people who like gingerbread, I should at least learn how to make them. I must admit, they turned out pretty good.

So, I have a recipe that a friend of mine used many years ago. The key to it is that the cookies come out soft. Try it and let me know how they work for you.

Cookie Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup unsulphured molasses
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp grounded cardamom
• 3 1/4 c flour

Icing Ingredients

• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 large egg white
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp orange extract

Cookie Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in the molasses and water.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, stirring constantly.
3. Divide the dough in half and flatten to a round disk and wrap each disk in a plastic wrap and chill overnight. (You can freeze half or all of it if desired for later use.)

NEXT DAY

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface roll out one of the disk of dough, leaving the other Chilled. Rolled to 1/4 inch thickness, adding more flour if needed. Cut the cookies into desired shapes and place about an inch apart on the cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. The cookies should be firm but not browned. Re-roll the scraps and continue to cut and bake until the dough is gone.
2. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Icing Directions

In a large bowl, beat the powdered sugar, egg white, cream of tartar and orange extract on medium high speed for 5 minutes. Check to see if you can form peaks with a teaspoon. If you cannot, beat at a higher speed for a minute more and check again. Beat and check at thirty second intervals until the peaks form. Tint icing with food coloring as desired.

We welcome you to submit your own holiday recipe. Simply fill out the form below and hit submit. We'll probably end up making it and passing it around to everyone here at the station.