Gingerbread Cookies

These are classic Christmas cookies, and yet, they are a bit unknown to me. I knew about them growing up, but they were never around to eat. If we bought them, it was part of making gingerbread houses that you didn't eat because those were not entirely edible, or they didn't taste good at all. Going forward, these cookies will be a tradition in my house. I just know the smell of these coming out of the oven will remind my family that it's Christmas time.  

Gingerbread Cookies 

Dough Prep time: 30 minutes

Chill time: 1 hour to 24 hours or up to three days

Bake time: 8-10 minutes

yield: 24, four-inch cookies

Ingredients

• 3 & 1/2 Cups All-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt 
• 1 tablespoon Ground Ginger 
• 1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon Cloves 
• 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter (soften to room temperature)
• 3/4 cup brown Sugar
• 2/3 cup dark molasses (use grandmas' brand) 
• 1 large egg (room temperature) 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla (extract or imitation is fine) 
• Optional cookie Icing: 
  • 5 cups Powder sugar 
  •  1 teaspoon vanilla 
  • 2 teaspoons light corn syrup (you can skip this if you don't have any on hand; this just adds sheen to the icing)
  • 4.5-5 tablespoons water (the more you add, the runnier it will be)
  • pinch of salt
  • food coloring of your choice (add more for a more vibrant color)
    • For the icing, there is no order of operation; mix the ingredients with a whisk!
    • You could use a piping bag if you have one, or baggies with a corner cut off as a makeshift piping bag.
    • If you add too much water, but you want a thicker icing, add more powdered sugar. 

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. set aside. 
2. In another large bowl using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, cream the butter for a minute, until smooth snd creamy.
3. Add brown sugar and molasses to the butter, mix.
4. Add egg and vanilla to the butter, sugar mixture. (The butter may separate. This is ok.)
5. Add the flower mixture to the butter, a little bit at a time, until it combines
6. The cookie dough should be thick at this point, at this point. You can choose to let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour or even better, overnight. Sometimes I let mine chill for a few days, and it still comes out fantastic. 
7. Divide the dough into two balls and wrap in plastic to chill
8. Once done chilling or almost done, preheat the oven to 350°F. 
9. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or even better, a silicone mat.
10. Remove the dough from the fridge and generously flour a work surface, rolling pin, and your hands to roll out the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. It won't be easy at first, but after a while, it gets easier. 
11. Cut out shapes and lay them on your cookie sheet. These don't spread much, so about an inch spacing between each cookie should be fine.  
12. You can re-ball the cookie dough and keep cutting shapes till you run out of dough. 
13. Bake the cookies for 8 to 1o minutes, depending on the size of your shape, small ones at 8 minutes, bigger at 10 minutes. It will be hard to tell if these are done, since they are already brown; the longer they bake, the harder and crunchier they will get. For softer cookies, aim for 10 minutes at most. 
14. Allow the cookies to cool for five minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Once completely cool, decorate them! but they are cute, plain too
15. The cookies will stay fresh at room temperature for one week, baked and decorated (and not decorated) will stay fresh three months if frozen. unbaked cookie dough after step seven will stay fresh in the freezer for up to 4 months. 

Gingerbread House: this recipe isn't for that, but next year I may figure that out!