Soft in the centers, crisp on the edges, perfectly spiced, molasses and brown sugar-sweetened holiday goodness. A timeless holiday favorite, gingerbread! Nothing screams holiday season more than walking into a kitchen to be greeted by the smell of freshly baked cookies.
Ever wondered what actually goes into these cookies? It’s a fairly simple cookie with ingredients that could be found in many household pantries, maybe minus molasses. This recipe calls for the cookie basics: flour, brown sugar, butter, baking powder, an egg, and vanilla extract. As for the gingerbread essentials, you’ll need the following: molasses, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger, and allspice.
Now that all the ingredients have been gathered, what we’ll need next is the tools and equipment to make this magic happen. This includes the following:
- 1 medium sized bowl
- 1 hand or stand mixer (this recipe uses a stand mixer, but either will work)
- A spatula
- Measuring cups
- A ziploc bag or plastic wrap
- Parchment paper
- A tin baking sheet
Starting off strong, the first step is to take the medium sized bowl and combine the dry ingredients. This includes the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger, and allspice. After measuring out each ingredient as well as combining in the bowl, it can be set to the side until needed again later.
Moving onto the wet ingredients, you will need to take out either a stand or hand mixer. Starting off with the butter, hopefully room temperature, and the brown sugar in the bowl, they should be creamed together until a smooth and creamy consistency is reached. Once this consistency is achieved, the vanilla extract and molasses should all be measured out as well as added into the butter-sugar mixture. It might also be a good idea to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets mixed together. These ingredients should all reach a smooth consistency after being combined.
Where’s the dough, though? Well, look no further! Take the bowl of dry ingredients and slowly combine it into the bowl of wet ingredients. This can be done with a mixer or simply with a spatula in order to avoid overmixing. There should now be a mound of dough with a brown shade and a slightly sticky texture. From here the dough needs to be chilled for a minimum of 3 hours and a maximum of 3 days with overnight being optimal. Longer wait, higher reward!
The time has come to give life to these gingerbread people! Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. After chilling, the gingerbread can be placed onto a lightly floured surface and rolled out to your desired thickness. Gingerbread men are not the only shape this dough can be—be creative! Once you get the dough into your shape of choice and onto a sheet of parchment paper on a baking pan, you are ready to bake! Place each pan into the oven and bake for 9-11 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove from the oven after baking and let cool before enjoying!
Ingredients and measurements:
3 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
½ tsp. Salt
1 tbsp. Ground ginger
1 tbsp. Ground cinnamon
½ tsp. Ground allspice
½ tsp. Ground cloves
10 tbsp. Butter at room temperature
¾ cup light or dark brown sugar
⅔ cup molasses
1 large egg
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
