If you're like me and never really liked gingerbread growing up you need to give these cookies a try. I know I used to associated gingerbread with the rock hard store bought houses you would build as a kid, but these are soft and chewy and delicious.
My roommate shared this recipe with us in second year and it's a tradition to make them every year now. Seriously, everyone who says they do not like gingerbread ends up like these.
Here's what you'll need:
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup molases
- 1 egg
Dry Ingredients
- 4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
Basically you want to mix up the dry ingredients in one bowl, and cream the wet ingredients together in another. Then stir the two together to make a really stiff dough and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
You want to roll out the dough to be pretty thick (like 1/2 inch) and cut out your shapes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Just until they turn a bit darker around the edges, just until they are set so that they will stay soft.
Then I wanted to make some buttercream icing to ice the cookies in that pretty design. I followed a recipe on YouTube.
Buttercream:
- 1 cup butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp of vanilla
- optional: green food dye
I used a Wilton star tip #18 to pipe shells to look like needles on the tree.
Be warned, this recipe makes a TON of gingerbread (this picture probably shows less than half of the trees I made) so I have been taking a plate everywhere I go.
Do you guys like gingerbread?
