I thought maybe we could make ginger bread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands.
There are a lot of cookies being whipped up in my kitchen at this time of the year, but gingerbread is the grand-daddy of them all. The recipe yields enough cookies to feed the state of Oklahoma. It is the messiest baking project I get myself into every year, and usually the most time consuming. It is also one of the most fun.
I cut the recipe in half this year, as I don’t care to still be eating gingerbread at Valentine’s Day (they seriously last that long, usually). I am going to go ahead and post the halved version here… it still makes a ton of cookies, believe you me.
Gingerbread Cookies
- 1/2 C butter, softened
- 1 C sugar
- 1 egg
- Approx. 1 C molasses
- 1 C buttermilk (I substituted regular milk mixed with vinegar)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 5-6 C flour (plus plenty of extra to keep the dough from getting too sticky when you’re rolling it out)
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine butter and sugar. Mix in the egg, then add molasses and milk. Stir in the baking powder, soda, ginger, salt, and cinnamon along with the flour a little at a time until you have a very thick, sticky dough.
Take a portion of the dough and roll out on a well floured (a very well floured) surface. Cut out into the shapes of your choosing (I myself am partial to tiny flowers and velociraptors). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes. When they’re done, remove from the pan right away to cool.
Repeat with the remaining dough.
