Monday, February 3, 2014

Gingerbread People

Gingerbread People 

1 1/2 dark molasses
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup shortening
7 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Decorators' Frosting (recipe to follow)

Mix molasses, brown sugar, water and shortening. Mix in remaining ingredients except frosting. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350 F. Roll dough to 1/4" thickness on a floured board or counter top. Cut with floured gingerbread cutter or other favorite shaped cutter. Place about 2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake until no indentation remains when touched, 10 to 12 minutes; cool. Decorate with Decorators' Frosting.

Decorators' Frosting: Mix 2 cups powdered sugar and 2 to 3 Tablespoons water--just enough to make a frosting that can be used easily in a decorators' tube or envelope cone and yet hold its shape.

Hints: Again I recommend a flexible metal spatula with a thin blade for loosening the cookies from the counter and again from the baking sheet. This dough can also be made several days ahead and wrapped in wax paper and refrigerated until needed (or frozen).

The number one reason for baking these cookies is that they make your home smell FANTASTIC.

To be able to use these little guys as Christmas ornaments, cut a hole near the top edge of their heads using a clean plastic straw. Flip the circle of dough out with the point of a sharp knife. After baking a decorating you can loop a length of pretty ribbon through the hole and tie them to your Christmas tree. I did this for years as a way to fill out my tree when my ornament collection was still sparse. 


One word of caution: If you get a puppy.....I came home one day to find my young lab had eaten the cookies from the tree up as high as she could reach, leaving only the pretty ribbons dangling. She seemed really pleased with herself.

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