Gingerbread Mystery...

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
Nancy, put your sleuthing cap on and get out your magnifying glass:

Last year I made this really wonderful gingerbread (the chilled, rolled, and cutout for cookies type). It was buttery, vanilly, nicely spiced, deep wonderful complex flavor, crisp and didn't puff up and spread, held shape very well when baked, everyone loved it.

And now, of course, I can't remember where I got the recipe. Was there a discussion last year about some wonderful ultimate gingerbread cookie dough recipe? (before I start digging through dozens of christmas cookie books in my library--NOT that that would be a bad thing, just limited on time right now).

TIA!

 
A new favorite emerged from last Christmas's flurry of baking. REC: Our Bestest Gingerbread Cookie

DISCLAIMER: I didn't copy the source on this recipe, and I think I made some tweaks in the original, BUT, if this recipe belongs to someone here, please let us know and accept my apologies!


OUR BESTEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES December, 2009

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
2 egg yolks
4 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 generous tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg yolks.

2. Sift the flour and then gently spoon into measuring cup to measure 4 cups. To the flour, add the salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Sift these together and then blend into the molasses mixture until smooth. Cover, and chill for at least one hour (see note below).

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Frost or decorate when cool.

Notes:

The dough is best handled when it is very cold. After the dough has completely cooled in the fridge, I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes to further chill before rolling out. Only take out of the fridge the amount of dough you plan to roll out at one time. I put the scraps in a bowl and set them back into the fridge to cool, instead of combining them with cold dough for the next rolling. When I’m done with the fresh dough, the scraps are cooled and I can roll them out again.

Goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: FRESH spices are the key to a good gingerbread! If your spices aren’t fresh, throw them out and get new. Your cookies will be so much better.

Enjoy!

 
I went to a holiday concert on Sunday; cutest idea for the reception. They had out gingerbread men

and woman on a lollipop stick decorated in similar colors / outfits to the choristers. Very cute.

Tried to put a photo, but did not come out properly. Anyway the gingerbread woman were dressed in a long blue gown, and the gingerbread men were wearing tux with blue cumberbunt. They were the hit of the reception.

 
It seemed just as easy. The gingerbread is a bit spicier and a little softer, but not much.

The taste testers in our house had two batches and they preferred the new one, taste-wise.

Michael

 
Believe it or not Ang...

In 1984 when I was a poor starving artist playing in the Memphis Symphony for $9,000/year with no health insurance, I had to work many jobs to make a living. One of those was as a "gofer" at Opera Memphis (I was unofficially known as "The Opera Slave"). I painted sets, I followed directors around taking notes, I stuffed envelopes perpetually begging for cash so the opera company wouldn't go broke, whatever needed done, I did it. So...

A holiday performance of the opera "Hansel und Gretel" by Humperdinck. We were sitting in the office trying to think up ways to make more dollars fall into the opera's pockets, and I jokingly said, let's have a bake sale in the lobby at the performances!

You've heard of famous last words? The director of the opera company heard those words fall out of my mouth and...

Guess who baked 40 dozen Hansel and Gretel Gingerbreads from scratch, hand decorated them, and wrapped them (yes that is 40X2X12 or 960 cookies)?

They sold every last one. I can't even remember how much money we raised on that scheme, but I know it was a lot of work that I will never ever ever be doing again. smileys/smile.gif

 
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