Rolled Gingerbread Cookies Food

THE MOST WONDERFUL GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
• In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
• Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
• Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
• Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
• Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
• Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
• Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
• Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
• Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
• Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
• Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
• After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
• I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing.

THE BEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, allspice and cloves in a large bowl.
• Mix the butter, shortening, brown sugar and molasses in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat in the egg. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two additions. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic and pat to 1/2-inch thick. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece of dough to 1/4-inch thick, dusting with flour if needed. Cut into 3- to 5-inch cookies with a gingerbread man cutter or desired shape. Brush off the excess flour and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
• Bake the cookies in batches until they are golden around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
• For the royal icing: Whisk the confectioners' sugar with the meringue powder in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat in 6 tablespoons of water until well combined and you have stiff glossy peaks, adding 1 tablespoon more water at a time to reach a smooth pipeable consistency. Mix in food coloring as desired. Fill pastry bags fitted with tips. Decorate the gingerbread cookies with the icing.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES 101

Steps:

• Position the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt and pepper through a wire sieve into a medium bowl. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at high speed, beat the butter and vegetable shortening until well-combined, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses and egg. Using a wooden spoon, gradually mix in the flour mixture to make a stiff dough. Divide the dough into two thick disks and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours. (The dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.)
• To roll out the cookies, work with one disk at a time, keeping the other disk refrigerated. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature until just warm enough to roll out without cracking, about 10 minutes. (If the dough has been chilled for longer than 3 hours, it may need a few more minutes.) Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick, being sure that the dough isn't sticking to the work surface (run a long meal spatula or knife under the dough occasionally just to be sure, and dust the surface with more flour, if needed). For softer cookies, roll out slightly thicker. Using cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and transfer to nonstick cookie sheets, placing the cookies 1 inch apart. Gently knead the scraps together and form into another disk. Wrap and chill for 5 minutes before rolling out again to cut out more cookies.
• Bake, switching the positions of the cookies from top to bottom and back to front halfway through baking, until the edges of the cookies are set and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on the sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire cake racks to cool completely. Decorate with Royal Icing. (The cookies can be prepared up to 1 week ahead, stored in airtight containers at room temperature.)
• Make ahead: The icing can prepared up to 2 days ahead, stored in an airtight container with a moist paper towel pressed directly on the icing surface, and refrigerated.
• This icing hardens into shiny white lines, and is used for piping decorations on gingerbread people or other cookies. Traditional royal icing uses raw egg whites, but I prefer dried egg-white powder, available at most supermarkets, to avoid any concern about uncooked egg whites.
• When using a pastry bag, practice your decorating skills before you ice the cookies. Just do a few trial runs to get the feel of the icing and the bag, piping the icing onto aluminum foil or wax paper. If you work quickly, you can use a metal spatula to scrape the test icing back into the batch.
• Dried egg-white powder is also available by mail order from The Baker's Catalogue, 1-800-827-6836. Meringue powder, which is dehydrated egg whites with sugar already added, also makes excellent royal icing; just follow the directions on the package. However, the plain unsweetened dried egg whites are more versatile, as they can be used in savory dishes, too. Meringue powder is available from Adventures in Cooking (1-800-305-1114) and The Baker's Catalogue.
• In a medium bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at low speed, beat the confectioners' sugar, egg-white powder and water until combined. Increase the speed to high and beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until very stiff, shiny and thick enough to pipe; 3 to 5 minutes. (The icing can be prepared up to 2 days ahead, stored in an airtight container with a moist paper towel pressed directly on the icing surface, and refrigerated.)
• To pipe line decorations, use a pastry bag fitted with a tube with a small writing tip about 1/8-inch wide, such as Ateco No. 7; it may be too difficult to squeeze the icing out of smaller tips. If necessary, thin the icing with a little warm water. To fill the pastry bag, fit it with the tube. Fold the top of the bag back to form a cuff and hold it in one hand. (Or, place the bag in a tall glass and fold the top back to form a cuff.) Using a rubber spatula, scoop the icing into the bag. Unfold the cuff and twist the top of the bag closed. Squeeze the icing down to fill the tube. Always practice first on a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil to check the flow and consistency of the icing.
• Traditional Royal Icing: Substitute 3 large egg whites for the powder and water.

EASY GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, with mixer at slow speed, beat flour, sugar, butter, molasses, egg, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt until well mixed.
• Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• On a lightly floured surface, working with half of the dough this time, roll 1/8 inch thick. With floured cookie cutters, cut dough into shapes. Using a metal spatula or pancake turner, place cookies 1/2 inch apart on greased cookie sheets. Re-roll trimmings and continue to cut shapes.
• Bake for 8 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

GINGERBREAD CUTOUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until easy to handle, about 4 hours or overnight., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-1/2-in. cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake until edges are firm, 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Tint some of the frosting red and some green; leave remaining frosting plain. Decorate cookies.

BIG SOFT GINGER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg, and whisk together. Set aside for a minute.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the brown sugar and butter until fluffy. Drizzle in the molasses, mixing well and scraping the bowl halfway through if necessary. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the maple extract and mix well. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating until just combined after each addition. The dough will be pretty dense and slightly dry to the touch -- that's the way you want it! Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
• Roll the dough out 1/3 inch thick (rolling between two sheets of plastic wrap will keep the rolling pin from sticking). Cut using any cutters you like, and transfer onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are baked through but still soft, 16 to 18 minutes.

SOFT GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, mix together the molasses, brown sugar, water and butter until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, allspice, ginger, cloves and cinnamon, stir them into the wet mixture until all of the dry is absorbed. Cover the dough and chill for at least 3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out into desired shapes. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

GINGERBREAD MEN COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla;mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Decorate cooled cookies as desired. Store cookies in airtight container up to5 days.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat together the butter, treacle, brown sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg, then beat through all of the remaining dry ingredients apart from the caster sugar. Chill the mixture in the fridge for 1 hr.
• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Roll the mixture into 20 even-sized balls (weighing for accuracy, if you like). Tip the caster sugar onto a small plate, then add each ball and roll around to coat. Space each ball out on the baking sheets. Bake for 9-10 mins until golden brown. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.