Shortbread isn’t the only Christmas cookie in town this year. Nope, not by a long shot. You can’t forget about the other holiday cookie favorite: gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies can be shaped into little dancing men or even houses, but either way, they’re a traditional and classic holiday sweet and perfect for your Christmas gathering.
And that naturally leads into a simple question: how do you make gingerbread from scratch? It’s pretty simple, really. While gingerbread requires more ingredients and a little more work than say, shortbread, it’s still relatively simple to make. And once you have the basics of the dough down, you get to focus on more fun aspects, like decorating your little gingerbread men or building a gingerbread house.
How to Make Gingerbread
Before you start whipping up some delicious gingerbread cookies, you’ll need to collect all of the ingredients. You’ll need: 1 cup of unsalted butter (softened), 1/2 cup of molasses, 1 egg, 1 cup of brown sugar, 4 cups of all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 2 1/4 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of allspice.
Start by mixing butter and sugar. Whip it until it’s completely mixed and mixture is fluffy. Add in egg and mix completely. Next, add in molasses and then baking soda, salt, allspice, cinnamon, and ginger. Lastly, add in 4 cups of flour slowly, mixing in a little bit at a time (mixing it in slowly makes it easier to combine the flour the flour into the rest of the mixture).
Once the dough is mixed, take it out of the bowl and knead it into a ball. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a long rectangle. Next, cut dough into quarters and stack on top of each other. Cover tightly in plastic wrap and stick in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or until dough is slightly hardened.
After the dough is refrigerated, let it sit for a few minutes to warm up to room temperature. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out dough with a rolling pin to 1/8″ thick and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes (or gingerbread men!). Place them on a greased cookie tray and bake for 9-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool before decorating with icing and small candies. If you want some great gingerbread men decorating ideas, check out these versions on Pinterest for inspiration.
Do you have a great gingerbread recipe to share with us? Post in the comments!
