Gingerbread Cookies

I love Christmas time because it is an excuse to eat gingerbread men. I decorate the tree with them. Even after these decorations have been on the tree for a couple of weeks (assuming they last that long) they are still great to eat! Yes, they are hard and need to be dipped in hot chocolate, tea, coffee, or hot cider but they are still tasty. Icing is easy when you use the Royal Icing recipe. It dries hard and works well as edible glue for decorations such as silver balls, gummies, currants, raisins, cranberries, small candy canes, and anything else you can think of to fancy up the gingerbread.

One of our customers; Helen, loves her gingerbread plain and cut out into teapot shapes which makes them a great treat at any time of the year. This recipe is also versatile and encourages creativity from the young to the young at heart. Decorating cookies is a tradition from hundreds of years ago.

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1-1/2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

1. Measure sugar, spices, salt, and baking soda, into a bowl.
2. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water into the bowl.
3. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
4. Stir in butter until melted.
5. Add molasses.
6. Gradually add flour until all combined.
7. Form into a ball, wrap in cellophane or put into a bag and refrigerate for up to 1/2 an hour. I have used the dough as soon as it is made but the centre does not come out chewy as it should be - it becomes very dry. The dough is also very sticky and not as easy to handle.
8. Roll out onto flour-dusted surface to about 1/2 inch thick.
9. Cut with a cookie cutter of your choice.
10. Place cutouts onto parchment-lined cookie sheet.
11. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 8 minutes. It is important not to over bake gingerbread as it becomes very hard and dry.

Gingerbread is very versatile and can be rolled, pressed, sugared and thumb printed.

For a change try adding currants, dates, almonds, or dried cranberries to the mix.