The Most Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies

Excellent recipe!! <br/><br/>I followed it to the letter and no need to reduce the flour at all (I HARDLY TOUCHED THE DOUGH! ) thanks to THE BEST HINT i read from another user on food.com (either on this recipe or another one i am not sure):<br/><br/>*ROLL THE CHILLED DOUGH BETWEEN WAXED PAPER<br/>*TAKE OFF THE TOP PAPER and CUT OUT THE SHAPES (puzzle like) WITHOUT MOVING OR HANDLING THE DOUGH AT ALL<br/>*~PUT THE PAPER & DOUGH ON A BAKING SHEET IN THE FREEZER<br/>*TAKE OUT AFTER 10 min AND THE SHAPES ARE SO EASY TO REMOVE WO BREAKING! ONTO A BAKING SHEET STRAIGHT INTO THE OVEN!<br/><br/>I did all kind of shapes even the mini stars came out perfect!! The taste was delicious!!<br/><br/>Many thanks for sharing this recipe!

This is a great recipe for gingerbread cookie lovers; great ginger taste (a tablespoon had me sneezing for about a minute) which is the main reason why it gets my 4 stars. However on the second batch of cookie dough I did a little tinkering. The first batch I followed the recipe to the letter, but I think there is an issue of word usage in the directions. It says after adding the last bit of the dry ingredients to mix until dough is smooth. This dough will not be smooth but more like pie crust, so make sure you mix until well incorporated. It will be pretty much a heavy chunk of heavenly smelling dough that can easily divided to chill. Also with as much ginger this recipe calls for, keep in mind even after baking these cookies will have a strong ginger flavor which is great for gingerbread cookie lovers like myself, but be prepared for the non-fans. A nice coating of Royal Icing can help in this regaurd, or the traditional raisins. My second batch I reduced the amount of flour to 2 1/2 cups, and reduced the ginger by half. Since gingerbread is used for cut out cookies there is the risk of the dough becoming tough using the dusting of flour to keep it from sticking. There is already quite a bit of flour in the dough itself so you will need even less flour dusting than say with sugar cookie dough, however after repeated dusting and handling, reducing the cooking time won't help having a rather hard cookie after cooling. Using a half cup less flour there is room for dusting and handling no problem, but make sure you chill at the very least 3-4 hours and keep dough you're not using in the frige. Reducing the amount of ginger by half gives the cookie a more mild ginger flavor which appeals to children far better as well as those finicky "big kids" who want a more sweet cookie. Otherwise it's a great recipe for a traditional Christmas cookie making it well worth your time and love.

Cut the recipe in half. Let sit for 1.5h at room temp. Made circles Bc we didn't have any cutters. Also substituted coconut oil for butter 1:1 ratio. Totally don't taste the coconut which was great for us. Husband hates anything coconut flavor. He loved these btw. Made these with my son and loved them! Thank for this. It will be a staple in our family. Added some powdered sugar, vanilla extract and water glaze on top!!! Yummy ??

This is a great recipe, people who have bad comments on it obviously screwed it up. If you follow the instructions carefully and double check measurements you will have no problems. The dough will look dry af when you work it together. If you keep stiring and pressing the dough down it will eventually combine. If it's still too dry you've obviously added too much flour. The measurements are pretty precise. What I tried was keep rotating and condensing the pieces together in a bowl until it is combined and uniform with care not to actually knead it. Let it sit for an hour or two to "soak" up the ingredients and you will be fine. Note, USE FANCY OR ORIGINAL UNSULPHERED MOLASSES. Blackstrap molasses are bitter and not as sweet. It will ruin your cookies!!! This is a fairly spicy cookie, you can tone it down by adding a bit less of each spice. I added an extra 2 Tbsp of butter to jazz it up a bit and a bit less baking soda/baking powder so it doesn't spread as much as I was trying retain the shape I cut out! Good luck!

I made it thick so it was soft and delicious!! I didn't even like gingerbread cookies before but I made it for my kids and now I like gingerbread cookies! This recipe is simple, easy and delicious for me. I'll definitely make it again!