Macheesmo

I was looking for a great cookie recipe to top off my 12 cookies of Christmas list, but instead of going for something elaborate, I thought I would go the simple route. An old school gingerbread recipe seemed like the perfect thing.

But I didn’t want to do just gingerbread cookies. I wanted to go big. So I made this:

You might think that some of the design work on this guy isn’t the most professional, but I think that it is pretty freakin’ good. I had a little helper, my nephew Ethan, for the design process. As you can see, he enjoyed the project.

But let’s talk about the cookies. Because they are actually delicious. I got the recipe from Elise over at Simply Recipes and it is a really good. As it tends to go when I make a new dish and I’m in a hurry, I messed it up a bit, but it still turned out great.

Gingerbread Cookies

by Nick

Serves:

2 dozen cookies

Prep Time:

20 mins

Total Time:

2 hrs

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I make my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe with my nephew over the holidays! We try to not eat them all.

Adapted from Simply Recipes.

Ingredients

Gingerbread Recipe:

3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

3/4 cups butter (preferably unsalted) at room temp

3/4 Teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup dark-brown sugar

1 Tablespoon ground ginger

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 Teaspoon ground nutmeg (fresh is best)

1/4 Teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

Icing:

1 egg white

1/2 Teaspoon lemon juice

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1) To start this recipe take your dry ingredients (flour, spices, and baking soda) and mix them well in a bowl.

2) Then you want to cream your butter with your sugar. Start beating your butter for a few minutes and then add in your sugar. The sugar will help make the butter light and fluffy. After a few minutes beat in your egg and molasses as well.

3) Slowly mix in your dry ingredients with your wet and you will have a very thick dough. Near the end you will probably have to work it with your hands.

4) Divide the dough into two balls and place it in a cold place to chill for at least an hour.

5) Roll dough into about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into any shapes you want!

6) Bake cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet for 7-8 minutes at 350 degrees F.

7) For a quick icing, just beat one egg white which I beat until fluffy and then I whisked in my lemon juice and powdered sugar. Super-easy and works great for decorating these guys. I put mine in a Ziploc bag and cut off the very tip of it to make a redneck pastry bag.

To start this recipe take your dry ingredients (flour, spices, and baking soda) and mix them well in a bowl. This recipe is really made by having good spices so if you have some jar of ground cloves that has been in your pantry for ten years, now would be a perfect time to replace it.

Then you want to cream your butter with your sugar. Start beating your butter for a few minutes and then add in your sugar. The sugar will help make the butter light and fluffy. After a few minutes beat in your egg and molasses as well.

If you look at the above photo you will note one obvious mess up, but there is a second less obvious mess up as well. I accidentally added my sugar to my dry ingredients rather than cream it in with the butter. OOPS. That’s a pretty big mistake actually. Rather than re-do it I just added 1/4 cup of sugar to my butter to help it along. My ending cookies were maybe a bit sweeter than the originals. Nobody complained.

The second less obvious thing was that I used light brown sugar rather than dark brown sugar. I wasn’t going to go to the store just for that.

My cookies came out great even with those mistakes, but I would recommend following the recipe if you want guaranteed success.

Slowly mix in your dry ingredients with your wet and you will have a very thick dough. Near the end you will probably have to work it with your hands.

Divide the dough into two balls and place it in a cold place to chill for at least an hour. I chose the frigid Wyoming air for my cooler.

After an hour we are ready to roll (HA!). I find this dough much easier to roll if you slap it between two pieces of wax paper. Then roll it to your desired thickness. I like mine maybe 1/4 inch thick.

If you are making regular cookies, cut them out and put them on an un-greased cookie sheet. They need to cook for 7 minutes at 350. I always err on the side of undercooked for these guys. Some people like crispy ginger cookies in which case you should cook them for 8-9 minutes.

But say you want to be like me and make one or two really large guys. Roll your dough a bit thicker (maybe 1/3 inch thick). Get an artistic friend to draw you a large dude and cut out the design. Then go around the edges with a sharp knife. Don’t worry, the dough is pretty easy to cut like this. It isn’t really sticky.

Again bake these at 350 for about 7 minutes.

The icing I made to decorate these with was just one egg white which I beat until fluffy and then I whisked in my lemon juice and powdered sugar. Super-easy and works great for decorating these guys. I put mine in a Ziploc bag and cut off the very tip of it to make a redneck pastry bag.

As you can see, we had a lot of fun.

Merry Christmas Eve everybody!