At Christmas one of my most beloved traditions growing up was to decorate gingerbread houses. I know it is not exactly original, but it was fun. My mother baked, cut out, and assembled about 14 houses a year and we each decorated 1 or 2. Then my mom would deliver the houses to all of our friends. (We continue this tradition with our family, too.)
What could be more exciting for a munchkin? Cookie houses, covered in frosting and bowls upon bowls of brightly colored candy.Uh, yeah, for me that was paradise.
However up until I was married and Justin and I started making them did I realize you could actually eat one of these… we just always decorated them for the fun of it and gave them away.
Only recently did my mom tell me about how good the dough was as cookies.The houses get a bit more flour and cooking time to help them hold their form (see the recipe and baking tips here), but the cookies are soft and delicious.
So, when you’re baking up your other Christmas cookies like peanut butter blossoms, snowball cookies, or your other favorites, try adding these delicious gingerbread cookies to your list.
Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, mix with a whisk and set aside.
In another bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and molasses, combine thoroughly. Add the flour mixture into the wet mixture, till combined.
Scoop out the cookies and roll in brown sugar. Freeze or bake at this point. If baking, place on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. (I used a small scoop and it made 4-5 dozen) If frozen simply pull them out and place on cookie sheet and bake.
Food memories are a big part of our family. We love having a big family party and making great food, or heading to Disneyland and trying all the things. Why not allow food to be a happy part of your life. That is what this blog is about. I hope you enjoy our recipes.
Choose unsulfured molasses when possible, since sulfur dioxide can leave an unpleasant, chemical-like aftertaste, according to Smith. “Unsulfured molasses is derived from processed mature sugar cane,” she said. “It's rich in flavor with a smoky depth.
Should gingerbread cookies be hard or soft? Soft gingerbread biscuits are ideal. They ought to be flexible. However, they should still be somewhat elastic, and if you hold them too firmly because you're so excited to eat them, you might even be able to leave your fingerprints on the cookie!
Molasses is the most associated with gingerbread. Light molasses, a mild molasses, comes from the first boiling of the sugar syrup. Dark molasses, a full-flavored molasses, comes from the second boiling of the sugar syrup, and is the most popular molasses used in gingerbread recipes.
If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure. Therefore, as the butter spreads so does the whole liquidy cookie.
After making the dough I ate a little bit of it and it tasted very strange. So I went on Google and it turns out you're not supposed to use blackstrap molasses in a recipe unless it specifically calls for it or else it will ruin the flavor.
Taste is obvious: sweets made with dark brown sugar will have a slightly deeper flavor with those notes of caramel and toffee I mentioned. That's why I only use dark brown sugar when making gingerbread; but depending on the recipe, you may not even notice a difference.
Chilling the dough makes the butter, and the dough firm up. Also, a very cold, even frozen crust will shrink less during baking. If you think about a stick of butter it makes sense: the cold butter keeps it's shape, When it softens, it spreads and no longer keeps it's shape.
After the gingerbread is cut out, Lomas recommends putting it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to three days. Chilling the dough before it goes into a hot oven gives the butter a chance to firm up and reduces how much it spreads when baking.
With its golden, amber color, it is lighter than molasses, though the two are similar in their thickness. Golden syrup also a liquid sweetener, so 1 cup of golden syrup can replace 1 cup of molasses. Golden syrup has a unique flavor, so it may alter the flavor of your recipe slightly.
Keep in mind that the longer the cookies bake, the harder and crunchier they'll be. For soft gingerbread cookies, follow my suggested bake times. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses.
Light corn syrup is another ingredient that you can add to cookie dough that will help it stay softer longer. The corn syrup you buy at the grocery store is not the high-fructose corn syrup that soft drinks are made with; it's a sugar that is liquid at room temperature and helps other sugars say liquid at high heat.
Melted butter incorporates more easily into the dough, creating a more cohesive and pliable dough. Use a mixture of baking powder and baking soda as leavening agents. Baking powder provides lift and helps create a fluffy texture, while baking soda helps to densify the cookie and create a chewier texture.
Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.
Light molasses is the liquid that remains after the first white sugar is extracted from cane juice. The flavor is lighter and has more fruity notes to it, in the same way the first pressing of olives makes a lighter, fruitier olive oil. Light (sometimes called "fancy") molasses is ideal for baked goods and candies.
The recipe is simple and straight forward, beginning with the usual steps of creaming butter and sugar. Fancy molasses is the lightest of the molasses varieties and adds the perfect amount of robust sweetness when paired with dark brown sugar.
As far as I can find, molasses is about 70% sugar and high in moisture, while blackstrap is 45% sugar, low in moisture, dense, bitter and salty.” Remember to use blackstrap only when a recipe calls for the ingredient, such as with baked beans. But don't sub in the sweetener for light or dark molasses.
Grandma's Molasses comes in two grades: Original and Robust. Original molasses: amber color, used to sweeten hot cereals, yogurts or hot drinks (like coffee, tea or cocoa).
Introduction: My name is Annamae Dooley, I am a witty, quaint, lovely, clever, rich, sparkling, powerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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