Marsha’s Gingerbread Cookies
December 27, 2010
Gingerbread frosting drying.
This recipe is altered a little from the one I got from Larry’s mother, Vera Landis. I like it more gingery and clovy than the original. These cookies have a soft texture like cake.
Note that this dough must chill overnight, so plan on more than one day to make these!
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 cup molasses
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons baking soda
- 1 heaping teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ cup hot water (dissolve soda and vinegar in water–use a large bowl, because this foams up like a science project!)
- 6 cups flour
Cream shortening; continue beating while you gradually add sugar. Beat one minute longer to mix thoroughly.
Add molasses and hot water mixture and beat for ½ a minute. (It is not pretty at this point, so don’t be alarmed if it looks like it is not mixing up well.)
Add eggs and beat for 2 minutes. Add ginger and cloves, and gradually add flour. Mix until all flour is incorporated.
Chill dough, preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 325° F.
On a floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll out about a grapefruit-sized ball of dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. (Mix leftover dough in with the next ball of dough.)
Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I use a Silpat for even baking and easy cleanup.) Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 325° F.
Let cookies cool, and then decorate them with butter frosting or canned frosting. Let frosting dry before storing them so that they don’t all stick together.
Butter Frosting
You can mix up different colors and spread this frosting on the cookies, or use frosting bags to decorate them.
- 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 4 ½ to 4 ¾ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until it’s light and fluffy. Gradually add about half of the powdered sugar and beat well.
Beat in the milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in the remaining powdered sugar. If the frosting isn’t spreadable, add more milk (or food coloring) a few drops at a time to change the consistency. (Be careful–just a few drops can make it go from hard to liquid instantly!) If the frosting gets too watery, add more powdered sugar.
