Tuesday, December 11, 2007

You know it is a good day



When you are worried you do not have enough tupperware for all of the Christmas cookies.



If I were to force a recipe for Christmas cookies on anyone, it would be this one for gingerbread. It is from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I used to make these cookies every year with my class. They would decorate their cookies like crazy though (and give them names and write stories about them...it was educational, don't you worry). Anyway, I love this recipe because the dough is so easy to work with and the cookies come out soft and puffy...I love soft and puffy. Watch out though, you will need a lot of molasses. You may need to run to your local bodega to get some more.

p.s. these cookies are meant for eating, not really for decorations or gingerbread houses. So, make sure you are hungry and have eggnog handy.

Gingerbread Cookies
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup molasses
2/3 cup cold water
7 cups of flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
ginger, allspice, cinnamon, ground cloves (sprinkle to your heart's content)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the brown sugar, margarine, molasses and water in a bowl. Stir in everything else. (at this point I poured it on the counter and kneaded it a little...that makes it easier to work with later). Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350. Prepare cookie sheet (for me, this means put them where you can reach them...but other folks like greasing them). Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface (I keep my flour jar handy so I can keep sprinkling flour on the counter and on the dough when things start getting sticky). Cut out cookies.

Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove, cool, decorate and eat!!!


and maybe snap a few shots of these cuties. I mean, they are practically begging for a photo shoot.

5 comments:

Loralee said...

Yummy! Those look fantastic! What are the rolled ones dipped in chocolate?

I love Christmas cookies. And the delight of opening up a bunch of tins to choose the evening's sampling.

Marti said...

I LOVE this post! It makes me snicker each time I look at the second photo--those cookies look so monumental, like soldiers marching toward me and they mean business--serioius holiday business. And then all the gingerbread cookies--I hear marching in my head....they are coming. Can't stop 'em.

Dave said...

Loralee,

those are called 'orange crisps'. It's this recipe that is all about whipping egg white, adding some maragrine and orange peel and then baking them for 5 minutes. You have to roll them up right away before they harden so your fingers learn to work quickly with hot stuff!

Dave said...

Marti, watch out, because they are really coming at ya.

Anne said...

As different as you two are, Robyn and Marti, I think your gals' blog sense of humor is really similar.