Tag: gingerbread

Cookies and Bars · Holidays

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

cathysmahaLeave a comment

My daughter, Megan, has been making soft Gingerbread Cookies for years to give to neighbors and friends. This is her go-to recipe and it never disappoints. The family eagerly awaits her gingerbread making day! Decorate to your liking with icing and enjoy.

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 cup butter flavor shortening
  • 1 1 ⁄ 4 cups sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1/3 cup hot water
  • 1 teaspoon whole cloves
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 ⁄ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 4 cups flour
  • raisins (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Place cloves in hot water; set aside.
  2. Cream shortening and sugar.
  3. Add egg and beat.
  4. Add molasses, beat.
  5. Remove cloves from water, discard cloves.
  6. Add clove water, beat. *Dough will look “curdled”.
  7. Add rest of ingredients, except the last 4 cups flour, and beat. Gradually beat in last 4 cups flour.
  8. Chill dough.
  9. Roll out to 1/2″ thick or slightly less.
  10. Cut into shapes.
  11. Decorate with raisins if desired.
  12. Place carefully on ungreased cookie sheet.
  13. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes. Do not over bake.

Recipe from recipes.com

Cookies and Bars · Gluten Free · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian

Soft Batch Pumpkin Gingersnap Chocolate Chip Cookies

cathysmahaLeave a comment

Who doesn’t love a Gingerbread cookie, but bump it up a notch with pumpkin AND chocolate chips! These cookies are delicious and a great fall treat. I added more flour to keep the cookies from spreading, perhaps because of the gluten-free flour I used. I would make these again and try with all-purpose flour and they would equally as good!

Soft Batch Pumpkin Gingersnap Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1/2 cup butter or vegan butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1-3/4 cups sugar, divided
  • 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 2-1/3 cups gluten-free 1:1 or “cup for cup” baking flour blend (I added 1/2 cup additional flour after baking the first pan–see before & after photo below)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 4-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger, divided
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels (I used Nestle)
Left–Cookie before adding additional flour; Right–Cookie after adding flour
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees then line a half sheet pan with a silpat or parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Add butter and 1 cup sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer or large glass bowl if using a handheld mixer. Beat until lightly and fluffy. Add pumpkin puree, molasses, and vanilla then beat until combined. Add egg then mix until just combined.
  3. In a separate bowl stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, 1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger, ground cloves, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients in two batches, mixing until just combined before adding the second batch. Add dark chocolate morsels then mix until just combined.
  4. Stir together remaining 3/4 cup sugar and 3 teaspoons ground ginger in a bowl then scoop cookie dough by the Tablespoon into the mixture and roll to coat. Place onto prepared baking sheet then bake for 7-8 minutes (7-1/2 minutes were perfect for mine.) Rap the sheet pan on the counter (aka drop the sheet pan from a couple inches above the countertop onto the countertop) then let cookies cool slightly before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.

Recipe from IowaGirlEats

Cookies and Bars · Czech Heritage and Dishes · Holidays · New Favorite

Slovak Honey Cookies

cathysmahaLeave a comment

Czech and Slovak heritage is of great interest to me, given my Father’s family roots.  Late 2020, I participated in ‘Czech & Slovak Christmas’ offered through Global Slovakia Academy.  It was a wonderful class, offering education of the Slovak advent and holidays, celebrations and food.

The Slovak Honey Cookies are traditional Christmas treats and I had to try them.  They are very similar to our traditional Gingerbread cookies, using honey instead of Molasses.  They are absolutely delicious and a new favorite for the holidays.

SLOVAK HONEY COOKIES

3 cups (400 g) plain flour
1 cup (140 g) icing sugar
4 tbsp (60 g) butter softened
3 eggs
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tsp of gingerbread spice mix
3 tbsp clear honey
  • Preheat your oven to 180 C/ 350 F. Line a baking tray with paper.
  • Sift together the flour, icing sugar, soda bicarbonate and spices.
  • Add butter and honey to the dry ingredients along with the eggs, and mix well to form a soft dough.
  • Wrap in a cling film and leave overnight in the refrigerator to chill.
  • Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of half a centimeter.
  • Cut out with your desired cookie cutter and place well apart on the baking sheet.
  • Bake for 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Decorate with icing if you wish.

ICING

1 egg white
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice.

  • Whisk the ingredients together until stiff peaks form.
  • Add more sugar if needed and have patience.
  • Spoon your icing into a sandwich bag, twist the bag tightly until the icing wedges into one corner, and then poke or cut a tiny hole into the corner. Make sure your cookies are completely cool before beginning to decorate.
GINGERBREAD SPICE MIX

10g ground cinnamon
4g whole cloves
3g fresh ground nutmeg
3g cardamom pods
3g star anise

  • Crush the cardamom pods, star anise and cloves using a pestle and mortar. Ground in a coffee grinder and add to the ground cinnamon.