My World-Famous Gingies

*not my image

My world-famous gingerbread cookies

I'll be straight up with you: I didn't make this recipe up from scratch. I found it online in the 1990s. You can see the original recipe here.

Please note: I'm really not into the whole "organic" or "fair-trade" thing. In fact, using organic, fair-trade molasses in this recipe will only lead to tears of disappointment. Organic fair-trade molasses will deliberately make your cookies taste like crap just to fuck with you. Their bastard cousin, fancy table molasses, are the only way to go. Besides, they're fancy... that should be good enough.

I vary this recipe slightly when I make my annual Christmas gingies, and there's only one other person in the world who knows the variation. I have made the recipe as-is, and the cookies are delicious... but I encourage you to experiment!

The recipe specifically says that you shouldn't use blackstrap molasses. I don't even know what blackstrap molasses are, so I just never used them. Feel free if that's what you're into.

You don't need to pre-heat your oven right now, because you're going to let your dough rest for a while before preparing it. I can't stress enough how important this is... you have to let the dough rest, or it will be too sticky to work with. I have tried, believe me, and it doesn't work. 

Making the dough:

1/2 C butter or margarine
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C molasses (room temp is easier to mix, but cold is fine)
1 egg yolk
2 C sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth and light. Stir in molasses and egg yolk. Mix again until nice and smooth. 

In another bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. 

Blend dry ingredients into wet. I use a wooden spoon and blend manually... it's part of my workout plan. 

You can use a mixer if you want to, but eventually you'll have to hand mix. 

Cover dough and chill for a minimum of two hours. I use a ziploc bag or plastic wrap to cover the dough. The less air in contact with it the better. 

Making the cookies:

Preheat over to 350F. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. You can vary this depending on how you like your cookies: thicker dough = thicker, softer cookies. 

Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes. Place cut outs on ungreased cookie sheets. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are firm. Cool on wire racks before frosting. I always use my buttercream icing and Smarties from Canada (NOT the Smarties you get in the US!) on these cookies...