December 4th is National Cookie Day! Celebrate by making these wonderfully soft gingerbread cookies.
Gingerbread
This will be your new favorite gingerbread recipe. This is a soft cookie, not a crispy one.
Equipment
- Rolling pin
- Cookie cutters
- Baking sheet
- Spatula
- Mixer – stand mixer preferred
- Parchment or Silpat baking liners
Ingredients
- 1 cup Crisco shortening *
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- 2 Tbsp white vinegar
- 1 large egg beat lightly with fork
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- flour for rolling cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Cream shortening and sugar.
- Add molasses, vinegar and egg and mix until blended.
- If using Bosch, remove beaters and replace with kneading arm.
- Combine remaining ingredients; use whisk or fork to mix together.
- Add dry ingredients a cup at a time to mixture and mix until dough pulls away from side of bowl.
- Place dough in sealed container and refrigerate 4 hours – overnight. (Overnight is best!)
- Lightly sprinkle cutting surface with flour. Use as little flour as possible for best results.
- Divide dough into four balls. Keep extra dough refrigerated.
- Roll dough into desired thickness. Cut shapes and place on parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet. (No need to grease the pan.)
- Bake at 375° for 6-10 minutes depending on size and thickness of cookie.
- Remove cookies from oven when they look "not quite done." Allow to cool on cookie sheets for a couple of minutes, then gently place on cooling racks to finish cooling.
- Decorate!
Notes
- I definitely prefer Crisco to store brand shortening. It is one of the few things in which I notice a significant difference.
- My mixer of choice is Bosch. I’ve been using Bosch for almost 40 years. Before adding dry ingredient mixture, I remove the beaters and replace with the kneading arm.