Gingerbread Cookies & Mini Houses

 

'Tis the season for holiday baking.  I can't get enough of the holiday baking shows on TV!   I even keep my radio tuned to the all Christmas music stations.  Yes, I am one of those people! But really, Christmas is right around the corner.   In fact, Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent.  My family always kick off the Christmas season by celebrating with other families in our parish at a pot luck advent dinner.   We make advent wreaths with fresh greens, sing carols and give ourselves a good reminder of what we are celebrating.  Since the dinner is pot luck, I love the excuse to bake something fun.  After all, dessert IS the BEST part of any meal!

I made a double batch of this Classic Gingerbread, used half for these cookies and the other half will be used later for large gingerbread houses.  This is an excellent recipe for gingerbread houses because it is very sturdy.  Paired with royal icing, you have a seriously strong foundation for all those candy decorations!

Here is the recipe:

Classic Gingerbread (makes about 4 dozen)

Ingredients:

2/3 C packed brown sugar

2/3 C Molasses (I replaced half the molasses with honey since my kids prefer the taste - i wouldn't replace all of it because you won't get the beautiful color)

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

2 tsp Ground Ginger

2 tsp Baking Soda

1C Unsalted Butter at room temp

1 Large Egg, beaten

2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp Salt

4C All Purpose Flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grease baking sheets with cooking spray.
3. Place Brown Sugar, Molasses, Cinnamon, and Ginger in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Stirring frequently to avoid burning bring the mixture to a boil then remove from heat.
4. Add in baking soda.  (it will puff up - don't worry it is supposed to do this!)
5. Gradually add in butter stirring until incorporated.  
6. Add Egg, Vanilla, and Salt. Stir to combine.
7. Pour into a large mixing bowl and add flour gradually.  it will get pretty tough at the end but you will know it is all mixed in when it is a nice uniform dark brown color almost the consistency of play dough.   
8. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it comes together and is not sticky.  
9. Roll out 1/2 the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8" thickness or to your liking.
10. Cut out desired shapes and gently place on prepared baking sheets and bake 8-10 minutes until just slightly browned.  I i love the classic shapes as well as this mini gingerbread house cutter, it cuts all 6 pieces with one cutter and then you can assemble later)
11. Remove from oven, let cooking cool slightly before moving to a wire rack to cool.  
12. Prepare Royal Icing if you would like to decorate.  Decorate only after cookies are completely cool.  
13. Have fun and get creative! 

Step #3

Step #4 -After adding Baking Soda

Dough should look like this after Step #8

Step #9

Step #10

Step #11

Finished Product

 

Add some pretty packaging and these make great gifts with a gift card!

When my kids get involved there is an overload of candy decorations!