KITI’S GINGERBREAD COOKIES
This is a great recipe that holds it’s shape really well, despite the addition of baking soda.
• 3 ¼ cups (450g) flour
• 2.5ml baking soda
• 1ml salt
• 5ml ground cinnamon
• 10ml ground ginger
• 1ml ground cloves
• 250ml (225g) shortening, softened (if using substitute, ensure it has very little water in, no soft margarines)
• ¾ cup or 187ml (packed) brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup molasses (or very thick syrup)
Combine flour, soda, salt and spices. Whisk well to combine. In another large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl and add egg and molasses. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrape down sides again and then add flour mixture. Mix on low speed just until combined. Separate dough into halves or thirds, wrap in plastic wrap (or roll to exact thickness, about 0.7mm) and refrigerate at least one hour, or up to 2 days. It rolls easier before you refrigerate, but then you have to roll between 2 layers of baking paper to prevent sticking, try to avoid rolling with flour.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Roll dough to ¼ inch thickness, (if you haven’t done so in previous step) between 2 layers of baking paper to prevent sticking. Cut into desired shapes and place on parchment or silicone-lined baking sheets. I place my dough on baking sheet, then cut shapes and just remove the excess. This prevents distortion of shapes. I also then FREEZE them before baking. It helps keep their shape and not spread.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies, the smaller the quicker they bake. Avoid mixing small and large sizes on same sheet. Let them cool thoroughly before lining and flooding with royal icing.
Variation: For the FLR birthday recipe I omitted the spices and added an extra 45ml flour, 15ml lemon juice and lemon zest.
Source: Karen’s cookies with my own method.
Photo: Kiti De Jager
