Crunchy Gingerbread Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
• In bowl of electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices, salt, and pepper, then eggs and molasses. Add in flour mixture on low speed. Divide into thirds; wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured work surface, roll out dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to baking sheets lined with Silpat mats; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until crisp but not darkened. Cool on wire racks, and decorate.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
• In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
• Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
• Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
• Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
• Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
• Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
• Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
• Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
• Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
• Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
• Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
• After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
• I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing.

Steps:

• Make the cookies: Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, salt, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, cayenne, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
• Beat the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes (scrape down the sides of the bowl, as needed). Beat in the molasses until combined, then the egg (the mixture will look curdled). Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until the dough comes together. Divide the dough in 2 pieces, flatten each half into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
• Position 2 racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Keeping one disk refrigerated, roll the other disk on a well-floured work surface to 1/4 inch thick, sprinkling flour on and under the dough as needed and sliding a spatula underneath every so often to prevent sticking (If the dough looks crackly or breaks apart, press it back together from the outside edge in). Using cookie cutters, cut out gingerbread shapes as close together as possible. Pull away the extra dough around each shape then use a small offset spatula to transfer the shapes to the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. Reroll the scraps and cut out more cookies. Freeze the cookies until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through cooking, until they are slightly firm to the touch but not browned at the edges, about 12 minutes. Repeat the rolling, cutting and baking with the remaining dough disk.
• Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes (The cookies will continue to firm as they cool).
• Make the icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3 tablespoons water in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the frosting thickens, trying not to incorporate too much air. (The icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly.)
• Scrape the icing into a resealable plastic bag and snip the corner to the desired size. Pipe the icing onto the cookies to decorate, as desired, sticking the candy onto the icing while it is still wet. Let the cookies stand at room temperature until the icing hardens, at least 1 hour.

Steps:

• In food processor workbowl fitted with steel blade, process flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda until combined,.
• about 10 seconds. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and process until mixture is sandy and resembles very fine meal, about 15 seconds. With machine running, gradually add molasses and milk; process until dough is evenly moistened and forms soft mass, about 10 seconds. Alternatively, in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add butter pieces; mix at medium-low speed until mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 1 1/2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, gradually add molasses and milk; mix until dough is evenly moistened, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds.
• Scrape dough onto work surface; divide into quarters. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll 1/8-inch thick between two large sheets of parchment paper. Leaving dough sandwiched between parchment layers, stack on cookie sheet and freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. Alternatively, refrigerate dough 2 hours or overnight.
• Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove one dough sheet from freezer; place on work surface. Peel off top parchment sheet and gently lay it back in place. Flip dough over; peel off and discard second parchment layer. Cut dough into 5-inch gingerbread people or 3-inch gingerbread cookies, transferring shapes to parchment-lined cookie sheets with wide metal spatula, spacing them 3/4 inch apart; set scraps aside. Repeat with remaining dough until cookie sheets are full. Bake cookies until slightly darkened and firm in centers when pressed with finger, about 15 to 20 minutes, rotating cookie sheets front to back and switching positions top to bottom halfway through baking time. Do not overbake. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes, then remove with wide metal spatula to wire rack; cool to room temperature.
• Gather scraps; repeat rolling, cutting, and baking in steps 2 and 4. Repeat with remaining dough until all dough is used.

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease several baking sheets. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger in a bowl; set aside.
• Beat together 1 cup white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, butter, canola oil, applesauce, water, egg substitute, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until evenly combined. Stir in the flour mixture to make a soft, thick, not-very-sticky dough. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Stir 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon together with 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
• Roll the dough on a heavily floured surface to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets, and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden, and the bottoms are slightly darker than the tops, 9 to 11 minutes. Remove the cookies from the baking sheets immediately, and place on a wire rack to cool. After 10 minutes of cooling, they should be hard, like typical gingerbread cookies, but still slightly bendable, and soft on the inside.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the molasses and eggs. Combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour, baking soda, salt, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; beat into the molasses mixture. Gradually stir in the remaining flour by hand to form a stiff dough.
• Divide dough into 2 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• In a medium bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and cream of tartar. Blend in egg whites. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat for about 5 minutes, or until mixture is thick and stiff. Keep covered with a moist cloth until ready to frost cookies.

Steps:

• In large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg and molasses. Stir in remaining ingredients except granulated sugar. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper or silicone baking mat. In small bowl, place granulated sugar. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. On cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or just until set and soft in center. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Store tightly covered up to 1 week.

Steps:

• In a bowl, beat butter and sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses, egg and vinegar. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or until easy to handle (dough will be sticky)., On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with 4 in. cookie cutters dipped in flour. Using a floured spatula, place cookies 1 in. apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 5-6 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool., For icing, combine confectioners' sugar and milk in bowl. Spread over cooled cookies; let dry completely. If desired, combine paste food coloring and a few drops of water; using a fine brush or the blunt end of a wooden skewer, decorate cookies.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. Combine the dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well (dough will be soft). Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-1/2-in. cookie cutters and place on greased baking sheets. , Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.