In the spirit of Christmas now just two days away, She Who Must Be Obeyed convinced me we should share this Best Damn Gingerbread Cookie recipe with our Chi Wulff friends in time to crank out a batch or two for the weekend.
These really are the best gingerbread cookies we’ve ever seen – not too sweet, not overly spiced but with just enough zest to be deliciously different, a perfect texture and danged easy as well.
This is the kind of recipe you can easily imagine your stout little grandmother standing over the stove stirring – you make these on the stovetop in a big saucepan, not in a mixer – with the rich aroma of molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves wafting through the house.
Real grandmothers, back in the day, had strong arms and shoulders from rustling stick-to-your-ribs food on the stove (and cookies), tending their gardens and their chickens, hauling grandkids around, and generally shepherding the greater famdamily. (Grandmas today might want to take note – put down your damned phone and cook a little with the grandkids…).
These are perfect for a new family food tradition to add to your holiday routine – kids love decorating cookies. And Santa will be very pleased to find a plate of these under the tree – it’ll help cover for all the times you’ve been naughty this year.
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 Steen’s syrup
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tbsp ground ginger (generous)
1 and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice2 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tbsp blocks
1 large egg, beaten4 cups flour; set aside 1/4 cup
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 325.
Combine the molasses, Steen’s (use all molasses if you can’t find Steen’s), brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice in a large saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.
Now stir in the baking soda (it will foam up a bit) then the butter 3 pieces at a time, stirring until melted each time. Once all the butter has melted, stir in the egg and combine well.
Finally add the flour and salt, stirring by hand until smooth and velvety.
Dump your dough on a lightly floured surface, dust with a bit more flour as needed, and knead until soft and easy to handle (a minute or two). Cut in half, wrap one half in plastic wrap and keep on the counter (don’t put in the fridge).
Roll one dough half out to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into whatever shapes float your boat (make sure you cut some trout) and place on either a parchment-lined or butter baking sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes on upper and lower 1/3 oven racks, rotating halfway through. They’re done when the edges slightly darken, don’t burn these – they go quickly at the end. Cool on racks and decorate.
Your Grandma would be proud. Enjoy.
