Gingerbread - a holiday classic and one enjoyed for centuries. The success of gingerbread is largely due to molasses, an ingredient that was relatively cheap to obtain over other sugars.
It's claimed gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 AD by Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis (modern-day Greece), teaching the recipe to French Christians in north-central France town of Pithiviers. It may have also been brought to Western Europe from the eastern Mediterranean in the 11th century.
Regardless, the treat became a staple holiday item in Germany, Poland, Sweden, England, and many other countries.
Ingredients
- 3 and 1/2 cups (440g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, if using unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar (you can also just use white, seeing as you're adding molasses)
- 2/3 cup (160ml) fancy molasses, you can also use black-strap molasses if you like the taste
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, real or artificial
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, either with a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat together butter, sugar, and molasses until combined.
- Reduce speed or stop mixer and slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Beat on low speed until combined.
- Separate the dough into two large pieces, shape into discs, and chill for at least three hours or overnight in plastic wrap. You can also wrap them in parchment paper and stored in a sealed container.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and two or three large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Take one or both of your discs, depends on how many cookies you would like, and roll them out with a bit of flour using a rolling pin to roughly 1/4 of an inch thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutters.
- If you don't have cookie cutters, you can also just roll them into balls.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, be mindful of them, you don't want them to burn, and if you want a softer cookie, just reduce the bake time. Play around with what works best for your oven.
- Allow to cool and enjoy - you can eat them plain, or dress them up with icing sugar, icing or whatever decorations you like.
