Holiday Gingerbread Cookies

I absolutely love gingerbread cookies! But then again I absolutely love ginger! It has been a tradition of mine to make a Gingerbread house and bake holiday cookies with our family almost every year since I have had children. We have made so many styles over the years and all of our family (children & grandchildren) have enjoyed the endeavor. However, choosing to eat everything we can organically and decorating cookies, gingerbread houses and other holiday treats can be quite the challenge. All of the artificial colors and dyes, tons of sugar do not make for a healthy choice especially for children. Several years ago I made it my mission to offer families a Gingerbread Making Class on the Farm. It was such a fun experience and those who could not attend purchased kits that I put together so they could still enjoy this wonderful tradition. I am praying about offering 1 class before Christmas and I will have kits available for those who would like to purchase them and make them at home.

I went over to Whole Foods to shop the other day and priced out the whole kits they offer. It was NOT organic at all and the list of ingredients was probably twenty or more. The decorating kits were full of soy and other GMO products. It was not labeled to ensure us that nothing was GMO so I can only surmise it was. The cost was about $32.00 not counting any tax .

If I do offer the class I was hoping to offer a child’s individual gingerbread house for $25 and a family gingerbread house for $50. This will include all of the things necessary to put together and decorate the Gingerbread Hose. Look for upcoming details. Till then here is the recipe for Gingerbread that I use to make my cookies.

Ingredients

For the cookies

  • 3 cups (360 g) All-Purpose Einkorn Flour

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

  • 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

  • ½ cup (168 g) molasses

  • ¼ cup (55 g) packed dark brown sugar

  • ¼ cup (50 g) sugar

  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

  • 1 large egg

For the icing

  • ¾ cup (94 g) powdered sugar

  • 1 tablespoon milk or water

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

  2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

  3. In a large bowl, stir together the butter, molasses, sugars, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Add the egg and whisk together until well combined.

  4. Add the flour mixture and mix until the dry ingredients are no longer visible. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

  5. Remove one-third of the dough from the refrigerator. Dust a piece of parchment paper lightly with flour, then roll the dough out to a rectangle that is ¼-inch thick. Cut out the cookie shapes. Lift up the excess dough and refrigerate it until you are ready to make the next batch. Slide the cookies and the paper onto a baking sheet.

  6. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the edges of the cookies begin to brown. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then move to a cooling rack. Bake the other batches.

  7. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and milk or water together to form a thick paste. Transfer the icing to a pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip. Decorate the cookies.

  8. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Recipe courtesy of Jovial Foods. I do not use their icing recipe I make a Royal Icing of my own.