Holidays are a time for baking and wonderful spices, like ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Here is a recipe for dough to make gingerbread people, or any other shape you would like to cut into cookies. We used cookie cutters for firetrucks, people, dogs, and bells. From Everyday Food magazine, these cookies can be decorated with icing, frosting, colored sugar, or any kind of sprinkles.
For this recipe, I got to use my cool new standing mixer, which was very exciting. Add the flour mixture to the batter gradually to prevent the dough from drying out. You can also vary the baking time to get softer or crisper cookies, but be sure to roll flour evenly to ensure even baking.
3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for rolling
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup unsulfured molasses
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy; beat in egg and molasses. With mixer on low, gradually add flour and mix until just combined. Divide dough in half and flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
Preheat oven to 350F
Working with one disk at a time, place dough on lightly floured parchment paper and roll out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Flour roller and cookie cutters as needed to prevent sticking. Gather scraps and re-roll as needed.
For softer cookies, bake 7-9 minutes; for crisper cookies, bake 10-11 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Decorate as desired once cool.
