Gingerbread Boys and Girls

admin | November 25, 2009

I’m ready to jump in and start baking Gingerbread Men for my little one. After researching recipes and their online comments. Some of the comments left on recipe sites are brutal, but I love the honesty. This saves us from using a recipe that doesn’t cut it. I’m figuring…you can’t go wrong with Paula Dean. This is her recipe for Gingerbread Boys and Girls found on the Food Network website. From reading the comments many say not to use as much floor. So I’m only using 2 3/4 cups instead. I’ll let you know how ours turn out. Before you get started check out 10 Tips for making Gingerbread. Happy baking!

Ingredients

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 stick butter or margarine, softened
2 large eggs
1/4 cup molasses
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting work surface
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Food coloring, as desired

Directions

Using an electric mixer at low speed, cream the sugar and butter until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and molasses and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine with a spoon or spatula.

Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap; place in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes, until pliable. Take about 1/2 cup of dough at a time and roll onto a floured board until about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out with gingerbread boy and girl cookie cutters. You can re-roll the scraps. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies from the board to the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes, until just beginning to brown at the edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

To make the icing, combine the confectioners’ sugar and milk. Divide the mixture into thirds; leave 1/3 white, and color 1/3 green and the final third red. Decorate piping eyes, mouths, buttons, and bow ties.

Source: The Food Network

Tags: gingerbread cookies, gingerbread man, Gingerbread recipe, paula deen, paula deen gingerbread