easy gingerbread recipe - great family activity

Feb 9, 2010 Posted by denice johnson on Feb 9, 2010 in body, life | 1 comment

easy & fun family activity: gingerbread cookies

The other day my daughter came home from school with a letter she’d written me during exploration time in her grade one class. In this letter she told me how much she loves cooking with me and wondered if we could make gingerbread men some time soon. I was of course deeply touched and promised that we definitely would but, if I am honest, I kind of thought gingerbread making was a big deal. I’d made them before so I should have known better. When I eventually got the recipe out and discovered that they are really quite easy I couldn’t wait to get started. We spent our Saturday baking and icing and then icing again on Sunday when their cousin came over for the day. The kids loved it and the resulting cookies made everyone smile.

Suggestion: Try freezing some of the cookies to have on hand for play dates when you can prepare small batches of icing and let the kids decorate their own snack. This is always a big hit at our house. Make sure you have enough cookies for them to enjoy right away and take home to share with siblings and parents.

This recipe comes from my mother’s recipe cards. This is a sturdy dough which is incredibly easy to work with. If you are a first time cut cookie maker, this is an excellent place to start.

These are perfect for a family Christmas activity. We are making these together this year to give to friends and neighbours with a tag saying ‘made just for you by ….’ and my kids names. It’s going to be so much fun!

The recipe for cookie glaze follows the cookie instructions.

ingredients:
1/4c butter or margarine, softened
1/2c sugar
1/2c molasses
1/3 cup water

3 1/4c flour*
1tsp baking soda
1tsp ginger
1/2tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp cloves
1/2tsp salt

*Prepare to be shocked: I did not use whole wheat flour for these cookies as I did not have enough. Normally, I would do so and see if it makes any negative difference. Next time I will definitely try these with whole wheat as I prefer my family eat as little white flour as possible. I will let you know how it turns out.

instructions:
Preheat oven to 345°F.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add molasses and water.

Mix in remaining ingredients and roll out onto lightly floured surface or, for less stickiness, onto parchment or wax paper. Roll to desired thickness and cut into whatever shapes you like. Don’t feel restricted to gingerbread men – any shape works!

Bake for 7 to ten minutes, adjusting according to your oven temperature, how thick you made your cookies and how crispy you want your cookies to be.

With these and sugar cookies you want a glaze which will firm up so that the icing stays put. The addition of corn syrup get the job done.

ingredients:
2 cup confectioners’ sugar
4 teaspoons milk
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (vanilla works just fine as well)
assorted food coloring

Combine all but last ingredient in a bowl and then separate into smaller bowls. Add different food coloring to each, creating as many colors as you like. I tend to let each child choose two colors each for everyone to share. A good quality food coloring (Wilton brand is excellent) is best but regular supermarket brands will do as well. Remember that if you are using a food coloring paste such as Wilton you need far less to achieve the desired color.