Molding Ourselves with Gingerbread Cookies

I’ve made gingerbread cookies 3 times over the past couple of weeks, with different people, and in everybody’s hands they’ve come out differently, like the people who make them. As you may know, gingerbread cookies are a derivative of German lebkuchen, highly spiced, dark cookies that traditionally have to cure for weeks before eating. American gingerbread cookies are everything German lebkuchen are not – soft and pliable to the German rigid, rich with butter, lighter complexioned and smooth.

The first time I tried this recipe was while living in Austria, when an American friend baked some for me. She had just had twins, a boy and a girl, and she had somehow found a boy and girl cookie cutters to make and hang gingerbread boys and girls on her Christmas tree. One bite, fresh-baked and chewy with molasses, not too spicy, immediately transported me back home.

 

 

            This dough is so soft and easy to work, they’re a pleasure to make. The first time I made them this season was with Nikolas, who dimly remembered them from last year and was begging for “shape cookies.” His cookies were slightly chubby and dimpled and covered in flour, much like him on that particular morning. Then I made them for our Cooking with Kids class at the co-op, with nine 2-5 year olds and their parents. This time, the cookies came out every possible way, skinny and thick, symmetrical and lop-sided, cut in shapes and free-form (one kid made pretzels out of them). They were all delicious. Finally, just a few days ago, I asked Nikolas’s babysitter Robby to roll out a last ball of gingerbread dough. Robby, who is also a cook at a local restaurant, made perfectly neat, crisp cookies dredged in granulated sugar that crackled and crunched when you ate them. We just finished the last of them (thank you, Robby). Same dough, different hands. We truly put something of ourselves in our baking. Happy holidays.

 

Gingerbread Cookies

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup molasses

 

Icing (optional)

Powdered sugar mixed with a couple of drops of water or lemon juice

Combine dry ingredients (flour, spices, salt, and baking soda) in a large bowl. Beat the butter and brown sugar together in a second bowl. Add eggs one at a time and molasses. Beat in the flour mixture. Use your hands or a wooden spoon to form the dough into one or more large balls. Cover and refrigerate for at least a 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 350. On a floured surface, roll dough out 1/4” thick and cut into favorite shapes. Reroll any scraps. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 60 large cookies.

Adapted from Nick Malgieri’s How to Bake

 

Baking