Chewy Ginger Cookies
"A Cook's Illustrated recipe I searched www.food.com and did not find this recipe I found some excellent recipes but I thought I would add this one as I do like to use ginger cookies for cheesecake crusts and this recipe makes a quantity that could be easily frozen for future use. If you plan to decorate your gingerbread cookies and make ornaments out of them, follow the recipe for Thin, Crisp Gingerbread Cookies #446302. Because flour is not added during rolling, dough scraps can be rolled and cut as many times as necessary Don't over bake the cookies or they will be dry. Store soft gingerbread in a wide, shallow airtight container or tin with a sheet of parchment or waxed paper between each cookie layer. These cookies are best eaten within one week. If you make gingerbread people, this recipe will make about twenty 3-inch people."
- Ready In:
- 3hrs 10mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Yields:
-
20 cookies
- Serves:
- 20
ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3⁄4 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1⁄2 teaspoon table salt
- 3⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks cut into 12 pieces and softened slightly)
- 3⁄4 cup unsulphured molasses
- 2 tablespoons milk
directions
- In food processor work bowl fitted with steel blade, process flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda until combined, about 10 seconds. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and process until mixture is sandy and resembles very fine meal, about 15 seconds. With machine running, gradually add molasses and milk; process until dough is evenly moistened and forms soft mass, about 10 seconds. Alternatively, in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add butter pieces; mix at medium-low speed until mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 1 1/2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, gradually add molasses and milk; mix until dough is evenly moistened, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds.
- Scrape dough onto work surface; divide in half. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll 1/4-inch thick between two large sheets of parchment paper. Leaving dough sandwiched between parchment layers, stack on cookie sheet and freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. Alternatively, refrigerate dough 2 hours or overnight.
- Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove one dough sheet from freezer; place on work surface. Peel off top parchment sheet and gently lay it back in place. Flip dough over; peel off and discard second parchment layer. Cut dough into 5-inch gingerbread people or 3-inch gingerbread cookies, transferring shapes to parchment-lined cookie sheets with wide metal spatula, spacing them 3/4 inch apart; set scraps aside. Repeat with remaining dough until cookie sheets are full. Bake cookies until set in centers and dough barely retains imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 11 minutes, rotating cookie sheets front to back and switching positions top to bottom halfway through baking time. Do not over bake. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes, then remove with wide metal spatula to wire rack; cool to room temperature.
- Gather scraps; repeat rolling, cutting, and baking in steps 2 and 4. Repeat with remaining dough until all dough is used.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
oilpatchjo
Canada
<p><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/IWasAdoptedfall08.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <br /><img src=http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/ZaarNicksMom/PACsticker-Adopted.jpg alt= /> <br />recipe#129579 by txzuckerbaeckerin started it all! I was so touched by the responses to my inquiries on Recipezaar. If it wasn't for the fact I lost my favourite cheesecake recipe and was determined to find one similar or the same I would not have found Reipezaar so I just have to tell my story. I had lost this recipe in moving and I bought several baking books and searched the web for months in my desperate search. Extremely late one night I found Recipezaar and posted my lost recipe as best as I could remember. The next day in the forum there it was posted the one and only lost cheesecake recipe. I knew it was the one from some of the ingredients. Several chefs gave me other recipes including New York Cheesecake by Tyler Florence which is wonderful as well which includes the Cherry Confit topping in the recipe which we adore. On September 19, 2006 this story had a happy ending with me finding my old cheesecake recipe. I thought I will never lose it again by posting it on Recipezaar.recipe #186938.That is why I'm hooked on this wonderful web site called Food! </p>
