Saturday, November 20, 2010

It's Almost Cookie Time!


My friend, Lanyardlady, is gearing up to spend the day with her daughter making holiday cookies for their friends and family.

I love making cookies for the holidays so I'll be checking her blog on Sundays for any recipes she cares to share. I'm sure she'd love for you to stop by too.

When I read her blog entry yesterday evening I immediately thought of the incredible recipe I found for gingerbread men last year. You can go here to see it or I've added it below along with a couple of slight changes I made to the instructions - just as personal preference.

I made the small gingerbread house and men shown above and I must say they were by far the best gingerbread cookies I've ever eaten. I'll be making them every year from now on.

The two changes to the instructions I would suggest are -  (1) it says to roll the dough out to 1/8 inch but I like my cookies on the soft side so my dough was rolled to about 1/4 inch thick.

(2) instead of rolling the dough out on a floured board or counter top, I use equal parts of flour and sugar that have been mixed together. It keeps that flour-y build up off the bottoms of cookies.

Here's the recipe:

Gingerbread Men

1 (3.5 ounce) package cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a medium bowl, cream together the dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover, and chill dough until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare baking sheets by greasing them with a little shortening or by applying a light coat of non-stick spray. On a floured board, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into man shapes using a cookie cutter. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks. 

17 comments:

  1. Thanks for the recipe. I may have to add some decor to our traditional gingerbread house so the recipe will come in handy.

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  2. These sound delicious and look like they came right off a bakery shelf! A great recipe to share. Thanks so much. You are a fantastic cook.

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  3. Ooooohhhh Girl.....i wished i baked....!!Guess it'll be me and the dough boy again this year....
    Sounds yummmmmy...
    Enjoy

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  4. Thank you!! I am going to keep my niece next week while she is out of school and she has already mentioned baking cookies!

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  5. OK I'm very impressed. I have never tried gingerbread anything. I am definitely going to try this recipe though.

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  6. Thanks for sharing I will give them a try !
    Diane

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  7. I love this recipe. It's so simple and looks so delicious. I'm going to do this with my granddaughter! Thanks for sharing...

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  8. I'll be baking this as soon as we get through Thanksgiving!

    Your Friend,
    Deborah

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  9. Oh these are adorable. I'm going to try and make some if I can squeeze it in. Thanks for not only the recipe but your 2 hints!! Happy Thanksgiving!

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  10. Never thought about flour & sugar for rolling out the dough ... great hint.

    Have a beautiful & blessed Thanksgiving ~
    TTFN ~ Hugs, Marydon

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  11. I'm 64 years old and I've never made gingerbread...I think that must be a record! I did give my grandchildren a kit for a gingerbread house one year...does that count? :) I enjoyed your post...came here from Blue Ridge Boomer. blessings, marlene

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  12. I can taste the gingerbread now, this was a favourite recipe of my grandmother. A highlight of our visits to her home.

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  13. Those are adorable!
    You did a great job. You must have the patience of Job.

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  14. Wow, you made those cookies and that little house?!!! They look so good, I thought you had used a Google picture!! Yummy!!

    Liz

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  15. I've never made gingerbread but I just may have to try your recipe. Thank you for sharing!

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  16. OMG I was going to say exactly the same thing as Ninny. YOU MADE THOSE????????????????? I thought they were cut and paste. There I DID say the same thing. I am a terrible cookie maker so I admire anyone who can do it right. Happy Thanksgiving, love you, Mollye

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  17. What a beautiful job you did. We are making gingerbread this weekend with the grands. I love this time of year.

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