What is your favorite holiday cookie? Mine is gingerbread! To me, gingerbread cookies signal the Christmas season. I rarely have a gingerbread cookie between January and November, so their deliciousness reserved for that very specific time of year when my stepmom makes loads of her famous gingerbread cookies.
This year I made it my mission to perfect my gingerbread cookie recipe. I made cookies last year that were good, but not good enough in my opinion. So I took a couple lessons from my stepmom’s recipe and completely reformulated the recipe. And by that, I mean that I just changed the measurements of a couple ingredients. But it sounds pretty impressive when I say “reformulated”, doesn’t it?
Oh yeah…and I made a video!
What is a bit different in these cookies is that I used both baking soda and baking powder. I didn’t want the cookies to be so hard you would break your teeth, but I also didn’t want them puffing up and spreading out so that when I baked a gingerbread man he would end up looking like the State Puft Marshmallow Man. The combination of the two makes these cookies rise just enough that they are super soft right out of the oven. Even after a few days, they are still nice and airy and not as hard as a rock.
The other trick to getting soft, not super crunchy cookies is to roll them out rather thick. Of course, I use my favorite rolling pin bands to ensure that my cookies are all about 1/4″ thick.
After all is said and done, these cookies turn out to be perfect (in my opinion). Super flavorful without being spicy. Slightly soft without losing their shape. They are perfect for decorating, but also don’t need a lot of decoration if that’s not your jam. You can just dust them with powdered sugar or sprinkles and call it a day.
What I am saying here guys is that YOU NEED TO MAKE THESE COOKIES!
Sorry for yelling, but it’s that important to me. If you like gingerbread or know someone who does, this recipe is for you! Consider it my early Christmas gift to you. 🙂
[yumprint-recipe id=’147′]