Gingerbread Cookies

Having fun forming different shaped cookies from the gingerbread dough.

After the cookies were baked, the students decorated them with candies and icing sugar.  Yum!

This is the recipe that I used this year:

Safety First:  Students, please ask an adult to help you with baking these cookies.

1 cup light-brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Place sugar, spices, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.  

2. Stir in boiling water until sugar is dissolved.  

3. Stir in butter until melted, then add molasses. 

4. Gradually stir in about 1 1/2 cups of flour.  

5. Continue stirring in remaining flour a little at a time until stiff.  

6. Flour hands and knead dough.  

7. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and refrigerate (I refrigerated it over-night) until ready to form into cookies.  Place cookies on parchment lined cookie sheets.  

Bake in 300F oven for 15-20 minutes until edges are firm.

Allow to cool before decorating with sugar icing and candies.  Store in a covered container at room temperature.  

Makes 30 (very small cookies)  I doubled the recipe for a class of 26 students.

Gingerbread Cookies

We combined math with baking today and made gingerbread cookies.  First we had to decide how to divide the dough evenly into 24 pieces and then we had to make irregular polygon-shaped cookies.  After we baked them we decorated them using icing sugar and candies.  Yum!

We shaped the dough on parchment paper which was then lifted onto the cookie sheets for baking.

After baking, each student had a small plastic bag with 20g of white icing.  We snipped the corner off the bag and piped it onto the cookies.  Then we added lots of yummy candies.

Each student's cookies were unique. They could eat them at once or take them home in a paper bag to share with family.

 I made the dough the day before and refrigerated it over-night.

This is the recipe and it makes 24 large cookies.
Bake 325 degrees F oven for 10 - 15 minutes until golden.

3/4 cup soft butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the egg and molasses and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix:
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Add dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and mix.  Knead the dough until it makes a ball.  Wrap it in parchment paper and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours.