Gingerbread Cookies

I've been a bad blogger. I started a new job that is sucking my will to live via boredom from the lack of diverse tasks and at the end of the day I just collapse. I have a bunch of things to upload off of my camera, but in the meantime in celebration of summer...

GINGERBREAD!!

Christmas in June maybe? Ok, gingerbread is not the summeriest food around, but I love it so much, especially REAL honest to goodness gingerbread and not some brown sugar cookie with a bit of cinnamon in it. This gingerbread is full of blackstrap molasses, ground ginger and spices. It's a magic cookie, I think, because when they come out of the oven they are crunchy, but then they sit around for a day and they become soft and chewy. Here they're featured with a maple-cinnamon glaze -- which is just powdered sugar with cinnamon, thinned with maple syrup and rice milk. A nice lemon glaze would make them more summary, if you need an excuse to make Gingerbread in June. This recipe originally came off the internet somewhere and I haven't ever been able to locate it again so I don't have a better source than that.



Gingerbread Cookies
3 cups flour
3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) margarine, slightly soft, cut into 12 pieces
3/4 cup blackstrap molasses
2 tbsp rice milk

[The original recipe recommends doing this either in a food processor or with a stand mixer. I use my stand mixer cause I don't have a food processor... though I'm sure a hand mixer would work just as well. ]

Combine the dry ingredients. Add the margarine and mix/process until it resembles a fine meal (like a pie crust looks before you add the water). Gradually add in the molasses and milk, and mix until thoroughly combined. Split the dough into two pieces and refrigerate 2 hrs or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough out to 1/4" thickness and cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters. Bake for 8-11 minutes until set in center and cookie barely retains imprint with gently touched with fingertip. Let them cool on the cookies sheets for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack.

Allow the cookies to cool completely before you ice them.