Rhett is my little chef. He got way more into the cooking cutting process than Kellyn ever did. I actually keep toy food and pots and pans in my diaper bag to keep him entertained at restaurants and gymnastics practice.
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| Rhett holding the chilled dough. Ready to roll it out. |
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| Rhett looking at the gingerbread dough after he just took a bite out of it!! |
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| He tossed flour down for me. |
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| Rhett helping Maw-maw and Mimi cook |
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| Watching a movie with Joe-Joe while the cookies bake. My dad's vet clinic is across the yard so he just walked over between clients. This is the house I lived in until I was in 2nd grade. |
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| Sitting with Mimi while the cookies bake. | <>
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| Our Gingerbread Cookies. I think the dark molasis in this recipe is what made them so good. |
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| Kellyn showing the Christmas tree that she helped cut out and decorate. |
Yield: About 4 Dozen
Cookies
1 cup sugar
½ cup dark molasses
½ cup water
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Royal Icing
3 large egg whites
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
To make the cookies: in a large saucepan, stir together the sugar, molasses, water, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter, stirring occasionally until melted. Cool for 15 minutes. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the ingredients in the saucepan. Mix with a wooden spoon until completely blended. Spoon the dough into a gallon size, resealable freezer bag, flatten the dough to an even thickness, and seal. Refrigerate the dough at least 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into 4 portions. Roll out 1 portion at a time, storing the remainder of the dough in the refrigerator. On a flat, smooth, lightly floured surface, roll out the chilled dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut out the cookies with cookie cutters. Use a spatula to move the cookies onto ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them. Combine the dough scraps and reroll the dough to cut out more cookies. Roll any subsequent scraps into a thick log; wrap it in plastic wrap, and freeze or 10 minutes. Cut ¼ inch-thick rounds off the log to make round cookies. (Reroll the dough scraps only once, or the cookies will become tough from over handling.)
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until firm. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets about 5 minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely.
To Make the Icing: Whisk the egg whites until frothy. Whisk in the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth and incorporated. Stored in a closed container in the refrigerator the icing will keep for up to 3 days. (For those who are concerned about consuming raw egg products, use pasteurized egg whites, available at most grocery stores.)
Spoon the icing into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip. (Or, spoon into a plastic sandwich bag, snip off a corner, and squeeze out the icing.) Decorate the cookies as whimsy dictates. I like to decorate them with faces, hair, hats, aprons, coats, dresses, and shoes.
Set the iced cookies on racks for the icing to harden, about 30 minutes. When the icing is completely set, store the cookies gently stack in an airtight container. They will keep for up to 2 weeks at room temperature.
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