Gingerbread Cookies 101

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I've never made gingerbread cutouts before....today was a success! The issues I encountered were what everyone has already said. I used extra spices but didn't double them....they definitely needed more for my taste. Next time will double!! The dough was actually pretty sticky, so I took someone's advice and LIBERALLY used flour to coat all my surfaces....no problems after that. Baked some decent sized gingerbread men for about 9 minutes and they came out with a slight crunch but mostly soft. I will definitely use this recipe again!

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We like a gingerbread cookie with a bit more bite so I doubled ALL the spices including the pepper. Unlike other reviewers I do not have the problems rolling out the dough, but I do refreigerate over night....that works, or perhaps I have a magic rollling pin. I also go closer to 1/4 inch thick as these remain a bit chewier. My family LOVES these and are looking forward to the first frosted little men.

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These turned out pretty good - The dough ended up being a little sticky at first, but I left it in the fridge for only the minimum amount of time. A little flour took care of it anyway. I baked them for about 8-9 minutes, and they still had some give when I touched them lightly (you really can't tell if it's browning or not, I mean... come on. Just know that however soft they feel in the oven... they're gonna get quite a bit more firm after you take them out. Anyway - I didn't have ground allspice, so I just used pumpkin pie spice instead (which contains a bit of allspice... Hey, it was the best I could do without having to make a trip up to the store. I would try adding more ginger next time... They were definitely spice-y, but I wasn't really getting that oh-that's-definitely-ginger taste. And I love the idea of adding ground peppercorns - Honestly, I couldn't distinguish that spice, either, but I know it contributed to the overall taste. The cookies were definitely soft (the way I like them, as well. So they turned out pretty good. As for the icing, I didn't have dehydrated egg whites, or whatever the recipe calls for, so I again opted to use what I had on hand- powdered sugar & water. And I added a little lemon extract (after being torn between that and almond. My icing wasn't what you'd call Royal Icing, and the consistency was pretty thin for icing cookies, so all my cookies were definitely "special"-looking, ha ha. But the taste was more than sufficient, though with some tweaking and using the appropriate ingredient(s, I'm sure I could get an even better icing (and cookie, perhaps. : Thanks to all who contributed to the recipe!

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Thank you so much for the tip on rolling out the dough using parchment and saran. It worked marvelously. I tried doing it without, but it was too sticky!

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These cookies were delicious = Although I admit I nearly tripled the spices, chilled the dough for slightly less time (I felt the cookies rolled better when the dough was slightly warmer, and cooked for only 8 minutes - the cookies came out of the oven wonderfully soft in the center and crisp on the edges. The perfect gingerbread man recipe!

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I made 2 batches of these, they were awesome and got rave reviews. I iced them with the substitute royal icing (powdered sugar & egg whites and used a zip lock bag to dispense the icing - worked great!

For those having stickiness problems - you need to sprinkle flour on all surfaces that touch the dough: your pastry cloth (or the surface you roll on your rolling pin cover as well as a light dusting on top of the dough disc before you roll it, and your cookie cutters. I just pour out a mound of flour next to my work surface and set the cutter in the flour and move it around a little. Your cookie will fall right out of the cutter by doing this - so be ready to catch 'em!

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Easy to follow recipe, and all the great tastes rolled into it. I left out the black pepper, thinking it sounded a little too weird to be included in a sweet cookie/dessert, and it came out perfect and great tasting. It was a hit with everyone! I would definitely make it again.

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Utilizing other reviewers' suggestions, I used plastic wrap and parchment paper method to roll the dough and transfer directly to cookie sheet. Great method. I also used the higher amount of spice suggested by reviewers as I like a spicy gingerbread cookie and kept them on the thicker side, baking them 9 minutes at 325 degrees. I cut the cookies in a star shape and sprinkled tops before baking with white sanding sugar. It gave the cookie alittle more sweetness and a beautiful sparkle.

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This is exactly the type of recipe I was looking for...I never made gingerbread before, and it came out absolutely wonderful! I made a few minor changes and also used some tips found in the reviews: I used 2 cups white flour and 1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I used the trick of rolling between parchment and saran wrap, so I added the extra flour traditionally used for rolling I upped the cinnamon and ginger to 1 tsp. (I also used fresh minced ginger from a jar. I upped the allspice and cloves to 3/4 tsp. Instead of using shortening, I substituted Smart Balance. I rolled some cookies about 1/4" and some thinner....the thicker ones did stay nice and soft if baked on parchment paper at 325 for 10 min. (Other people suggested 325 for 8 min, but my oven tends to cook slower. I omitted the royal icing, because I like mine plain. But some powdered sugar might look nice. One other change I made is that I used a small 2" gingerbread cutter, so the recipe yielded 5 dozen.

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I just made these today for the first time. This message is to the person that just made them and needs help. THE TRICK IS TO CHILL THE DOUGH OVER NIGHT. Then you need to make sure your surface is WELL FLOURED. Both on top and bottom when you roll them out. I also found it worked great to keep flouring my gingerbread cutter. Flour the surface each time to roll the dough out. I also flour the rolling piin. Try it again because once you get the hang of it, THEY ARE GREAT COOKIES.

Julie