There is no other scent that screams "Christmas!" quite like the smell of gingerbread cookies baking in my oven. And, sadly, I take my cookies VERY seriously. This weekend I did a test run trying two different recipes to find THE best gingerbread recipe to use for the remainder of the season. The below recipe from Cooking Light magazine was the definite winner (and less than one gram of fat and 56 cals per cookie? Awesome!)
COOKIES:
- 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves (I don't love cloves – I left them out)
- 3/4 Cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 Cup butter, softened
- 1/2 Cup molasses
- 1 large egg
ICING:
- 1 1/4 Cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp 2% milk
- 1/4 Cup colored sugar sprinkles
1. To prepare cookies: Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups. Combine flour and cloves in a large bowl, stirring with a large mixing spoon.
2. Mix granulated sugar and butter in large bowl with a mixer at medium speed until smooth and well blended. Add molasses and egg – beat until well blended. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture until well blended. Divide dough in half; shape each dough into a flat disk. Wrap dough portions in plastic wrap and chill an hour or until firm.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Remove one bundle of dough from the fridge and remove plastic wrap. Roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness on floured surface (I work on my Silpat 11.5 x 16.5-in. Silpat Baking Sheet- easier cleanup!). Cut with cookie cutters and place cookies 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Repeat until all the dough is gone.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove from pans to cool on wire racks.
6. For icing, mix powdered sugar and milk and stir until smooth. Spoon into heavy zip top plastic bag, snip tiny hole in one corner of the bag. Pipe icing onto cookies and decorate as desired.
ENJOY!
Sarah talks often of her love of cookies on The Mom Chronicles.
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Those sound simply wonderful! And I love the low fat content. I will have to try these. Thanks so much for posting this.