Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Gingerbread Folks

Gingerbread men and women cookies hanging from the tree or sitting on the mantel are a charming holiday tradition. Ginger is not only an appealing spicy flavor, it serves as a great preservative. Of course, the dough can be cut into any desired shape and decorated with royal icing and candies.

MAKES EIGHTEEN 5 BY 3 INCH COOKIES
OVEN TEMPERATURE: 350°F/175°C
BAKING TIME: 10 to 12 minutes for each of two batches
BAKING EQUIPMENT: Two 15 by 12 inch cookie sheets, preferably nonstick, or lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray; Gingerbread man and woman cookie cutters, 5 inches high by about 3 inches wide; A disposable pastry bag and small round piping tip; Optional: a wooden skewer.

MISE EN PLACE
• Thirty minutes ahead, cut the butter into ½ inch cubes. Wrap and refrigerate.
• Into a 1 cup measure with a spout, weigh or measure the egg and cover.
• Lightly coat another 1 cup measure with a spout with nonstick cooking spray, weigh or measure the molasses into it, and cover.
• Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Whisk to mix evenly.

Get Rose’s recipe for Royal Icing to decorate the Gingerbread Folks.

—Rose Levy Beranbaum

GINGERBREAD FOLKS is excerpted from Rose’s Baking Basics © 2018 by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Photography © 2018 by Matthew Septimus. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

Rose Levy Beranbaum's Gingerbread Folks

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• CourseDessert
• CuisineAmerican
• Keywordbaking

Servings

490 grams dough

Servings 490 grams dough

Rose Levy Beranbaum's Gingerbread Folks Votes: 2 Rating: 5 You: Rate this recipe! Print Recipe CourseDessert CuisineAmerican Keywordbaking Servings 490 grams dough Servings 490 grams dough

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 85 grams or 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
• 25 grams or 1½ tablespoons (22.5 ml) ½ large egg
• 80 grams or ¼ cup (59 ml) light molasses, preferably Grandma’s
• 212 grams or 1¾ cups (lightly spooned into the cup and leveled off) bleached all-purpose flour
• 2.7 grams or ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2.2 grams or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg freshly ground
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 91 grams or ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon, firmly packed dark brown sugar preferably dark Muscovado
• 530 grams or 2-¼ cups Royal Icing, for decoration (see link above in headnote)

For decor

• Raisins, currants, and/or candies

Servings: grams dough

Instructions

Make the dough

1. In a food processor, process the brown sugar until very fine.
2. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture begins to clean the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the molasses and egg and process until smoothly incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Add the flour mixture and pulse just until the dough begins to clump together.

Chill the dough

1. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and use the wrap to press the dough together to form a ½ inch thick disc. Wrap it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, up to overnight.

Preheat the oven

1. Twenty minutes or longer before baking, set an oven rack at the middle level. Set the oven at 350ºF/175ºC.

Roll the dough and cut the cookies

1. Set the dough on a well-floured dough mat or sheet of plastic wrap. Lightly flour the dough and cover it with plastic wrap. Roll the dough ¹⁄8 inch thick.
2. Use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes. Dip the cutters in flour every few cuts to prevent sticking. Gently brush off any flour on top of the dough. Gather up and press together the scraps to reroll. Wrap and refrigerate the scraps until firm.
3. With a small offset metal spatula or pancake turner, lift the cut dough onto a cookie sheet, placing the cutouts about 1 inch apart. If planning to hang the cookies, use the blunt end of a wooden skewer to make a hole at the top of each cookie.

Bake the cookies

1. Bake for 5 minutes. If the holes become too small as the dough bakes, set the cookie sheet on a wire rack and reopen them with the end of the wooden skewer. For even baking, rotate the cookie sheet halfway around. Continue baking for 5 to 7 minutes, or until firm to the touch and just beginning to color around the edges.

Cool the cookies

1. Set the cookie sheet on a wire rack and use a thin pancake turner to lift the cookies onto another wire rack to cool completely.
2. Reroll the scraps to make the second batch; cut, bake, and let cool.

Decorate the cookies

1. Use royal icing to attach decorative elements such as pieces of raisins, currants, or cinnamon red hots or other candy to the dough. The royal icing can be piped onto the cookies for attractive details. If necessary, use a lightly moistened brush to correct imperfections.
2. STORE AIRTIGHT: room temperature, 3 months; frozen, 6 months.

Recipe Notes

Rose's Baking Pearls
• If the dough should soften after cutting, cover and refrigerate before lifting the cut dough off the surface to maintain the cookies’ shape.

Make This Recipe Your Own
• If you enjoy thicker, softer cookies, roll the dough ¼ inch thick and bake just until they are set but still slightly soft when gently pressed with a fingertip, about 8 minutes.