Sunday, December 21, 2008

Boy Does My House Smell Good

So what was I doing this past week? I got a call from another mom at school asking if I'd rather help out with the Christmas party or do some home baking for the event. Seemed like a no-brainer to me--"Baking!" I said.

Gingerbread
Then she dumped the punch line on me. "Great! I need a dozen gingerbread girls--I have a cookie cutter I want you to use!"

Turns out these were monster gingerbread girls, think Gingerbread-zilla. Each was about ten inches high, and I spent HOURS baking gingerbread for the first time. But now that I've finished I can say with confidence that I have that cookie mastered.

Thanks to Becky at And Chloe Makes Six who saved my life with a great gingerbread recipe.

If you want to have your house smelling this good too here's the ticket:

¾ cup sweet butter
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup molasses
1 egg
4 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves

Cream the butter and sugar then add molasses then the egg. Add the flour and next six ingredients then roll out on well-floured surface and cut the shapes out. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, depending on thickness and size.

We'll probably bake some more of these guys--I mean girls--this week. Lillian insisted on making some for Santa.

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Technorati tags: gingerbread, recipes

16 comments:

Flea said...

Mmmmm! Nothing smells better than baking gingerbread! I don't quite care for the taste, but it sure smells good!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your Gingerbread recipe. I'll try it out. Happy holidays!

Edi said...

We had a lot of fun making giant gingerbread people this week...well the fun part was the decorating of them - not the baking...I want to try next yr to make them even bigger - so here's my question...how sturdy were your gingerbread girls after you baked them. Were they hard and flat? Most of mine held up even with frosting - but they were starting to get a little soft. My recipe didn't use eggs - so I wonder if that was part of it.

Heather said...

We baked all day yesterday, but I've never made gingerbread. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for the recipe.

jean said...

The video wouldn't work. Something about a third party blocking it. Sorry.

J said...

I love gingerbread. Mmmmm.

Alexis AKA MOM said...

Yummy your a brave gal everytime I try to make people they turn out more like the marshmellow puff man! Amazing job!

Mirien said...

How nice that you can still bake for your children's school events. We have a strict policy here--no homemade items. My 2nd grader's class read Little House in the Big Woods and then had an
"old fashioned" party. I found it ironic that I could not grind wheat and bake rolls from scratch like I normally do. Instead, I had to go buy them from the store. Sigh.

I love the gingerbread--it just wouldn't be Christmas without it!

Omah's Helping Hands said...

I so love visiting your blog. I have a Christmas Spirit Award Awaiting you at my blog. :)

I'm hungry now too. I'm never going to lose weight with all the yummy recipes I've come across. ;)
Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Were your gingerbread girls mostly good for decorating or were they good for eating as well? Do they turn out hard?

Kristen M. said...

I love gingerbread. This weekend I made gingerbread biscotti & chai tea. I adore ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamon and other similar spices.

Amy said...

I have never made gingerbread before,but it looks lovely! Secretly, I hate rolling out cookie dough so I stick with cookies that don't require rolling :)

Carina said...

Well, we all know how Santa is about those gingerbread girls! You gotta keep an eye on that old man.

Patois42 said...

I love the thought of "Gingerbreadzilla." Sounds delightful. We're definitely going to try these tomorrow.

Jamie - Family Focused Fun said...

Mmm...I can imagine the smell. :-)

The Dunns said...

I made these tonight with my boys. I wonder if I should have melted the butter instead of just softening it. The dough did not hold together well enough to roll out. I was able to press them into cookie rounds and they baked up fine. They are soft and delicious. Next time I'll try melting the butter and see if that would hold everything together better.