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Gingerbread Boys and Girls

By Paula Deen

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Difficulty: Medium

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Servings: 30

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 3 3/4 cups plus more for dusting work surface all purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 stick softened (or margarine) butter
  • 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
  • as desired food coloring

Directions

Using an electric mixer at low speed, cream the sugar and butter until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and molasses and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine with a spoon or spatula.

Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap; place in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 °F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes, until pliable. Take about 1/2 cup of dough at a time and roll onto a floured board until about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out with gingerbread boy and girl cookie cutters. You can reroll the scraps. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies from the board to the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes, until just beginning to brown at the edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

To make the icing, combine the confectioner’s sugar and milk. Divide the mixture into thirds; leave one-third white, and color one-third green and the final third red. Decorate piping eyes, mouths, buttons, and bow ties. Makes between 18-24 cookies.

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December 06, 2020
I tried this recipe...December 2020....I did try this recipe, even though I saw the review from 2018. There really is something wrong with this recipe. It was too dry. So, I had to make changes to make it work. With the changes I made, they turned out good and I'm saving it for the future, to do it again. I added another 1/4 cup molasses. I added another stick of butter. It was still not where I wanted it. So, I added 1/8 cup whole milk. It was late at night, so I wanted to bake them a little faster. I made them a little thicker. I baked them at 375° for 10 min. If you like crispy gingerbread. You won't like this. But my family liked the softer texture, and it wasn't overly spicy. To the icing I added 1/8 tsp. Lemon extract. 1/8 th tsp. Almond extract. 1/8 tsp. Vanilla. A little shake of salt. And some meringue powder to the icing. I have to make adjustments on amounts, for a good consistency. But the faint lemon flavor, with gingerbread was good. Turned a frustrating situation around, and it turned out better than I thought it would. It wasn't overly sweet, which was good for me, since I'm borderline diabetic. Thought, I'd share this with others.

January 24, 2018
there's something wrong with this recipe. it's WAY TOO crumbly. i had to alter it and ended up using a 1 1/2 cup of molasses just to keep the gingerbread stuck together. DO NOT USE THIS RECIPE. it sucks

teri

December 09, 2016
Can not wait to make these with my grandkids this is going to be so much !!!! Can't wait

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