Best Gingerbread Cookies – 1988 3rd Place Recipe

Preparation time: 25 minutes Chilling time: 8 hours or overnight Baking
time: 7 to 10 minutes

1. Beat margarine, sugar and molasses in a large mixing bowl. Add egg and
mix well.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves,
ginger and nutmeg. Add to butter mixture; mix well.

3. Divide dough into 4 equal portions on a large piece of plastic wrap.
Wrap and shape into a flat disk about 1 inch thick. Refrigerate until firm,
about 8 hours, or freeze for 2 hours. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 3
days.)

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Working with 1 disk of the dough at a time,
roll out on a well-floured board, dusting the rolling pin as you work.
Dough will be very soft and can be difficult to work with so work quickly
and use plenty of flour. Using cookie cutters dipped in flour, cut into
desired shapes. Put cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Use
currants or candy for eyes or buttons, if desired.

5. Bake until lightly puffed, 7 to 10 minutes. First batch may be puffier
because they will have less flour rolled in them. While still warm, paint
with egg yolk wash if desired. Cool on wire racks. Cool completely, then
decorate as desired with icing.

Icing: Mix confectioners’ sugar with a small amount of water until thick
and spreading consistency. Add food coloring if desired and put in a small
plastic bag. Cut a small hole in one corner and drizzle icing out onto the
cooled cookies.

Note: A 4-inch gingerbread cookie cutter was used in testing. Oak Brook’s
Gloria Heeter is a newcomer to the Chicago area and brings her favorite
gingerbread cookie with her from Kansas City, Kan. “About nine years ago,
my neighbor, Diane Collins, brought them over for Halloween in Halloween
shapes,” she says. “I took out some of the egg yolks and substituted corn
oil margarine rather than shortening, which sometimes can have palm oil in
it.” Calling them “truly a cookie for all seasons,” Heeter once even made
them for her golden retriever’s first birthday party. “We invited the
neighborhood kids in for punch and cookies-cookies shaped like dogbones.”
At Christmas, though, “I typically print the names of each person on the
cookies, place them in a plastic bag and decorate them with a red and green
ribbon,” writes Heeter of her personalized gingerbread people. “A handmade
gift is always filled with love.” from the Chicago Tribune annual Food
Guide Holiday Cookie Contest December 8, 1988