One of the hardest parts of being a new vegan (or even an old seasoned vegan) is trying to keep up with all the new products out there. I must have spent over $50 looking for the "right" vegan cheese my first year being a vegan and I have over 50 vegan/vegetarian cookbooks in my arsenal but not all the recipes are the greatest. I’m the first born so I’m used to being a Guinea Pig and now I’m your Vegan Guinea Pig. So here are my recommendations and critiques. Let me know what you think!

Friday, January 16, 2009

The Best Gingerbread Cookie Recipe Ever!

As you might have read in my pervious review of Arrowhead Mills Organic Gingerbread Cookie Mix, I haven’t had too much luck when it comes to finding that perfect Gingerbread cookie recipe. For me, the ideal gingerbread cookie sings with a hint of molasses, has the perfect amount of ginger and a chewy, but not soft, texture. It is a fact that when it comes to making the perfect gingerbread man I am a bit picky, probably pickier than most. However, a ray of sunshine has found it’s way down to my little kitchen in Atlanta.

A month ago Isa posted her and Terry’s recipe for Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies on her blog. They looked amazing and the comments on the blog gave promising reviews, so I thought I’d give it a try. As always, I made them a bit thicker than the recipe suggest so that I could get the chewiness I desired. Nothing in the world can describe my joy at tasting these cookies for the first time. They are perfect. 100% gingerbread cookie perfection. They are just like the classic gingerbread men that I adored from my days in Philly. I’m ashamed to say that within 3 days I devoured all 18 cookies myself, complete with cream cheese icing. It is impossible to be disappointed by this recipe.

Here’s the recipe straight from the PPK blog:

Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
Makes about 16 cookies (depending on the size of your cutters)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup plain soymilk (I used oat milk)
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour (or a mix of both)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


spice blend:1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger


Directions:

In a large bowl whisk together oil and sugar for about 3 minutes. Add molasses and soymilk. The molasses and soymilk won’t really blend with the oil but that’s ok.

Sift in all of the other dry ingredients, mixing about half way through. When all of the dry ingredients are added, mix until a stiff dough is formed. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or up to 3 days in advance. If you chill longer than an hour you may want to let it sit for 10 minutes to warm up a bit before proceeding.Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease your cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your shapes with your cookie cutters and use a thin spatula to gently place on cookie sheets. If you are using them to decorate a tree or something, remember to punch a hole in their heads (!) before baking. Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack. Wait until they are completely cool before icing.

5 comments:

  1. OK, I'm confused. Put it all together and it definitely did not make a stiff dough. Was more like thick soup. Is there a typo in this recipe or am I crazy? I added about a cup more flour and its almost getting to be a dough, but still not workable.

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    Replies
    1. I had problems too. Mine was a dough but way too soft and sticky, making it very tricky to cut and transfer shapes. This was even after adding quite a bit more flour, chilling for 4 hours and transferring to the freezer for the last 10 mins. The oil in the recipe just seems to soak up the flour and as it's used in place of hard margarine surely the dough will never properly firm up?

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  2. Hmmm...I'm not sure where it went wrong kbuske77. I triple checked the recipe and all of the quantities and everything is correct. Could it be possible that you mixed up some of the ingredients and added too much soymilk or oil?

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  3. I made these cookies last Christmas and fell in love! I was never really big on gingerbread until I made these cookies. I agree with you completely. Perfection!

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