Food for Thought - Gingerbread Cookies

Sport loves hanging out with the cute girls!

You all know I love scouts and I have a little Girl Scout troop that meets at my house every other Friday. Today we had our Christmas party and finished our Cooking badge we were working on.

I have never made gingerbread before and I guess I’ve actually not made it now either. But the Drama Queen is a pro and she offered to be in charge. Because we only have an hour and a half with the girls, she mixed up dough beforehand so that it could be chilled. Then after they had rolled and cut and decorated, they actually mixed up the dough. It was kind of backwards, but it worked.

We also made some cute Christmas ornaments, had a visit from Santa, and ate eggnog shakes. I’m always a bit exhausted when I’m finished with a scout meeting, but it’s a good kind of tired. Now we are going to use the newly mixed dough to make cookies for the family party. Hope you love it!

Gingerbread Cookies

½ cup shortening
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup molasses
1 egg
1tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves

In a bowl, beat all the ingredients but only add half the flour at this time.  Beat until dough is thoroughly combined, then slowly add the remaining flour.  Chill for 3 hours or until easy to handle. 

Divide the chilled dough in half and roll out each half on a lightly-floured surface.  For simple circles, flatten to 1/8 of an inch, cut with a glass, and then bake at 375 for 4-6 minutes on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper.  For gingerbread men, flatten dough to 1/4 of an inch and bake for 6-8 minutes instead.  The girl scouts made theirs extra thick so we ended up cooking them for ten minutes and that crisped up the little ones.  Great recipe and easy to do!