Recipes From a Cookaholic: Gingerbread Cookies

Nothing makes me happier than my food being appreciated.

This week was the first time that I've baked for my classmates. I know it is a little bit late. I should have introduced my cooking way earlier. However the busy schedule and all the cramming did not give me a chance to bake for them. Since Christmas time is baking time for me, I wanted to bake them something this week, before the Christmas Break. So, I baked them these cookies. Lots of people were a little bit shy to taste gingerbread because of the word "ginger" in it. They said they didn't want. However when I opened the box, the smell of the cookies made them surrender. It was obvious that they couldn't resist. Many people asked for a second one however all of them were gone by the end of the second period. I also gave some to my teachers. Since most of them are American, I thought that they wouldn't like it because I was sure that they had the original and a way more delicious gingerbread bookie back at their homes. However all of my teachers liked them. One of my teachers even said that "This smells like my mom's cookies."
I like giving these small treats to people. I know that they are waiting me to bake for them again. Be patient. I will eventually bake again. Sometime at least. Since the finals are ahead I cannot give any promises. But I am going to bake for you someday in the future again.

Anyways, lets go back to the recipe. Almost every family has a gingerbread cookie or house baking rituals. However, this was my first time baking a gingerbread cookie. Before I decided to bake this recipe, I wanted to bake something different. And something special. I was bored of baking sugar cookies every year. As I said, I wasn't sure how the cookies were going to taste. However, the outcome was very good. They turned out to be yummier that I thought. I was really amazed with all the flavours; the ginger, the cinnamon, the cloves...
When I was measuring from the recipe, I thought that the spices would be too much and the cookies might get to spicy. They were spicy but at the right level. It was perfect.

I like them when they are freshly baked, when you can still feel the warmth in your moth when you bite it. However it is also easy to pack and give as gifts.

Ingredients:

3 cups (400 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

120 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1 large egg

2/3 cup (160 ml) unsulphured molasses (when measuring molasses oil the measuring cups first and then measure)

(You can substitute molasses with the mixture of 3/4 cups of brown sugar and 1/4 cups of water in a bowl, that's what I did because I couldn't find molasses in Turkey.)

Directions:

1) Combine flour, salt, baking soda and the spices in a mixing bowl. Stir them until well combined.

2) By using the paddle attachment of your mixer, beat the butter. Then beat in the sugar. until the mixture is fluffy. Add the egg and the molasses (or the substitute for it). Beat until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture. Continue mixing until there is a nice well combined dough.

3) Knead the dough on a floured surface. Do not over knead cause you may end up with a loose dough. Then split the dough into 2 equal pieces. Wrap each of them with plastic wrap and Refrigerate about 1-2 hours until your dough is nice and firm.

4) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Also, sheet the baking tray with parchment paper.

5) On a floured surface roll out the dough until the thickness is about 1-2 cm. Cut them using a cookie cutter of your choice. I used christmas trees, mostly. And some other cookies cutters as well.

I forgot to tell you that I baked these cookies with my granddad.
It was really fun.
Here you can see him cutting cookies.

6) Place the cookies on the baking tray. Bake them about 10-12 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the cookies are "a little bit" soft" in the middle.