Anybody have a fantastic recipe for gingerbread people?

[SamanthaCarter]

I’m not satisfied with any recipe I try. Do you have one you adore? I want:

-dough that is easy to work with

-something with a good amount of spice, that tastes much like a ginger snap. 

-moderate amount of molasses, not overwhelming. 

- either soft or crispy, not something in between that makes me think stale. 

Thanks ladies!!!

[Sherry in OH]

I use the recipe in the Better Homes and Garden plaid-cover cook book.  

[happi duck]

I use this recipe every year: https://www.theppk.com/2008/12/the-ghost-of-gingerbread-past/

 

[AK_Mom4]

Joy of cooking recipe. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.geniuskitchen.com/amp/recipe/joy-of-cooking-gingerbread-cookies-525245

And I use extra dark molasses (never the light stuff)

Edited October 30, 2018 by AK_Mom4

[SamanthaCarter]

Thank you all! Anyone else, feel free to add!

[SamanthaCarter]

1 hour ago, Iron Jenny Flint said:

https://www.marthastewart.com/315628/gingerbread-snowflakes

I use this recipe.  

Eta: I actually got the recipe from her cookie magazine one year.  The reviews are saying this one posted online is actually different from her cookbook/magazine.  I can check later to see if it matches the recipe I use from the magazine. 

This one looks like serious potential. Lots of spice and butter, no added liquid, and easily halved for trial. Might replace some cloves with allspice. I’ll bet the change from the book was to the spice content/mix. Can’t say I’ve always been pleased with MSrecipes, but I’m trying this. Thanks! 

[lavender's green]

I use the JOY of Cooking recipe, with double the butter. That's an accident from when I was halving the recipe but forgot to halve the butter. They come out so soft. People rave about them, and not in situations where a rave is "expected", like for a gift or party. More like the pet sitter or babysitter snag a couple as they pass through the kitchen and you hear, "Ohmigosh this is the best cookie!" I'm not a huge cookie baker, either. It's not my expertise showing through. ?

[Lori D.]

This is my mom's recipe, which she got from her grandmother (my great-grandmother), so it is a "vintage" recipe ?:

"Great Grandma's Gingerbread Men"

ingredients
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening (margarine or a vegetable shortening like crisco)
1 cup light molasses
1/2 cup hot coffee (or 1/2 tsp. instant coffee + 1/2 cup hot water)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
3-4 cups flour

directions
Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add molasses. Beat in coffee. Add the dry ingredients. Gradually stir in 3-31/2 cups of flour to make a dough that can be rolled out without sticking. Use remaining flour, and additional flour if needed, to flour your work surface and dough to prevent sticking. Cover and refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours to chill and help stiffen dough (so you don't have to add so much flour to prevent sticking).

Roll out dough (thicker for softer cookies, thinner for crisper cookies) and cut out cookies. Between batches, refrigerate dough scraps to re-stiffen. (The more flour added, the more you start losing flavor).

Bake at 350-375˚ (depends on oven) for 10-12 minutes -- less for softer cookers, longer for crisper cookies.

________________

I like a "snappier" cookie, so for spices I use:
-  11/2 to 2 tsp each of cinnamon and ginger
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp. all spice
- sometimes I grate in a little nutmeg

I tried switching to butter (healthier and tastier), which made a crisper cookie, but the dough was too sticky to work with for making shaped cookies. Alas, it's the shortening that makes the dough workable for shaping without having to add so much flour that the cookie takes like cardboard.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Lori D.