Gingerbread Boys And Girls

I made this recipe (but used 2 teaspoons of ginger instead of 1) and made gingerbread boys and girls with my 3 year old niece! The recipe is delicious and the bakes into beautiful, spicy cookies. I will add these to my annual Christmas baking list from now on!

The texture of the cookies was perfect -- I hate crunchy gingerbread cookies, and these were nice and soft all the way through. The little guys puffed up nicely, and looked fabulous, but the taste was definitely lacking spice -- 7 cups of flour plus only 4 teaspoons of spice just wasn't enough. Next time I'll use 2 teaspoons each of cloves, cinnamon, and allspice, 3 teaspoons of ginger, and I'll add about a teaspoon of nutmeg. I also found the dough extremely difficult to work with, chilled or not. It did become slightly easier to work with once I added a teaspoon or two of water and kneaded the dough for a while. I may leave out some of the flour to make it easier to work with next time, instead of adding extra water. Definitely not my favourite tasting cookie, but beautiful for hanging on the tree.

I, like one of the other people, love ginger and increased it from 1 to 2 tsp. Absolutely the best gingerbread recipe I've ever tried. After chilling, I found working with it a pleasure. No breaking or ripping. I will be doing a gingerbread house next year with this one!!! Luci

I personally do not like gingerbread cookies however these were such a hit at the christmas parties i went to and also they were a lot of fun to make. easy to cut out and we used colored royal icing to paint clothes and faces on them.

These cookies were easy to make and the dough was wonderful to work with. I used a small heart shaped cookie cutter and got 4+ dozen cookies when I halfed the recipe. Will definitely make again!

I found the dough very very crumbly when I tried to roll it, but kneading it a little first helped ALOT! I didn't like the strong molasses taste, but my kids, and everyone else that's tried them loved them.

This the only gingerbread recipe that's worked for me...it was so easy...rolled out like a dream! I put in 2 tsp of ginger like others suggested and it turned out very yummy. The only hard part was stiring in the last 3 cups of flour...my whimpy arm was tired!

Tastes great, stays just soft enough for days. I found that kneading the dough before rolling it made the rest of the process easier. The dough held together enough so my toddler could pick up the cookies and put them on the cookie tray! I will make this recipe again and again!

Having misplaced my regular recipe, I decided to try these because of their high ratings. I was very disappointed in these cookies. They didn't even come close to being as good as my other recipe. For one thing, they weren't spicy enough. For another thing, they were too dry. Blah. Not a good recipe.

Great recipe! Tastes fine. The more you chill the dough the easier it is to work and cut. I cheated and rolled the dough out and cut it on top of a chest freezer. This kept it nice and chilled and made it easier to work.

These cookies tasted great! Definitely not for making gingerbread Houses - the pieces come out so soft and chewy (YUM) and they'd likely crumble with the weight of candy and icing on them. I only made 2 changes: I accidentally spilled the cinnamon (with the help of children :D) in the dough, but it turned out to be perfect! I also added 1 Tbsp of ginger instead of 1 tsp. They came out really soft and chewy. I only gave 4 stars though because even though I refrigerated the dough and used wax paper, the dough was still terrible to work with. I gave up trying to use cookie cutters (couldn't remove the dough from the edges because it would stick to everything - the kids were disappointed) and ended up just enjoying it as a big glob! :)

These were pretty good. Ended up with about 6 dozen cookies. Almost doubled the spices and next time will more than double them, although I prefer a spicy cookie. Refrigerated the dough 24 hours and it was no problem to work with. Will use this again for sure.

These gingerbread cookies are the best and I used butter frosting and rasins to decorate. My boyriend ate the entire batch.

This recipe was awful; to quote my dh they tasted like dog biscuits. There was absolutely no spice flavor that came through, and yes I used good quality and fresh spices. On the plus side I chilled the dough for quite awhile and had no problems with the dough, I did find that it rolled out better using a small amount of flour vs powdered sugar.

Doubled the ginger and used one and a half times the other spices. I had never eaten gingerbread before but they were so good. I outlined with a little royal icing and added mini m&m eyes and buttons. I had friends tell me they had never had such soft and wonderful gingerbread before. They were the perfect snack for our trip to cut our Christmas tree. This will become a new Christmas tradition in our house. Thank you for the recipe.

This was the first time I made gingerbread cookies. It was an easy recipe to follow. I agree with the other reviews about adding extra spices, which I did. I also added extra flour to get the correct consistency and chilling the dough definitely makes a big difference. Everyone thought the flavor and texture were good too.

I really liked this recipe. Im an inexperienced cook and this was one of the first recipes i've tried. I wanted to have an old fashioned christmas so I dedided to make popcorn garland and gingerbread men so this recipe was perfect. I think it was extremely hard to stir in the last 3 cups of flour though, its a lot easier if you mix the ingrediants in a fairly large bowl and knead in the flour.

Cookies turned out great and are really pretty. I tried this recipe because I was anxious to try the egg yolk paint to decorate the cookies. It was really fun!!! I used paint brushes and painted the icing on just like using watercolors as a kid. They're really different and pretty. I'll post pix as soon as I remember how. Thanks, Cindy! Update: I made these into little gingerbread men for our annual cookie exchange and they were a big hit!

This recipe is so easy. The gingerbread tastes great. I used this recipe to make cookies as ornaments for my Christmas tree. They look awesome! Thanks!!!

I love these cookies! Even my very picky husband can't stop eating them. I will definately keep this recipe for many years to come.

This makes alot of dough. I enjoy it and will make it again. I will add a little more ginger the next time though...other spices as well.

Delicious. Easy to mix up and the dough handles beautifully with a dusting of flour on the table and the rolling pin. Cookies are light, chewy, and not too sweet, frosting complements nicely. No eggs means that you can make this recipe with young children and not worry if they taste the dough. I made first with blackstrap molasses, which overpowered the flavor some, and I liked the flavor better on the second batch when I used 50/50 blackstrap and maple syrup.

Fun and tasty! These will definitely be on out tree this christmas (unless the dogs.. kids.. pull them all off and eat them!) :-)

These are the absolute best gingerbread cookies I've ever tasted. I've been baking these for the past 3 years and everyone loves them. I get requests from co-workers each Christmas to make them a batch. The key for me to keeping them nice and soft (which I love) is to roll the dough about 1/2 inch thick and to bake them for only 10 minutes. YUMMY!!!

This is the first Christmas I made gingerbread anything. My husband and friends are from up north and they absolutely love gingerbread cookies. Our friends automatically asked me for the recipe and I ended up making 3 batches for Christmas. I thought the flour measurement was off, but it turned out just right. I used sugar cookie icing for the gingerbread. Thank you for submitting this recipe.

Great recipe. The only problem is that these little brown men are just too cute to eat....so I only make deformed cookies for anything other than decorations. Bravo!

I made these exactly as written (except the glaze). They tasted delicious, but the reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that the dough was VERY sticky and hard to work with even after 2 hours in the fridge. Other than that, they were nice and soft and tasty.

These are o.k.

All you have to do is instead of cutting them out before, cut the gingerbread men out after baking. A great recipe.

A good flavorful recipe. Cookies stay moist.

These had a great taste spice wise, but turned out very crunch.

This is the same recipe my grandmother used to make for us when I was a child. I make them every year still, it just doesn't seem to be Christmas without them. Some slight variations on the recipe that we do...stir the baking soda into the molasses in a quart jar. Let it sit until the mixture is lighter in color, doubled in size, and bubbly. Then stir it into the brown sugar and shortening. Continue the recipe as instructed. Decorate the boys with half cheerio mouths, raisin or chocolate chip eyes, and cinnamon red hot buttons before baking. Do not overbake the cookies! After they cool we pipe on a royal frosting for a cute little vest. If they are crispy, you can put them in a plastic lidded food container with a slice of white bread overnight. They will be super soft the next day.