Gingerbread Cookies I

I thought this recipe produced great gingerbread cookies - and the quantity was large enough to take care of all my cookie-gifts for friends. I added loads of flour, though - maybe even a whole cup - the recipe should call for more flour, not make it optional. I used a bit of lemon zest since I didn't have extract on hand. And I substituted maple syrup for half the molasses, which probably improved the flavor, judging from others' reviews. Enjoy these cookies! Even with the extra flour they are soft, good for cutting with cookie cutters, and delicious. With many baked goods, it's important to mix all your dry ingredients separately from your wet ingredients, THEN add them together and mix JUST enough to blend. Overbeating after they are combined WILL result in a cardboard-like cookie, so be careful. Hope this helps!

These are delicious! I find that cookie tastes are subjective and what is the "ultimate gingerbread cookie" varies from person to person. I like to know there are spices in my gingerbread and dislike overly sweet cookies. These are well spiced and with a nice solid texture. They definitely have a warm, cozy old fashioned feel about them. They also smell wonderful.

This was a good recipe. I've never made gingerbread before and found this to be an easy recipe to follow. The only thing is that it doesn't indicate to chill the dough for awhile and I discovered this from reading other recipes. After I chilled it, it was easy to roll out and cut into gingerbread men.

WOW...we LOVE this recipe. I chilled the dough for 1/2 hr. before rolling and also added the extra 1/2 c. flour. The dough is not "stiff" but if you're careful and patient you can roll and cut it. Sprinkle extra flour on rolling pin, rolling surface and top of dough. ALSO...for CHEWY COOKIES...cook only 8 minutes and/or roll the dough less for THICKER cookies. This worked great!!! THIS ONE's A KEEPER!! Sandy

I thought this recipe was perfect. However, I added twice the spices to mine since some people felt it was bland. They came out perfect for me. Not too bland and not too overpowering. The cookie held up well for decorating and they smelled great when baking.

This recipe resulted in cookies that are very stiff. While other people say the cookies are "dense", I say you could break a tooth them. This recipe probably is a truly traditional gingerbread recipe, but I will search for something softer.

I ended up having to add a LOT of extra flour to get these to a workable state. I also only cooked them for 8 minutes at 325 degrees. That made a much softer, delicious cookie. I gave them as holiday gifts and got rave reviews!

I've tried many gingerbread recipes (including mom's) and found Mary's to be the best. It is always reliable, easy to cut and very tastey. I am practically in factory mode every christmas making huge amount of these cookies since it's sooooo popular at home and at work.

Delicious, soft, chewy and moist. I also did not have lemon extract; I used imitation almond instead. And, I made them as drop cookies instead of rolling them. Both my kids loved them, as did the neighbors' kids. They asked for more! They also freeze well (mine were only frozen for a couple weeks, as they were in demand again!).

This is a great recipe. I've used this recipe for 18 years now....wonderful!!

This recipe was fabulous with just a few minor tweaks: I doubled the spices and used brown sugar instead of white, butter instead of margarine, regular 2% milk instead of evaporated milk, and needed approximately 6 cups of flour instead of 4. I also refrigerated the dough for about half an hour before rolling it out and cutting it, and baked the cookies for exactly 10 minutes. The texture is fantastic and the flavor is beautiful and very nuanced. Next time I'll cut the lemon extract to just 1/4 teaspoon as I think it slightly overpowers the spices, but these cookies are amazing. Thank you for this recipe!

Absolutely Wonderful!!! I did take the advice of the other reviews and made a few changes. I doubled all of the spices as well as the vanilla. I used butter flavored crisco instead of the butter and 1/2 &1/2 in place of the milk. I also added a 5th cup of flour to the recipe and probably used another while rolling it out. I basted each cookie in powdered sugar water after it cooled and it kept them extra moist. I also put just a little butter cream icing on each one. YUMMY!!!! They were amazing. I made two batches for my husbands office and clients and they literally vanished. I wished I would have kept more for ourselves at home.

After some tweaking, this recipe yielded excellent cookies. The first time I followed it to the letter and ended up with a sticky, bland mess. Definitely not enough flour, and we like our gingerbread spicy around here. So the second time I added a LOT more flour (like over a whole cup) to get the dough nice and firm so that it could handle shaped cookie cutters, and then I chilled it in a covered bowl in the fridge overnight. I also nearly doubled the amount of spices. These changes made all the difference, and the end result was a chewy, spicy, savory cookie that stood up to decorating very well and stored nicely too.

This is a good recipe, just needed some tweaking. mix the sugar with half light brown and half white. substitute butter for the margarine and I nixed the lemon extract and put a little more vanilla in...the lemon did not work flavor wise for me? I also added in a half teaspoon of fresh nutmeg...cuz I loves the nutmeg!

I was nervous to try any gingerbread cookie recipe since the reviews are so polar opposites! Either people loved it, or vehemently hated it! I doubled all the spices and vanilla- I'm so glad I did. I probably could've gotten away with adding even more. I ran out of molasses, so I had to substitute... I used 1/2 Cup of melted piloncillo. I used the extra 1/2 Cup of flour the recipe suggested. Be aware that the cookie can turn out soft and cake-y, or totally crunchy, like a tea cookie depending on how long you bake it! Not only that, but they harden a decent amount as they cool. I wanted it somewhere in the middle. I found that baking it for 9 min at 350 got it hard enough to frost, but not to crisp my kids wouldn't like them. I haven't eaten a lot of gingerbread cookies before. These turned out good and were fun to make.

I doubled the spices and used 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 maple syrup instead of molasses and they came out phenomenal. Even my friends who didn't like gingerbread chose these over the typical sugar cookies.

came out kind of bland, i think the lemon extract took away the spice taste. might need to either not add lemon extract or add more spices.

I slightly edited this recipe so I could share a few bits with my dogs. I substituted half the white sugar for packed brown sugar, used 1 1/2 tsp allspice in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg (bad for dogs!!) and had to add a lot of flour (about 2-3 cups) to make it a nice dough. Without the extra flour, it was little more than a mush. I also popped it into the fridge for about an hour before rolling and cutting. 8 minutes at 375 makes a soft chewy cookie and they were all gone in a flash!

I grew up on these cookies. I can still remember when I could go to Colonial Williamsburg and get them straight out of their stone ovens. The smell was amazing. Those were the best. Unfortunately they don’t do it that way anymore. When making these cookies you must remember these are intended as drop cookies not cut outs. I know in the directions it is done but, this recipe was never intended to be used as such, so frustrations with working the dough are understandable. For a simple traditional gingerbread cookie these are the best and smell amazing in the oven.

My sister and I made this recipe and absolutely loved it! We used about 3 cups more of flour and reduced the baking time to about 7.5 minutes. The cookies were so soft and tasted delicious! I highly recommend using this recipe!

Best gingerbread cookies I've ever made. I will always use this recipe now. Thanks.

I really enjoyed this recipe!!! Before I put them in the oven, I sprinkled a few sprinkles and out a few chocolate chips on each cookie and they tasted really good. I also made a few traditional ones.

Had to add 1 1/4 cup flour to make the dough stiff enough. Also chilled it for an hour. Decent cookies but not my favorite.

I would have given this recipe 5 stars if it called for enough flour, but I had to add another whole cup. It was like cake batter before that. I rolled my cookies into 1-inch balls, then rolled them in demerara sugar and slightly pressed them with the bottom of a juice glass. Had intended to frost them, but my 8-year old son asked that I not frost them because they were "perfect as they are, and frosting would ruin them"!

The only thing I did in addition to the recipe, was refrigerate the dough 1/2 hour before rolling it. This seems to work with all of my cut-out cookies. Because of this, I didn't add additional flour like some other reviewers suggested. Fantastic recipe!

Doubled the spices as someone else suggested, and they turned out wonderful. Some complained that they were too dry, but I thought they turned out a nice texture as long as you do not re-roll the dough more than twice.

SUMMARY: Sticky dough that baked up nicely with great texture. Bland. Substitutions & Changes below: I doubled the spices, used brown sugar instead of white and dark Karo syrup instead of molasses. I also added an extra cup of flour, then refrigerated until stiff. In my 77 degree house the dough quickly became melted and sticky. Freezing it first helped somewhat. My m-i-l thought the dough was spicy, I found the cookie to be very bland even with double spices. (I think I missed the cloves and molasses.)

Changed: added 1/2 again as much spice & added 1/4 tsp grnd clove Taste: GREAT! Gingerbread Men: Awful! 375 is too hot for their little legs and arms which burnt before their bellies were cooked Better: cook at 350

This is some of the best gingerbread I have tried. I accidentally used 1/2 c of butter instead of 1 c and I think it worked better .... I didn't have to add as much flour that way to get the dough to consistency for rolling.

I really liked this recipe. It was easy and good. I did chill the dough-I was not baking the cookies right away. I also rolled it out between two sheets of wax paper to make it easier to handle. Turned out great!

this recipe worked out great, my daughter and I made them for her kindergarten class, the only thing was I didn't have any lemon extract, I added about 2 cups more flour, and used regular milk (had no evaporated milk...but it worked) I will definitely make these again very soon

I have never made gingerbread cookies and came across this recipe. I knew my girls didn't like a really strong gingerbread so I didn't add the extra spices but I did add the extra flour and they turned out perfect. Thank!!

A friend and I made these with our 3 children for them to cut out and decorate. They made a TON of cookies, but maybe because we had to add so mucn flour. I'll bet we added close to 2 cups extra. We used orange extract since we didn't have lemon, and the taste was fine. The kids had fun with the process, and their dads enjoyed the results.

Perfect cookies!

These cookies taste good, but are not gingerbready enough for me. I think they need more spices.

I have been looking for a great gingerbread cookies for several years and was reticent to try this recipe because of some reviews. With revisions, it turned out to be the best 'so far.' I took reviewers' advice of doubling the spices, though the cinnamon was then overpowering so I will change that to 1 1/2 times. I also added 1 1/2 cups flour and baked at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes. I suggest rolling them out at 1/4 inch for thick soft cookies. The lemon adds a subtle interesting flavor. They are very good, but not the perfect gingerbread cookie - yet.

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When my husband begged me to cook and make homemade cookies from scratch for our Christmas dinner with his parents and I realized his definition of making it from "scratch" wasnt same as mine (Betty Cracker or Mac & Chz), I was bit nervous, but this recipe was wonderful! Being a newbie in the kitchen since now it's my duty since I'm a wife :), it made it very easy for beginners like me! Boy, have I wasted lots of food trying to cook from normal cookbooks! Not only was it my first try, these cookies were eatable and yummy!! It was perfect! Now my husband said I dont have any excuses that I cant cook from scratch. (For now.)

I gave this a four instead of a five because I had to add about 3 extra cups of flour when making it. Besides that it was a wonderful recipe. I loved the taste and texture of these cookies. I will definitely be using this recipe again! Oh and I bought and used lemon extract and was super happy I did!

This was my first gingerbread recipe to try. I was quite pleased with how easy it was and it's is also super tasty. I made a 1/2 batch for testing. I think I may try the 1/2 sub maple syrup on the next batch, I think mostly just because I can't stand the smell of uncooked molasses. I agree that the optional 1/2 c flour should be mandatory, it is definitely needed. I refrigerated only for about 30 min to 1 hr. I ended up rolling the dough out thicker(almost 1/2 inch) and we liked those cookies much more than the thinner ones. The thick ones had the perfect amount of softness, I baked them for about 8-10 minutes

wow! my first time eating/making gingerbread cookies and they were SOOO good!!! I did add an extra 1/4 c. of sugar, because i was afraid it would be bitter, after reading some of the reviews, and i can't imagine it tasting good w/o that extra sugar. It was still only mildly sweet, but that was great! also i did use and extra cup of flour. Thanks so much!! Out of the 4 cookies i made this christmas this was the best!

The dough was too sticky. We added at least 1 1/2 cups of flour more than called for. The dough was still sticky. It was sticking to my non-stick rolling pin and after we cut the cookies out they were sticking to the table even though we floured that. We ended making drop cookies rolled in sugar. The cookies ended up being dry because of all the flour.

This recipe is outstanding, with Can Milk, and not the egg, seem to make a big difference.. And if you check other recipe,you would see less sugar and less butter or they used shortening. I did chill it,to set flavor,and when rolling out had to add a little flour so it would be easier to roll.. will be added to my favorites, love them nice and soft..

I don't typically like gingerbread cookies but I used this recipe for my son's class. The cookies were delicious!! I didn't have much success rolling and cutting so I baked on my silpat like a cookie cake and cut out after it cooled. I even got a request from a student's parent because her son like them and he doesn't typically like gingerbread either. I used butter instead of margarine otherwise everything was the same! Thanks MBMCD

Not very good. Had to use a full cup more flour, in a recipe that I had already cut in half ! Just so it would not stick.

Delicious! You may wonder why on earth I was baking gingerbread in August. My twin girls saw an episode of "Little Bear" where they were baking Gingerbread Men and they wanted to make some so I said, "Okay!" I think this recipe is really good! I used orange instead of lemon extract because the store didn't have lemon. The dough was very easy to work with and not too sticky. I added about 1/4 cup extra flour and then used more flour on the surface and rolling pin while rolling them out. I will definitely try these again at Christmas time.

These ginger bread cookies barely had any flavor and you definitely can't cook them longer than 8 minutes (the 12 min. batch is now hanging on my Christmas tree as ornaments). I'll stick to my Martha Stewart Gingerbread Man recipe!

Very simple recipe! Great for cookies or creating a house!!

A delicious, lemon flavored gingerbread cookie. I mixed up the dough a week in advance (very easy) and refrigerated it . It handled beautifully. For my daughter's baby shower we made gingerbread babies. The pattern was styled after the Jan Brett character in the Gingerbread Baby story. Each baby was sported a frosting diaper. Young and old alike gobbled up these tasty babies!

Fantastic recipe, made no changes. Made first batch as drop cookies because the dough tasted so good, and made a second batch to roll for cut outs. Did add about 1 cup extra flour per the recipe and was so nice rolling out. I don't like really strong molasses flavour, so used Fancy molasses instead of cooking. Makes a great cookie! Thank you! Our new family favorite!

I made this for Christmas for the entire family, and everyone loved it! It is delicious, and it does taste just like the ones in Williamsburg--great alone or with milk or hot apple cider. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who wants to make gingerbread cookies from scratch.

This is an awesome recipe! I followed the advice of the other users and decreased my time to 8-10 mins, and decreased the heat 25 degrees. Other than that, I didn't chance anything else. It does take quite a bit of flour. I added the 1/2 cup suggested by the author, plus I used plenty while I was rolling the dough. I have no complaints. The flavor was fantastic, the cookies remained soft, and the recipe is easy. I will make these again!!

I lost my usual recipe for GB Cookies then found this one....Followed this recipe to a "T" - also left the dough in the fridge for about 10 hours before rolling it out and baking. I left them in for approx. 9-10 mins on parchment. Perfect amount of spice, excellent texture! Thank you thank you! This one is so much better than the one I lost!

After failing attempts at a couple other gingerbread cookie recipes, I tried this one. I guess 3's the charm! After reading the reviews, I decided to double the spices. I used butter, and I substituted 1/2 c. rice flour for 1/2 c. of flour. In the end, I had to add an extra 1/2 c. of flour, so next time I'll use 4 c flour & 1 c of rice flour. I did refrigerate the dough & brought 1/2 out at a time to roll. The rolling texture was perfect. I experimented by baking each batch for different times (8, 9, & 10 mins. each) @ 325. They all taste great, but I will see how they are when they are all completely cool. Tomorrow we'll decorate!

stores well in fridge when properly wrapped for at least a week too!

I give this 4 stars because I followed directions exactly and this is what the cookies deserve. For 5 stars, I will double the spices next time...then they will be perfect! Cooking time all depends on how thick/thin your dough is. I used mini cookie cutters and large ones and varied my times from 8-10 minutes. If you cook too long, they Will get hard so watch your time.

After failing attempts at a couple other gingerbread cookie recipes, I tried this one. I guess 3's the charm! After reading the reviews, I decided to double the spices. I used butter, and I substituted 1/2 c. rice flour for 1/2 c. of flour. In the end, I had to add an extra 1/2 c. of flour, so next time I'll use 4 c flour & 1 c of rice flour. I did refrigerate the dough & brought 1/2 out at a time to roll. The rolling texture was perfect. I experimented by baking each batch for different times (8, 9, & 10 mins. each) @ 325. They all taste great, but I will see how they are when they are all completely cool. Tomorrow we'll decorate!

I did not care for this recipe.

This is a keeper.Not to strong on the spices really delicious,This will be our christmas cookie from now on

I made 5 dozen of these cookies for my work and everyone just loved them. This is an excellent and easy recipe. I'm baking more then weekend for Christmas. I would definitely recommend this to others.

It is wonderful!!!

This dough was a dream to work with! I only gave it 4 because I adjusted it and liked the adjustments. I upped the spices by 50%, halved the sugar and substituted the other half with the equivilent in powdered Stevia. I thought with the increased spices it was perfect. It's a definate keeper.

One minor change makes this recipe perfect- half the amount of molasses [blackstrap]. It makes an aromatic, spicy, robust and full-flavoured gingerbread with just the right amount of firmness.

this was great! Even those who don't like gingerbread liked this recipe at our house. I think the lemon extract is the key! Thank you!

This was Bad! Like a mouthful of butter and molasses! WAY too molasses-y and dense. Sorry, Colonial Williamsburg!

I had to add a lot more flour than the original recipe called for to make the dough. I also cooked the cookies for 8 minutes at 325. The results were some awesome cookies!

It was amazing both times I made it! Although instead of molasses I used brown sugar. Also, I didn't add nutmeg. But still, it tasted delicious! This is a wonderful recipe.

yummy recipe but it was a little too dry. it was great though because the recipe does not require refrigeration.

These really do taste like the cookies from Colonial Williamsburg, but I could NOT roll them out no matter what I tried (more flour, wax paper, cooking spray). So, I rolled them into balls, and they baked into perfect circles. Good for taste, terrible for making cut-outs.

THIS RECIPE WAS EASY TO MAKE, EASY TO ROLL OUT AND TASTED WONDERFUL! COOKING TIMES ALWAYS VARY ACCORDING TO THE HEAT OF YOUR OVEN; I ENDED UP COOKING MY COOKIES FOR ONLY 9 MINUTES. I ALSO USED THE EXTRA 1/2 CUP OF FLOUR, PLUS EXTRA FOR ROLLING OUT. THIS ONE IS A KEEPER AND I HAVE GIVEN IT OUT TO 3 OTHER PEOPLE ALREADY. THANKS!

Excellent BUT remember bake at 325 NOT 375 for chewy soft gingerbread cookies!

This was a hit in my office - all of the cookies (approx 36) were gone before lunch!!! First time making gingerbread cookies, I used suggestions from others and double the spices and had to add extra flour. Other reviews suggested to freeze dough before rolling out - this helped tremendously. Placed on parchment paper and backed for 8 minutes at 325 degrees. Perfecto !! I found that I had to use a lot of flour just to roll them out to avoid them from sticking and getting out of shape. Also found that the thicker the cut, the better it stayed in shape when picking up and placing on cookie sheet. I am making these again tonight for my daughters x-mas party at day care tomorrow. Used Royal Icing II from this web-site to decorate (added a few drops of lemon extract). Thank you very much for this recipe, this is going to be a nice tradition for my daughter (2 yrs) and me at Christmas.

This is a good recipe for gingerbread. My sons's best friend actually offered me his weeks allowance if I would make them for him again! They were a little strong tasting for me but that could be the type of molasses I used.

I have been looking for a soft gingerbread cookie and this one was the best. Great taste and easy to cut into gingerbread men. I did add the extra flour that was optional. Thanks for a good recipe!

I adore this recipe, and it does taste like Colonial Williamsburg gingerbread. Personally, I double all of the spices for a richer gingerbread taste.

Cookies were nice and soft but lacked any flavor....was dissappointed.

I too had to add quite a bit more flour than the recipe called for...probably about 1-1 1/2cups. But they are still my favorite and they always get rave reviews.

I made this recipe last year and everyone loved it. Very moist and flavorful!!

Fantastic! No issues with stickiness, no extra flour added (like in some other reviews). I think there are two secrets to making these cookies great: 1. Use butter or margarine that does not have a high water content 2. The dough needs to rest and chill. If you live in Canada (or another colder climate), stick it outside to chill till the dough is quite firm - till it cuts cleanly with a knife.

great simple sauce, even better with meatballs. (even for an italian that NEVER puts onions in the sauce!) No changes. The church youth group made it as part of the italian night dinner team building event. It was a hit!

This recipe is wonderful. I didnt have the lemon extract so I left that out. I rolled the dough into balls and rolled in sugar to make drop cookies. Bake at 350 for about 15 min. for a chewy delicious gingerbread cookie.

A friend of mine made cookies just like these years ago and I had never had another like it until I made these!! These are so moist and fluffy my whole family eats them as we bake them! The ginger is not too overpowering and there is no vinegar. They are amazing with or w/o frosting and can be made thin and crispy also. We can never make enough to still have some in the morning with coffee! They just disappear!!

I tried this recipe today (dec 2010) and I have to say that reading the reviews helped a lot. I added 1 more cup of flour but I wish I had added a bit more spices but overall the cookies turned out great. We baked them at 325 for 8-10 mins and they turned out soft and chewy. We waited to add the extra cup of flour and the dough was too sticky. We also waited about 15 - 20 mins before rolling out the dough just from some of the reviews. Overall it was a good recipe.

My cookie due was too dry (I may not have had enough molasses). I had to knead in some milk to save my dough. The cookies' flavor turned out good, but not as soft as I would have liked.

These cookies were absolutely delicious and easy. I had never made gingerbread cookies before and was a little nervous. We loved these so much that we froze some for later!!There is nothing like the smell of gingerbread baking. . .

I found that I needed about 1 1/2 cups more flour than needed in the recipe. Spiced perfectly. Set oven to 350 and bake for only 8 minutes for softer cookies.

Came out perfectly! Now if i could find the perfect icing to decorate them with...

Very yummy and good for holiday parties! I made the traditional round cookies because I didn't care enough to make gingerbread men though. Tastes great and the cookie turns out soft/dense. I can see how overbaking could make the great denseness of the gingerbread hard!

yummy! the only thing i did was double the spices-i did not add extra flour like others did-because i chilled it overnight and used flour when rolling it out. if you like soft cookies, leave the dough thicker when rolling it out-and i made a yummy homemade cream cheese frosting-the best gingerbread cookies! If it didn't turn out for others, they didn't do it right!

This recipe was ok- not the best. I also had to add a lot more flour to get a dough that wouldn't stick to everything it touched- and then it was still difficult to roll them out without having the shapes stretch in every direction when moved from the table to the cookie sheet. The spices were adequate, but I wish they would have been sweeter. Icing helps a bit. They would probably make a great gingerbread house, however, because the finished product was very solid and smooth.

Pretty easy recipe and the result was yummy. I would like to taste more spices so next time I'll probably add a bit more ginger and cinnamon.

This is by far my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe ever! I added quite a bit of extra flour, probably almost 2 cups. Watch your baking time carefully! Cookies are done when you press lightly and the indent springs back. Cook these too long and they will be extremely hard. I love the full flavor and haven't changed a thing.

Turned out soft and delicious! Tastes delicious with icing! Just can't get enough of these!

These cookies are very good. I too added more flour to the recipe - a whole cup and I also lowered the cooking time to 350 degrees. I cooked them for only 8 minutes and they were perfect. I love the slight lemon flavor from the extract. My children enjoyed them also!

Very good gingerbread cookie. Not the sweetest, I eat mine plain, but most people would prefer with icing. Absolutely needs and extra cup of flour and an hour in the fridge. Then they rolled out very easily on a floured board. I was worried with so much extra flour and increased the spices a bit. Cookies held their shape nicely. Will make again.

This is with out a doubt my favorite gingerbread recipe. I make a double batch every year since I always end up eating half of the cookies anyway.

These are delicious, mellow... not a strong flavor, like a nice ''tea'' cookie. I made two batches, one as directed, one a bit switched & tweaked for my lactose-intolerant self - evaporated milk for lactose-free 2% milk & margarine for Smart Balance lactose-free butter ... I let the dough sit in fridge for 30 minutes before submerging them in the oven .. I couldn't stop eating the dough ;)~ Fancy recipe, superb I thought about adding some clove, but with a craving for gingerbread cookies stat and no visible clove in the store, I did without .. with the turnout still addicting

i followed directions, batter smelled and tasted amazing but cookies tasted like cardboard....no flavor....

I used the user's comment and added more cinnamon and substituted 1/2 of the molasses for maple syrup as well as more flour. I also put the dough into the fridge for several hours before baking. It turned out very delicious!