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!
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.
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.
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
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 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.
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!).
