Chewy Hermits

If you've ever spent any time in New England, you might have had a Hermit.  These are chewy, spiced cookies with big plump raisins that remind you of the holidays.  Hermits can be found in New England at any time of year, they are favorites there.

When I married my husband and went to visit New England for the first time, I was quickly introduced to these, as well as other New England favorites.

They've quickly become favorites of mine.  My husband already loved them and now our daughter does too.

I've discovered that these cookies can be made in three basic shapes.  The regular cookie, the bar cookie and the long thick rope shape that is then cut into half moon slices.  All are good, trust me.

In my research I discovered that Hermits were added to a local cookbook from the Trinity Church out of New York called Champlain Valley Book of Recipes, where this recipe was called Miss Perloa's Hermits in 1880.  Miss Perloa had a cookbook called "Appledore Cook Book" in which she had some cookie type recipes but none were labeled as a "cookie".  That same year another cookbook was published with her recipe for Hermits called "Miss Perloa's New Cook Book".

Since the time of the original recipe, it's been revised countless times.  I personally have never come up with my own version of this recipe but I'm glad I get to experience other people's masterpieces. I loved this recipe by The Lemon Bowl.  Nice and chewy, tons of flavor and lots of raisins. Delicious!

Chewy Hermits

Recipe from The Lemon Bowl

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup dark molasses syrup
• 1 large eggs
• 2 cups raisins

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350º
2. Spray a standard jelly roll sheet (cookie sheet with sides) with non-stick spray, set aside.
3. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. The flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, salt and cloves.
4. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and the brown sugar and mix until light and fluffy on medium speed.
5. Add the molasses and mix.
6. Add the eggs one at a time and mix.
7. Slowly add the dry ingredients with the mixer on low speed. Once blended add the raisins.
8. Spread the dough out on the prepared sheet pan and level out so it's the same thickness throughout. Use your hands.
9. Bake for 17-19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
10. Let cool before cutting into squares.

Indian Pudding

While I was researching this recipe I was pretty shocked to find out that this is a New England dessert and nobody else will probably have any idea what you're talking about if you mention it.  Weird huh? I'm not from New England and yet I've heard of it.  I've never tried it but I know of the name.  My husband is from New England and he's never tried it either. Fascinating isn't it? Okay maybe just to me. 

Here's the history as I've come to find out. This dessert has always been a staple at Thanksgiving through much of the 20th century in New England. Historians have traced it back to as early as the 17th century. It probably defended from England's hasty pudding. This pudding uses cornmeal which was more abundant to the early settlers than wheat was. Molasses was also readily available and inexpensive during that time due to the production of rum during the 17 and 18th centuries. This pudding is also baked for a long time at a relatively low temperature which would have been conducive to the hearth that was in every home in New England to heat the house. 

The taste is very "fall like".  By that, I mean the molasses and cinnamon and ginger are prevalent flavors.  The texture is custard like. It's extremely moist, with small little grains from the corn meal.  It's very tender and ice cream is perfect when served with it.  My husband really enjoyed it, he's the custard lover in the family.  I wouldn't describe this as "creamy" but it's not chunky or anything either.  Have you ever soaked cornbread in milk? Its sort of like that....I thought that flavors were wonderful and I can see why it's a holiday favorite. 

Indian Pudding

Recipe from Cape Cod Cookbook

Ingredients

• 5 Tbsp cornmeal
• 1 quart (4 cups) milk
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 whole eggs, beaten separately
• 1 cup evaporated milk

Cooking Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine the cornmeal and milk and whisk together so there are no lumps.
2. Heat over medium heat until the mixture has scalded (look for tiny bubbles along the edge of the pan).
3. Add the butter, molasses and seasonings and whisk until smooth.
4. Pour a tiny bit of the liquid in with the beaten eggs and whisk, add more of the liquid and whisk some more. After the eggs have heated you can pour them into the liquid mixture in the saucepan. Whisk until smooth.
5. Pour the mixture into a well greased casserole pan.
6. Add the evaporated milk to the top but do not mix together.
7. Bake at 350º for 1 hour.

Cry Babies

OK, now that my tree is up it officially feels like Christmas is right around the corner.  And as usual I feel unprepared. My calendar is filling up fast and I'm trying not to get overwhelmed.  I know you are probably experiencing similar feelings.

One of the things that is coming up that I'm so excited for is baking day with some friends.  We do it every year and it's always such a good time.  I have such a long list of things I want to make that I knew it wouldn't really matter if I went ahead and made these early.  I was dying to taste them!

This cookie is full of flavor.  It's texture is cakey but it has the strong molasses flavor and the three little chocolate chips on top give it just a kick of sweetness.  They are already sweet of course but not overly so.  The color is dark and almost makes you think they are a chocolate cookie.  The make your house smell really good while they are baking.

My family loved this cookie.  I'm not a huge cakey cookie person but I enjoyed the flavor a lot.  Great with a big glass of milk (as my husband always says). Perfect for the holidays because of the nice spicy flavor from the molasses.  Perfect for your holiday table.

Cry Babies

Recipe from The State Hometown Cookbook Series, South Carolina Hometown Cookbook page 190

originally called Jack's Favorite Cry Babies.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 whole egg, beaten
• chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat. Add the molasses, ginger, cinnamon and flour and mix.
3. Use a small saucepan to heat the water to a boil and then add the baking soda. Pour into the flour mixture. Mix until smooth.
4. Add the egg.
5. Use a cookie scoop or two spoons to scoop a decent sized amount onto a greased cookie sheet. About the size of a golf ball.
6. Place three chocolate chips in the center (pointy side up)
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until firm to the touch.

Ultimate Barbecue Sauce

I made this sauce once long ago and I never forgot it.  Sometimes that happens.  That is a perfect example of why I now have a blog.  I have to have some sort of record as to what I've made or else I'll never remember. But I digress…

So my husband told me a couple of nights ago that he really felt like making baby back ribs, as it turned out, I really felt like eating some so it worked out well. The only thing I didn't feel like, was store bought barbecue sauce.  Don't get me wrong, I use store bought all the time and it's totally yum.   But, I wanted to have super fancy, very special ribs, so I just made a sauce myself.  I LOVE this sauce.  I love it as much this time as I did last time.  It really takes the flavor of the meat to a whole new level.  It's not spicy, it's sweet with a bite of vinegar.  It's smooth but it has pieces of onion.  It's just perfect in my opinion.

I doubled the recipe so I'd have some in the refrigerator for other uses.  The original recipe is for barbecued chicken so maybe I'll whip some of that up.  You can't go wrong with this sauce!

Ultimate Barbecue Sauce

Recipe from Tyler Forence

Ingredients

• 1 slice bacon
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
• extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp dry mustard
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika, smoked if you have it
• fresh ground black pepper

Cooking Directions

1. In a large saucepan, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil and then wrap the slice of bacon around the thyme and add it to the hot oil. Cook for about 4 minutes so the bacon can render.
2. Remove the bacon/thyme and discard.
3. Add the chopped onion and garlic and let cook but do not brown it. Cook about 5 minutes.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and then reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

Bran Muffins with Raisins

Muffins make mornings so much easier.  Seriously.  I love how many varieties there are and how convenient they are to just grab on the run.  When I know I'm going to have a busy week I definitely have some on hand.  

This time I decided to make one of my favorites, bran with raisins, not believing that my daughter would eat them in a million years.  But guess what? She did.  She liked it. I was amazed.  I don't know what it is about bran muffins that I like so much.  I think it's the deep, rich nutty flavors, and sweet bites of raisins. I just love them.

I see lots of recipe where this muffin is made using raisin bran cereal but I didn't want to make that kind.  I wanted mine with some actual wheat bran in there. I guess I need to make both kinds and compare side by side. I'll add that to my to-do list.  In the meantime, I'm gonna go have another muffin.

Bran Muffins with Raisins

Recipe from Creative Loafing Charlotte

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup toasted wheat bran
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk (I used 1%)
• 1/4 cup molasses or honey (I used molasses)
• 1/4 cup oil (I used canola)
• 1 whole egg
• 3/4 cup raisins

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400º
2. Butter a 12 cup muffin pan or line with papers
3. Combine the dry ingredients in one medium bowl. (excluding raisins)
4. Combine the wet ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer or a separate medium bowl.
5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine just until moist, add the raisins and mix just until combined.
6. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full and bake for 18-22 minutes.
7. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.

PW's Barbecue Sauce

Another rainy day here in the South, how about you? I'm not complaining, it saves me from having to water the garden (which is exploding right now).  All this rain has really helped and my tomato plants are huge!

It's also the time of year where there's at least one cookout every weekend.  I mention this because you might need some barbecue sauce and maybe you don't have any on hand.  Or maybe you want to try something new.  Or maybe you always make your own.  I'll stop.

I tried this sauce with some pulled pork I made a while ago and loved it.  It's the sweet kind that my husband loves and was perfect for our pork but I also used it later on some salmon I grilled and it was also delicious.

I hope you have some fun plans this weekend, and hopefully they involve this sauce somehow!

PW's Barbecue Sauce
From The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp Canola oil
• 1/4 whole onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 4 Tbsp distilled vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 4 Tbsp chipotle and adobo (I didn't have any)
• dash of salt

Cooking Directions

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Let simmer for about 20 minutes or so.

Hermit Cookies

Have you ever heard of a Hermit? Well if you're from the Northeast you have.  My husband just about fell over when I didn't know what one was.  I mean, that was years ago but still.  Some grocery stores sell Hermit cookies but those are mostly in the Northeast too.  Hermit cookies usually have the shape of a NutriGrain bar but taste completely different. They are a spicy molasses bar, chewy and usually with raisins.  There are many different variations but they almost all have those basic properties. 

Somewhere along my cookbook collecting ways I either bought or was given a New England cookbook and I found this recipe there.  My husband says that the taste was right on even if the shape wasn't exactly right.  When I make this again I'll try harder to get the shape right too.  

I made my recipe in a basic 9x13 inch baking dish.  Next time I will form two separate rows of dough that are long and skinny.  Bake them that way and then cut them into bars for a more authentic look.

Your kitchen will smell heavenly. These bars tend to stay nice and chewy and moist for several days after baking.  Store in an airtight container. My husband likes them cold so we store ours in the refrigerator.  Enjoy this nice New England treat the next time you're having some shellfish for dinner and you'll feel like you time traveled to New England's

Hermit Cookies

Recipe from "Cape Cod Cookbook"

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 cups flour
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 Tbsp baking soda
• 1/2 Tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 Tbsp mace
• 1/4 Tbsp nutmeg

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease a 9x13 inch dish or some cookie sheets
3. Toss the raisins with 1/4 cup of the flour. Set aside.
4. Cream the butter and then add the sugar and blend well.
5. Add the salt, eggs and molasses and mix well.
6. Mix the remaining 1 3/4 cup flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, cloves, mace and nutmeg.
7. Add the flour and spice mixture to the butter mixture and mix well. Stir in the flour/raisins mixture.
8. Spread into the prepared pan or drop by rounded teaspoons onto a cookie sheet.
9. Bake only until the top is firm and the center is chewy, about 15-20 minutes for the 9x13 inch pan or 8-10 minutes for the cookies.

Honey Molasses Wheat Bread

Fall always makes me think of homemade bread.  Probably because it's actually starting to get bearable to turn on the oven again. Yay for Fall!

I'm on a quest to find the perfect wheat sandwich bread recipe so occasionally I attempt a new recipe.  I was looking for a recipe that incorporated molasses this time because I thought that it would really enhance the wheat flavor.  This bread recipe has a lot of unexpected additions like wheat cereal and oats and it wasn't difficult to make.  Well it is time intensive as are all yeast bread recipes but if you have some time to kill why not make homemade bread?

Yeast mixture

The addition of oats

Wheat Germ

Wheat flour

Bran cereal - I was using what I had on hand...

Before the first rise cycle

After the first rise cycle

Cut in half and let rest for 10 minutes.

Form into loaves and let rise again.

Bake

Butter or jam and eat - while warm if possible. I would go ahead and freeze the other loaf right away unless you feel you can eat through both fairly quickly.

Honey Molasses Wheat Bread

From "About.com"

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1 3/4 cup warm water
• 2/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup whole bran cereal
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 1/2 to 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Cooking Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix the water, honey, molasses and yeast. Let sit for about 10 minutes while it becomes foamy.
2. Transfer the yeast mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer and add the milk powder, eggs, oil and salt. Mix together. Next add the oats, wheat germ and bran cereal. When combined, add the wheat flour and as much AP flour that forms a stiff dough.
3. On a well floured surface knead the dough for about 8 minutes adding more AP flour as needed.
4. Place the dough in a bowl and cover, let rise until doubled in size.
5. Once doubled in size, cut the dough in half and let rest for about 10 minutes.
6. Shape the dough into two loaves and place them in well greased 8x4x2 loaf pans. Cover and let rise again until doubled in size.
7. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Frosted Ginger Cookies

 I know it seems like I make a lot of cookies doesn't it? Well, I do.  But you should know that I end up giving away most of them.  I keep a couple for my kiddo and pass the rest along.  People love me (or hate me).

This particular batch of cookies was chosen by my daughter out of a Taste of Home Cookie book I have.  I was sort of surprised she chose this one since it didn't have any chocolate in it which is usually her thing.  I loved this cookie.  It's not what I would call chewy but definitely soft. More caky then chewy.

I loved the spicy taste that you get from the ginger, cinnamon and cloves.  We made this a little premature of fall but I would love to bring this to a fall event.  The frosting was pretty amazing too.  If you plan to frost all of the cookies I would double the frosting recipe below, otherwise you only get enough for about half of the cookies.

Definitely a keeper in my recipe book.  Enjoy!

Frosted Ginger Cookies
From "Taste of Home Cookies and More" Jan. 2012 page 13 by Jeanne Matteson

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Frosting

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line cookies sheets with parchment paper or another non-stick covering.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and sugars and cream together.  Add the eggs on at at time mixing well after each addition.  Stir in the molasses and vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and gradually add them to the creamed mixture.

Use a medium cookie scoop or tablespoon to drop the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for 12-15 minutes until cookies spring back when touched.  Do not over bake.

For the frosting: In a large saucepan, bring the brown sugar, milk and butter to a boil.  Cook and stir the mixture for 1 minute.  Remove from the heat (mixture will look a curdled at first).  Cool for 3 minutes.  Add the confectioners sugar, vanilla and salt.  Mix well.  Frost warm cookies .

Oatmeal Cream Sandwich Cookies

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest recently I saw this old favorite of mine.  Do you remember those Little Debbie one's?  I used to just love those things.  I think they still make them.  Anyway, they really bring back memories for me. I have to tell you that I think this homemade version is even better than those!  Not only are they bigger but the cookie is nice and chewy, the filling is so marshmallow-y.  D-lish-ous!

When I brought these over to a neighbors house for dinner one night they got rave reviews.  The kids loved them (of course) and the adults wanted the recipe.  Here you go girls!

FYI - I made the recipe exactly as indicated below but you might want to double the filling recipe if you don't want to skimp out.  I didn't have enough filling for all the cookies.

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
Recipe from "Baked Perfection" found here

Cookies:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups quick oats

Filling:

• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.  Whisk to incorporate.

In the bowl of your stand mixer add the butter and both sugars.  Cream well for a couple of minutes.  Add the eggs, beating after each addition.  Add the molasses and vanilla and mix well.

Add the flour mixture and mix well.  Remove from the mixer and use a wooden spoon to add in the oatmeal.  Stir until combined. Drop dough by tablespoon (I used a cookie scoop) onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly brown.  Let sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

White the cookies cool you can prepare the filling. In a small bowl, dissolve the salt and the hot water.  Set aside to cool.

Combine the marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla and mix using your stand mixer on high until fluffy (3-4 minutes).  Add the cooled salt water and mix well.  Spread on the bottom of a cooled cooking and flatten down with another cookie on top. 

Gingerbread Muffins

Yes it does seem that I'm on a gingerbread kick lately.  I don't know why.  I started out trying to find something to pair with the Lemon Curd that I made here.  Gingerbread and Lemon is a great combination!  I really liked how these turned out and even though the muffins were yummy on their own.

I've been a sucker for molasses ever since I was little.  My gramma's molasses cookies are the best ever and they got my addicted to anything with a molasses flavor.

I'm still clinging to the hope that we're not done with winter here (or that we might actually get a winter) even though the trees are budding and allergies are kicking in.  These gingerbread muffins will make you feel warm and cozy inside.

I filled my muffin cups 3/4 full and they turned out perfectly.  The original instructions indicate you should fill them 1/2 full.

*Just made these again for the holidays 2015 and took the opportunity to update the picture.  I love this recipe.  I used store bought lemon curd this time around.

Gingerbread Muffins
Recipe from Taste of Home

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses

Add all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and then add the egg, milk, oil and molasses in a separate bowl.  Combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just moist.  Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15-20 in a 375º oven. 

Serve by themselves or top with lemon curd. 


  

Gingerbread Ice Cream

I'm not sure if you noticed the ice cream kick I've been on lately.  I have no idea why other than it seems like there are an endless number of recipes out there and I feel like I have to put in an effort to keep up.  Having said that, this recipe seemed time sensitive since when I think of gingerbread I think of the holidays.  I also think of cold weather.  I also just like gingerbread.

I knew I would love this recipe when I read it on "Tracey's Culinary Adventures".  I thought it was just different enough to make an interesting blog post and just common enough to appeal to people.  I'm really happy with how this recipe turned out.  So rich and creamy.  So rich in fact that a little goes a long way but I consider it diet food for that reason.  OK, maybe that's a stretch.

I figured I'd better post this before winter turns into spring - which has already happened here it seems.  Feels like we just skipped winter this year.   I might have to take a drive to the mountains soon just so my little girl can play in the snow.  Yep, I think that's just what we'll have to do!

Gingerbread Ice Cream
Found at Tracey's Culinary Adventures

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk (I used 1%)
• One 3-4 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Use a medium sauce pan to combine the cream, milk and fresh ginger.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat and then turn the heat off and set aside for about 30 minutes to an hour.  This will allow the ginger to infuse with the milk mixture.  Strain the mixture and discard the ginger.  Bring the milk mixture back to a simmer. 

In a heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks, brown sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Whisking constantly pour some of the simmering milk mixture in with the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs.  Once the eggs have been heated slowly with the milk mixture add the egg mixture back into the saucepan and whisk until smooth and thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Strain the mixture into a heatproof bowl and add the vanilla. 

Let the mixture cool to room temperature in a bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and then refrigerate overnight or thoroughly chilled. 

Freeze your ice cream in your ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions.  Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm or at least 1 hour. 

Gingerbread Cookies

I realized something about myself while make these cookies.  I don't have any patience.  I need to work on that. Luckily my daughter helped me make them and decorate them.  I feel like she and I have equal decorating skills.

The good news is; these are excellent.  I like soft and chewy cookies and these fit the bill.  I tested several different thicknesses and I think the 1/4 inch thickness is perfect. You certainly don't have to get your decorator's tip out just because you make these ginger bread cookies.  At the end of this recipe you will see a frosting that you can just dip the tops into and swirl around or decorate them or just leave them alone and don't frost at all. I did add the frosting recipe that I used below as well. This recipe is a keeper for sure.

We had a little assembly line going.  I'd place the cookie cutters and she'd press down and then move them to the cookie sheet. My cookie cutters came in a set of 4 different sizes so we kept going with no problems.  Quite the system.

I didn't line the cookies sheets with anything nor did I spray them and I didn't have any problems removing the cookies.

They baked up perfectly after 12 minutes.

Decorating was fun!  This recipes makes an awful lot of cookies so be prepared. I brought the majority of them to work and they were completely gone by the end of the day.

I found this recipe in the "TasteofHome Cookies" book.  Called Molasses Spice Cutouts on page 23 by Doris Heinen, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup light molasses
• 1/2 cup cold coffee
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

In a large bowl; cream together the butter and sugar.  Beat in the molasses and coffee.  In a separate bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.  Add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture and mix well.  Chill the dough for 1-2 hours.  You can add more flour if the dough seems sticky while you're working with it. Lightly flour your work surface and then roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut shapes with cookie cutters and then place on a ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.  Cool on racks.

Decorator's Frosting: (I used this above)

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• 4 drops red food coloring

Mix the butter and confectioners' sugar and milk until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and food coloring if desired.  I put the frosting in a zip lock bag and cut a very small corner of the bad off to decorate with.

Icing (optional) - (I didn't use this recipe for the cookies above; I used this one)

• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

combine gelatin and water in a small saucepan.  Let stand for 5 minutes to soften.  Add the sugar and heat while stirring over very low heat until the sugar and gelatin dissolve.  Transfer to a bowl and add the confectioners sugar; beat until foamy.  Add the baking powder and vanilla and beat until very thick - about 10 minutes.