Phenomenal Phoods

Grandma's Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

For the gingerbread cookies

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs + 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 (12 oz.) bottle dark, unsulphured molasses
• 7-8 cups all-purpose flour*
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Dash of cloves
• Dash of allspice

For the icing

• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup milk

Instructions:

For the gingerbread cookies

1. Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and molasses with a mixer until smooth and no lumps remain.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, starting with 7 cups of flour.
3. Add 2 cups of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
4. Add the remaining dry ingredients and the sour cream in 3 alternate additions, mixing after each just until combined.
5. At this point, if your dough feels too sticky to be able to break it up and form discs of dough to refrigerate, you will want to add some additional flour. I typically end up closer to 8 cups total. It is still a very soft, sticky dough, but you want to be able to work with it with your hands.
6. Break the dough up into 3 or 4 sections and form discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour but overnight is best.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
8. When ready, work 1 disc of dough at a time (keep the others chilling as you go) to roll it out to about 1/2 inch thickness on a well floured surface. Make sure you use lots of flour on your rolling surface as well as on your rolling pin. Pause regularly to apply more flour to the rolling pin. I highly suggest using a pastry mat for this as well.
9. Use a glass or round cookie cutter to cut 2-3 inch circles out of the dough. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets about an inch apart and bake for 8 minutes until slightly puffed and just starting to brown at the edges.

For the icing

1. Stir together all ingredients, starting with 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, until smooth and spreadable. You don't want it to be so thin that it runs off of the cookies, but it should be thin enough to either dip the cookies or spread on top with a spoon. Add more milk or powdered sugar as needed.
2. Use a spoon to spread 1-2 tablespoons of icing on top of each cooled cookie.