The Altitude Adjustment Section
Susan Purdy — the master of high altitude baking — is coming to town in February, so I thought I would do one of her recipes today. Double Gingerbread cookies are very festive and you can dress them up all sorts of ways. Even cookies are slightly altitude-affected so I always go to the master for perfect results!
Ingredients
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted, room temperature butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed into cup)
1/2 cup molasses
1 room temperature egg
3 cups plus 1 tablespoon AP flour (more if needed for rolling out)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
Procedure
Preheat your oven to 350. In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar. Next beat in the molasses and the egg. Set the sifter over the bowl and add the flour, salt, spices, and soda. Sift into the butter mixture. Now slowly mix into the butter. If the dough feels too sticky to work with, add an extra tablespoon of flour, up to 4 tablespoons max.
Working with 1/3 of the dough at a time, refrigerate the rest until needed. Roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thick on baking parchment which has been lightly floured. Dip your cookie cutters in flour to prevent sticking. And cut out fun shapes. Remove the dough between shapes with a small spatula and then pick up the parchment and place on a cookie sheet. Feel free to re-roll the scrapes and use all the dough. Bake for 8-10 minutes. They should get slightly brown around the edges.
If you want to decorate them, just mix confectioners sugar with a little lemon juice till it is super thick and put it in a pastry bag with a tiny tip then you can draw happy faces on your gingerbread men and women.
