Two Victories in One Week!

Hello all! Today was another success in a previously failed area. That's right, I attempted another form of gingerbread. This time it was soft gingerbread cookies, since one of you lovely people asked me to keep an eye out for a good recipe for this tasty treat. I'm pleased to say that I've found one! I would even venture to say that it's a great recipe.

This is another allrecipes.com one because I love the website and because it had the highest rating from the most number of people of any that I looked at (5 stars from almost 3,000!). Apparently a lot of people like their Gingerbread Cookies soft. Who knew?!

Now, the recipe calls for margarine. First, I've never, ever used margarine in a recipe. Second, from everything I've heard and read about baking, you shouldn't use salted butter/margarine unless the recipe explicitly states it. Since I've never seen unsalted margarine (not that I've really looked, to be honest), I used butter flavored Crisco instead of the margarine. For those of you who aren't aware, if you're substituting shortening for butter or margarine in a recipe, you also need to add a bit of water. In fact, the top of the Crisco packaging will tell you this. If you can't find these instructions, it's really simple: 1 cup of Crisco + 2 Tablespoons of water = 1 cup butter/margarine. So, since the recipe calls for 3/4 cup of margarine, I used 3/4 cup of shortening and 1 1/2 tablespoons of water.

In keeping with what's normal for me, I was able to make more cookies than the recipe says it yields. Specifically, I made 36 cookies rather than the expected 24. Apparently my estimation of the size of a walnut is a little off, but it worked out well enough for me. I might try making them a little bigger next time, though, just for fun.

I think Santa would approve. And, really, you can't ask for more than that!

The recipe states the baking time should be 8-10 minutes, but doesn't say what to look for in order to know whether it's time to pull the cookies from the oven. As such, I just used my judgment, which meant I baked mine for 9 minutes. I also turned them halfway through baking because I've often had better results when I do this since the rear of an oven can be warmer than the front.

So for those of you who love soft gingerbread, are looking to give it a try, or are just surrounded by people who love gingerbread in all its forms, this recipe is a winner. It's fast (from an ingredient-mixing perspective), simple, and downright yummy. Give it a try this holiday season! I'll bet you'll be glad you did.