Ginger Cookies

Chef floWer's Note:

My daughter loves cookies so I found this simple ginger cookie and it has no eggs (which is a bonus for me). I've decorated the cookies few different ways. Example: sprinkle pink edible glitters or hundred and thousands or left the cookie with no decoration and icing. You can use what ever shape you fancy. Whatever variations I made with my 3 year old she enjoyed them. I found this recipe in a booked called "The Great Big Cookie Book" by Hilaire Walden. It was in the kid's section of the book.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 16 Cookies

• 2/3 cup soft brown sugar
• 1/2 cup soft margarine
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 drops vanilla essence (or a few drops)
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (for aussies wholemeal plain flour)
• 1 tablespoon cocoa, sifted
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon milk, a small splash (optional)

Decorate

• glace icing
• glace cherries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 190oC or 375oF Gas 5. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Cream together the sugar, margarine, salt and vanilla essence until very soft and light.
3. Work in the flour, cocoa and ginger, adding a little milk, if necessary, to bind the mixture. Knead lightly on a floured surface until smooth.
4. Roll out the dough to about 5 mm or 1/4 inch thick. Stamp out shapes using floured biscuit cutters and place on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake the cookies for 10 - 15 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking sheets until firm, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Decorate with glace icing and pieces of glace cherries.

Reviews

[Lalaloula]

These cookies are nice basic cookies, which are easy and quick to make and yield a crunchy, yummy result. I enjoyed the addition of cocoa and that they were eggless, yet thought they could have benefitted from a tad more spice. Maybe some cinnamon and cloves or just a little bit more ginger next time. But all in all a great basic recipe, that I look forward to making again.
I made half the recipe and ended up with 26 cookies.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this lovely recipe with us, Chef floWer!
Made and reviewed for Aussie/NZ Recipe Swpa #47 December 2010.

[ladypit]

Nice cookies. We made Christmas shapes. We did not glaze; just ate them plain. You cannot taste the chocolate at all. They are more of a spice cookie. Very nice and crispy. Thanks.

[Annacia]

For my 5 star rating I am really taking the healthy aspect into strong consideration. There is no egg to add cholesterol, I used 1/3 cup of Splenda Brown Sugar, a slightly generous 1/3 cup of heart health margarine and made up the 12 cup with unsweetened applesauce. I simply LOVE that these cookies use whole wheat. I opted for the "few" drops of vanilla. I needed to add more flour to get a dough that was stiff enough to cut well (likely because I added the applesauce). Best of all they taste wonderful! the amount of ginger is right on the button for a nice little nip of ginger. I chose to skip the icing and not add all that extra (and un-needed) sugar. It's a great recipe.