STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE
When I was a kid, I used to be so attracted to all the gingerbread houses on display in the posh hotel lobbies during Christmas season. It smelled so good and looked so colourful and attractive! I later found out that to make a structurally sound gingerbread house, the cookie dough would actually have to be tough, so it doesn’t taste good at all.
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Moreover, gingerbread is not that common in Singapore and is usually only available during the Christmas season, but its a snack our family enjoys all year round! So we needed to satisfy our monthly cravings (we have already had 3 rounds of gingerbread batches since Christmas, thats how much we love it!)
TRICK OF THE TRADE
After rounds and rounds of experimentation, we’ve finally perfected our gingerbread recipe; the softest, chewiest and crumbliest gingerbread that you can find!
Its so soft and crumbly because the batter actually needs to be frozen for 30 minutes, before you can cut it into cookie shapes.
However if you are short of time, you roll it into a log and cut it off as cookie rounds instead. Here’s the result of this batch of gingerbread cookies – look how soft, most and chewy they are!
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS DISH
- It’s really fast to make! There’s no fuss around the kitchen either. So even beginners will be able to make this.
- It’s the softest, chewiest cookie you’ll taste! This is due to freezing the batter for 30 mins before baking.
HOW TO MAKE SOFT AND CHEWY GINGERBREAD?
Take the butter out ½ hour ahead of time and leave at room temperature.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale yellow and fluffy, then stir in liquid molasses and egg yolk.
COOKING TIPS
- Leave the butter out at room temperature for ½ hour to make it easier to cream (especially if you’re doing it by hand rather than with a electric mixer)
- Find trays that fits your freezer, and simply smooth out the dough between two sheets of paper placed in the tray to maximise useable dough surface area for cutting out cookie shapes.
- If the cookies are slightly undercooked, leave them on top of your oven on a baking sheet while baking the next batch of cookies, so the gentle heat can continue to cook the cookies through.
ADJUSTMENTS
- Replace ginger with pumpkin pie spice mix (which also has nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves) for greater flavour.
- Give gingerbread man shapes a miss if you don’t have time. Roll the dough into a log shape and cut off slices as cookie rounds instead.
- Goes best with a cup of hot tea!
DIETARY MODIFICATIONS
- Fish-Free: No modifications needed.
- Nut-Free: No modifications needed.
- Gluten-Free: Use gluten free plain flour instead
- Shellfish-Free: No modifications needed.
- Vegetarian: No modifications needed
WATCH OUR VIDEO for how to make this recipe!
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Soft and Chewy Gingerbread
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Liquid molasses
- 1 Egg yolk
- 2 cups Plain flour
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 2 tsp Ground Ginger
Instructions
PREPARATION METHOD FOR SOFT CHEWY GINGERBREAD (0 Min)
- Take the butter out ½ hour ahead of time and leave at room temperature.
COOKING METHOD FOR SOFT CHEWY GINGERBREAD (25 Min)
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale yellow and fluffy, then stir in liquid molasses and egg yolk.
- Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and ginger; blend into the wet mixture above until just mixed in.
- Put the mixture in between two sheets of baking paper and roll to about 1/2" thickness. Place in the freezer for half an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- Using the frozen sheet of dough, quickly cut out the gingerbread man shapes and place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes in a pre-heated oven, until only slightly soft in the centre when pressed.
- Remove and cool on wire racks.
Notes
COOKING TIPS
- Leave the butter out at room temperature for ½ hour to make it easier to cream (especially if you’re doing it by hand rather than with a electric mixer)
- Find trays that fits your freezer, and simply smooth out the dough between two sheets of paper placed in the tray to maximise useable dough surface area for cutting out cookie shapes.
- If the cookies are slightly undercooked, leave them on top of your oven on a baking sheet while baking the next batch of cookies, so the gentle heat can continue to cook the cookies through.
ADJUSTMENTS
- Replace ginger with pumpkin pie spice mix (which also has nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves) for greater flavour.
- Give gingerbread man shapes a miss if you don't have time. Roll the dough into a log shape and cut off slices as cookie rounds instead.
- Goes best with a cup of hot tea!
I love Gingerbread and these look so cute! Great info as well.
Thanks for the sweet comment, and hope you have fun with that recipe! All that video editing and yummy images is giving me serious gingerbread cravings, I think its about time to whip up a fresh batch this weekend!