Frugal Recipe: Gingerbread & Chocolate Chip Cookies


By Helen Chin Lui of The Healing Place in Medfield, MA

This recipe makes a huge batch of cookies. Spending an afternoon making cookies with your children can be a wonderful tradition. Your children will love it!
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Passive Time: 2 hours
  • Cooking Time: 12-13 minutes
  • Temp: 325 degrees
  • Serves: 10 or 20 depending on how many you can eat in one sitting
Key 
  • t – teaspoon
  • T – tablespoon
  • C – cup
*You may cut this recipe in half or double it.

Ingredients:
  • 1 c (2 sticks) margarine or butter
  • 2/3 c packed brown sugar (I use light brown sugar)
  • 2/3 c corn syrup or molasses (I use molasses)
  • 4 c all purpose flour
  • 2 t ground cinnamon
  • 1 t ground ginger
  • ½ t ground cloves
  • ¾ t baking soda
  • 1 beaten large or x-large egg
  • Note: if you cut the recipe in half still use one egg
  • 1 ½ t vanilla
Mini chocolate chips to garnish (must press into dough prior to baking) or you may mix in a 12oz bag of semi sweet or dark chocolate chips into the dough.

Directions:
There are three parts to making this dough, the sugar mixture, dry ingredients and wet ingredients. Once all three parts are made you will mix all 3 parts together.

Sugar Mixture - In a medium stockpot, stir margarine or butter, brown sugar and corn syrup or molasses over low to medium heat until the fat melts and sugar dissolves. Takes about 5-8 minutes. Stir continuously. Set pot aside to cool.
In the meantime mix the Dry Ingredients - flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and baking soda and set aside.

Wet Ingredients - In another bowl mix and beat eggs and vanilla until blended. Set aside.
Once the sugar mixture is cool enough to touch, add the egg mixture and stir until blended. Once blended add your dry ingredients to the mixture and mix by hand or mixer until blended. (You will need a heavy duty mixer.) Store dough in the refrigerator for two hours or overnight until the dough firms up. Any leftover dough can be stored in refrigerator for two weeks or in the freezer for a couple of months.
Take out of refrigerator and let the dough sit for about 15 minutes. The dough will still be cold but pliable. If dough is not pliable, leave on counter for another 10 minutes and check again. If the dough gets too warm, put back into the refrigerator until it firms up again (about 30 minutes.)
You may mold the dough into any shape you like. If you decide to make a 2” teddy bear you will need:
  • ½”  round dough for the head
  • 1”  round dough for the body
  • 4 – ½”  round dough for two arms and legs
  • 3 – very tiny round dough for the ears and nose (or better yet, insert chocolate chips!)
If you decide to make bigger teddy bears, increase the size of the dough and the baking time. Experiment and have fun.
Once you have rolled out the dough for your bear, build your bear on an ungreased cookie sheet. Each dough piece MUST touch the next ball of dough otherwise your ginger bear will lose its limbs or worse, its head during the baking process. You may need to press the dough into the next piece. You may decorate the eyes and buttons by pressing mini chocolate chips into the dough. Bake at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes. Your baked cookies will puffed when it comes out of the oven but as it cools, the cookie will flatten out. Your cookies will smell wonderful and be dark brown. If you plan to ice your cookies, wait until the cookies cool down before icing. Nothing is worse than melted icing.

Icing
  • In a medium size bowl mix:
  • 1 cup of sifted, confectioner sugar
  • 1t of vanilla
Start with one tablespoon of room temperature water; pour into the sugar mixture and mix. Continue to add more water and mix until you have the consistency that you like. We prefer the consistency not be too thin or too thick.

It is easy to overindulge… so count how many ginger bears you are eating or you might have to double up on your home workouts to burn off those extra calories!

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