Who says gingerbread is only for Christmas? These cookies are very subtle and less strongly ginger flavoured that traditional molasses based cookies. You can cut them out and decorate with royal icing, dip in white chocolate, or try rolling in balls and dredging in sugar before baking.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup maple syrup (b grade/dark is best)
1 egg
1 Tbsp finely grated fresh ginger (try freezing it before hand, will make it easier to grate)
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Beat the softened butter with the sugar and maple syrup until fluffy. Add the egg, ginger and lemon zest, continuing to beat well.
In a different bowl, sift the flour, allspice, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together. Add the sifted ingredients to the butter mixture 1/3 at a time, slowly stirring it all in until the mixture is well incorporated. Don't worry if the dough is soft, it's supposed to be this way. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead with your hands a few times before shaping into a 3 discs. Wrap each one in plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill for about 2 hours.
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Take 1 disc out of the fridge and on a lightly floured counter, roll to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out with a 2-inch cookie cutter and transfer to a baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Gather the scraps together and continue to cut and re-roll until the dough is used up.
Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes, until set and lightly browned. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
Store in an airtight container on the counter for about a week, or you can freeze them for about a month.
Makes 5 dozen cookies
Adapted from Back to Baking by Anna Olson
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