3 1/2 cup unsifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 each egg
3/4 cup light molasses
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 decorations as desired
Directions
Preparation time: 35 minutes Chilling time: 2 hours or overnight
Cooking time: 7 to 10 minutes
1. Measure 3 1/2 cups flour; sift together with spices, baking soda
and salt; set aside. Beat butter with an electric mixer in a large
bowl until smooth. Add sugar and mix on high speed until light and
fluffy, 2 minutes. Add egg and mix well. Stop the mixer and add
molasses and lemon rind. Mix on low speed to combine. Stir in dry
ingredients with a wooden spoon.
2. Divide dough into four parts. Wrap each one separately in plastic
wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.
3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheets.
4. Remove one piece of dough from the refrigerator at a time. Roll
the well-chilled dough on a floured board or between sheets of waxed
paper to a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out with cookie cutters and
carefully transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving 1-inch between
each cookie.
5. Bake just until the cookies are lightly browned and set, 7 to 10
minutes. Do not overbake. Transfer from baking sheets to a wire rack
and cool completely before decorating. Decorate as desired. Store in
airtight containers.
Nancy Schubert of Schaumburg, Illinois took first place with these
chubby little bears. She uses colored sugar, little candies and a
classic royal icing to decorate the bears. Confectioners' sugar icing
or tubes of decorator icing can be also can be used. from the Chicago
Tribune fifth annual Food Guide Holiday Cookie Contest December 3,
1992
Servings: 42 servings
1992 1st Place: Gingerbread Bears Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bread; Breads; Cake
The History of Recipes
It is quite feasible to track the history of transcribed cooking instructions back into history, at least as far as ancient Egypt, and quite possibly further than that. Having said that, in the main part, these old cook books were just very basic hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for preparing meals.
Interestingly, the oldest recipe found, according to academics are a few ancient tablets in Sumerian which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who drank it feel wonderful and blissful. Moving on, there are two interesting books which appeared in the fourteenth century ; a cookery book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another titled `Curye on Inglish`. Don`t be fooled by the titles though, these have no connection with the curry that is popular today, but rather descriptions of the types of meals prepared by the cooks of the nobility of that time. During the next few hundred years, the wealthy families of Wesstern Europe competed with each other to serve up the most exotic meals, and as a result the best cooks and their recipe collections were at a premium. Notwithstanding that, it wasn`t until the 19th century that cooking and recipe collections rose to prominence. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, spent years to assembling, testing, and publishing recipes to allow everyone to enjoy them. Like it or not, the introduction of TV brought us cooking programs and the recipe books that accompanied them. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everybody to access massive numbers of recipes just like those on this site. |
We hope you enjoy this 1992 1st Place_ Gingerbread Bears recipe.
