Classic Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

Every year at Christmas time, I invite over my closet girlfriends for a cookie day. We mix, we roll, we bake, and we decorate and really just have tons of fun. We find one or two fun and creative festive cookie recipes in advance, but the one we always make every year is gingerbread men. It’s a fun little tradition that my best friend and I started about 4 Christmases ago and it’s something we look forward to all year round. Gingerbread is not everyone’s cup of tea, but you can make them into ornaments or garlands to decorate your home if that’s the case! They smell very delicious and are always SUPER cute.

This batch makes so many cookies that even when there’s 5 people baking, there is enough for everyone to take home an equal abundance!

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together all your dry ingredients, which includes your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, until well combined. Then set aside.
2. In your main, large bowl, beat your butter and brown sugar until well blended, then add the vanilla extract and molasses. Continue to beat while slowly adding your dry mixture 1 cup at a time until everything is smooth.
3. With your hands, gather your dough into a ball. Split the dough into two parts and cover both with cling wrap.
4. Place your wrapped dough into the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but no less than a few hours.

When ready to bake:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Most recipes will tell you to line your baking pans with parchment paper, but my pans are nonstick and I have never had any issues removing my cookies from them without it. However, if you feel you need parchment paper, this is your time to line your baking sheets.
2. Remove your dough from the refrigerator and allow to start warming up to room temperature while you prep your counter, cutting board, or smooth dish rag. To do this, grab your flour and sprinkle it all over. (It will be messy. Baking is messy!) Rub your rolling pin with flour as well. This will help prevent the dough from sticking to your tools and flat surface.
3. Unwrap your dough and knead it around in your hands to soften it up if it’s not yet room temperature, then place in your workspace.
4. Take your pin roller and begin rolling your dough flat until it is about 2-3cm in thickness. You don’t want to roll it any thinner or it will burn during baking. If you are still having trouble with your dough sticking to the roller, sprinkle flour on top of your dough before continuing to roll. Grab your cookie cutters, cut, and bake!
5. Bake one sheet of cookies at a time for approximately 6-7 minutes.

I find the BEST tool to remove cookies from sheets is a metal spatula. I no longer have a metal one, but my silicone one did a fine job.

Cream Cheese Icing:

1. Throw all your ingredients into the bowl and blend with a hand mixer until smooth! (Yes, it’s THAT easy!)

INGREDIENTS:

1. 3 cups all-purpose flour
2. 3/4 cup brown sugar
3. 6 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
4. 1 large egg (or 2 small eggs)
5. 1/2 cup molasses
6. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7. 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
8. 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
9. 1/4 teaspoon salt
10. 1 tablespoon ground ginger
11. 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
12. 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Cream Cheese Icing:

1. 4 tablespoons cream cheese
2. 1/2 softened unsalted butter
3. 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4. 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
5. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I would definitely recommend using a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for this dough because it’s very thick, but a hand mixer or stirring by hand can work as well, just will take a little more time and a lot of muscle! I have the one linked in the color ‘toffee’ and they have endless ones to choose from. These are the kitchen cooking utensils I have and absolutely love!

THANK YOU FOR READING!
Tag me in your insta pics if you try this recipe!
x Abigail, @abbvocado

The Best ‘Copycat Starbucks’ Banana Bread

When I was in college, I had a roommate that made our house banana bread all the time. The kitchen was always filled with it for us to grab in the morning on the way to class or if we needed something sweet to munch on as a late night snack. I think the story goes that she would always buy bananas and then not eat them fast enough so she needed a way to not waste them once they got riper than she was willing to eat them.

Thank God for Rachel. I’m not sure I would have gotten through that last semester without those muffins always available and I know the rest of the roommates would say the same. Since I am rewatching Grey’s Anatomy for, like, the 6th time, a fun comparison I can give you is calling Rachel the “Izzy” in our household with her muffins. It was amazing and I can’t help but smile. I will always think back to my time living in College Park fondly when I bake banana bread.

This specific banana bread recipe is referred to as “Copycat Starbucks Banana Bread” because the recipe apparently comes directly from Starbucks itself. I haven’t personally compared, but it’s delicious so I believe it! I hope you love it as much as my roommates and I did! My son is obsessed with it just as I expected him to be and I know this will be something I make very often from here on out.

I think I enjoy the muffin form of these much more than a loaf because it controls portions, is less mess, and is easier to store, so I would definitely recommend making muffins instead if anyone tries this recipe!

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, 300 degree for a glass pan.
2. Add flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl, mix, and set aside.
3. In your mixing bowl, add the egg, sugar, and oil together and beat until well combined.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and continue mixing until you have a thick, dry mixture.
5. Next add the milk, vanilla flavoring, and mashed bananas and beat until they’re well incorporated.
6. Mix in your 1/2 cup walnuts and 1/4 cup cinnamon chips then pour into your loaf pan or cupcake tin.
7. To garnish as I did, cut a banana in half and then cut one of the halves in half again longways. Gently place on top of your loaf, in the pan before putting in the oven. (This may cause the bread to need to be baked longer so make sure if you do this to actually poke with a toothpick repeatedly to make sure it’s baked all the way through.)
8. Bake for about 50-75 minutes depending on what pan you’ve used. Check regularly after the 50 minute mark with a fork or toothpick until it comes out of the loaf clean.

— While gathering all the things I needed to start baking, I found that bag of cinnamon chips. They are not in the Starbucks recipe, but when I saw them I couldn’t resist using them. Be careful not to put too many in your batter though because they’re really strong!

WHAT YOU”LL NEED:

1. 2 cups flour
2. 1 tsp baking soda
3. 1/4 tsp salt
4. 1 egg
5. 1 1/8 cups white sugar
6. 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
7. 2 tbsp milk
8. 1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring
9. 3 well mashed bananas

• Optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  1/4 cup cinnamon chips
  1/2 whole banana to garnish

We don’t use cow’s milk in our household so I used almond milk in place of it, which worked fine. I used a glass pan and ended up having to leave the bread in the oven for 70 minutes.

Good luck & enjoy!