The Most Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies

The kids worked so hard to make gingerbread cookies from start to finish! First we mixed the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and created the dough. Everyone get a chance to roll the dough and cut out their very own cookie! We also examined and smelled a ginger root and discussed its origin and how it changes from a root into a powder to flavor our cookies. Quote of the day: "Those cookies were really spicy, but I liked them."

Gingerbread Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
(Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.

Homemade Applesauce

The homemade applesauce was a huge hit with the kids. They loved using the microplane to zest the lemon, the citrus juicer to squeeze the lemon and the food mill to turn the cooked apples into applesauce. Quote of the day: This applesauce isn't good...its delicious!"

Ingredients

2 ½ pounds of apples; (I used 5 per batch, feeding 6 kids each.)

Juice from ½ lemon
Zest from ½ lemon
½ c water; more as needed
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Roughly chop apples, if you are not pressed for time. Finely chop your apples if you have all dayJ.
Place chopped apples and water in a large, thick-bottomed pot. Add juice, zest, cinnamon and sugar and give it a quick stir. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Quickly, liquid should start to cook out of the apple chunks, which will help cook them down further.
Simmer apples over low heat until they’re very soft and can be easily mashed with a large spoon or potato masher. Stir apples occasionally, and if necessary, add a small amount of water and/or reduce heat to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
Place food mill over a large bowl and add as much of the apple mixture as will reasonably fit.
To avoid making your applesauce too thin, let the mixture sit in your food mill for half an hour so any excess apple juice can drain out. (You can discard the syrupy liquid or keep it in your refrigerator for flavoring drinks — try stirring some in with your seltzer!).
Turn the handle of your food mill clockwise, pressing the apples through the sieve.
Every several turns, rotate the handle counter-clockwise half a turn; it’ll scrape up any skins and seeds blocking the mesh.
Continue rotating handle clockwise until only dry, tough skins and seeds remain in your food mill. Serve warm for the best results!