Old fashioned gingerbread

After being out of town a few days last summer, I came home to find a bag of cookie cutters hanging on my front porch-not just any cookie cutters-but a pig and an acorn cookie cutter! I knew immediately what I wanted to use them for-Granny Gazzie’s Gingerbread Cookies.

traditional gingerbread

I’ve always been a fan of gingerbread cookies-others around here-not so much. I don’t think anyone likes them but me, Steve, and Granny. But that’s ok-cause it just means more pigs and acorns for me right?

Granny Gazzie’s Gingerbread Cookie recipe is one of those old ones-with amounts like wads instead of true measurements. But I think I’ve worked out the exact measurements pretty well. I love her recipe-because the cookies are not overly sweet or spicy.

Ingredients

  • 1 small glass milk (1/4 cup)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup syrup (sorghum)
  • big wad of lard (2 1/2 tablespoons)
  • 3 cups self-rising flour (I changed it to self-rising just to make it easier)
  • 1 egg

Beat lard and syrup until well blended; add egg-beat well.

Mix spices with flour; alternately add milk and flour to syrup mixture to make a soft dough.

Granny gazzies gingerbread cookies

Using additional flour-roll out dough and cut into desired shapes. I used a toothpick to make simple designs in mine.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes-if you make yours as thick as I did-if you make them thinner they’ll cook in less time.

Gingerbread cookies from appalachia

Not a crunchy cookie at all-more like bread-but oh so good with a cup of coffee.

Gingerbread cookie fan?

Tipper

Similar Posts

26 Comments

  1. Hi Tipper, I searched your blog for a gingerbread cookie recipe and found this one. Sounds perfect especially the soft cookie part. Several comments mention no ginger in the recipe. I see it listed in the ingredients. Was the ginger added after the fact?

    1. Diane-it was added later 🙂 I got so many folks asking why it didn’t have ginger that I finally added it. The cookies are good either way. Thank you!

  2. I LOVE gingerbread cookies – may have to give these a try since I’m always on the lookout for a soft gingerbread recipe. Thanks for sharing!

  3. How wonderful for you to have pig and acorn cookie cutters! A perfect gift, most appropriate.
    The recipe sounds interesting, I like the addition of the lard. Going to add this to my “BP” recipe collection too and give them a try. First I’ll see if I can find sorghum – if not local, I’ll look on line. I thought it was molasses at first, so thanks to Mike for the explanation about the difference.

  4. Hi Cuz,
    Granny made these using a special cookie cutter — the lid to a small, round metal pot that has a little black tab handle. They’re my favorite, too, but since the recipe was never written down, Dad hasn’t been able to replicate them. I’ll give him this recipe and cross my fingers. Yes, they’re more like bread, so they’re not too sweet. I remember Granny’s being a bit browner in color. I can’t wait to try some again.

  5. Did you ever eat the chocolate off a Moon Pie then open it up and eat the marshmallow stuff out of the middle? The two cookies that are left are the best I ever ate. I’ll bet Granny Gassie’s taste like that. Or better!

  6. Tipper–Just a thought, one which might work (and might not). Have you thought of substituting blackstrap molasses for the sorghum? I love the rich taste of blackstrap, with its slight overtones of iron, and one of the Christmas gifts I particularly cherished this year was a jar of blackstrap molasses made the old-fashioned way. My daughter knows the way to her dad’s too ample tummy.
    Jim Casada

  7. This recipe looks like a keeper, but I may also want to add a touch of ginger. I like the extra bite.
    A word of warning to Paul who says he may use molasses instead. In my opinion, there is a world of difference between store-bought molasses (terrible!!) and sorghum, which is made from sorghum cane. The store-bought stuff tastes something like a mix between asphalt and turpentine.

  8. Ed-nope no ginger in Granny Gazzie’s Gingerbread cookies LOL : ) I’m betting in the days when the recipe was written-ginger was either too hard to find-too expensive to buy-or both! But the cookies really do taste like gingerbread-you’ll have to make them and see for yourself : )
    Blind Pig The Acorn
    Celebrating and Preserving the
    Culture of Appalachia
    http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com

  9. I love gingerbread! I’m gonna try your recipe, if sorghum is available here. If not, I’ll use molasses instead.

  10. How do I get the recipe for your gingerbread My mother is 93 and from the Haywood County area and has craved old time gingerbread for years? Thank you in advance.

  11. Tipper,
    My computer is on the blink….but had a spark of good luck a minute ago…
    Does your gingerbread cookie recipe delibertly not have ginger spice in it….
    Are your cookies crisp….I love ginger-snaps…would love to make some like them, but know they have ginger in them…
    Just thinking…Ginger snap cookies are dryer, hard and dark brown and full of ginger…Are yours a dry cookie?
    I may get back on, I may not…so will have to borrow a lap top later…I am signed on in safe mode now…may have to buy me a new one…
    Thanks Tipper,

  12. YUM!!!!! We LOVE gingerbread cookies and are glad you shared Granny Gazzie’s recipe. We’ll add it to all our other BP recipes! We made Granny’s (Tipper’s Mom) sugar cookies this Christmas for cookie tray gifts and ourselves. We made over 20 dozen and they were loved by everyone, especially us!!

  13. Tipper,
    What a nice present to get your
    Signature Cookie makers. I like
    fresh cookies too. The other night
    I ate a huge plain Chocolate bar
    and it gave me the scours. So now
    to crave my Chocolate habit, I get
    those Keebler Chocolate Chip
    Originals. Works for me…Ken

  14. Pig and acorn cookie cutters left mysteriously on you door? Hum! Someone had a message for you to make some special cookies for them. You might think of rewarding them. I have them also in my stash, but they are a bit fancier; I don’t need a toothpick. The recipe and the thoughts of those cookies just make my mouth salivate – I will have dreams of gingerbread pigs and acorns dancing in my dreasms tonight. I love gingerbread cookies! Thanks for the recips! Yummy, yummy, in my tummy, tummy!

  15. Dad was always trying to get someone to make gingerbred like his mom did. I tried every recipe in the books and he kept saying they were nothing like hers. He went to visit his sister one weekend and she made gingerbread for him. Thinking back, he never said gingerbread cookies, just gingerbread. He brought some of the left over bread for me to try. She had made it in a cake pan and cut it in pieces like a cake. Maybe her recipe was similar to yours.

  16. I love gingerbread and ginger cookies, and except for those paper-thin Swedish cookies (which I buy, not bake!) I always prefer chewy and soft. These sound delicious, but…don’t you put ginger in them?

  17. What a wonderful surprise to find those cookie cutters at your door! And a pig and an acorn to boot!
    Your recipe sounds yummy, I could use one of those cookies with my coffee right now:)

  18. I read over your recipe carefully and I couldn’t find any ginger. Shouldn’t that be an ingredient in gingerbread cookies? Or am I showing my ignorance, not being a baker.
    I ain’t much of a sweets eater either but if you will send me a couple of dozen I’ll give them a try.

  19. Tipper, what a nice gift the cookie cutters were! I don’t see any ginger in your Gingerbread Cookie Recipe.
    I’ve never made gingerbread cookies, but then, I’m not much of a cookie maker. I have made gingerbread and I like it quite a lot. My recipe came from one of your Fox Fire books. It is a rich tangy recipe, also a very old recipe.
    Do you ever notice there is something very substantial about the old recipes that makes them different from the newer recipes?

  20. Oh yummmm…these look good! I think I’ll like these…I much prefer a chewy cookie over a crunchy one, and I am a fan of gingerbread!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *