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Chocolate Gingerbread Boys and Girls

Chocolate gingerbread cookies shaped like boys and girls, made with chocolate morsels, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and vanilla frosting.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Chocolate Gingerbread Boys and Girls

Oven350°F
Time5 to 6 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate and dough

  1. Microwave 1½ cups chocolate morsels in a medium microwave-safe bowl on high power for 1 minute; stir, then microwave in additional 10 to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth.

  2. Cool to room temperature.

  3. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

  4. Beat butter and sugar in a small mixer bowl until creamy; beat in molasses and melted chocolate.

  5. Gradually add flour mixture alternately with water, beating until smooth.

  6. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, or until firm.

Cut and bake

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Roll half of dough to ¼-inch thickness on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin.

  3. Cut dough into gingerbread boy and girl shapes using cookie cutters or a stencil.

  4. Place cut dough on ungreased baking sheets.

  5. Repeat with remaining dough.

  6. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes or until edges are set but centers are still slightly soft.

  7. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes.

  8. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Decorate

  1. Place remaining morsels in a heavy-duty plastic bag.

  2. Microwave on high power for 30 to 45 seconds; knead, then microwave for 10 seconds and knead until smooth.

  3. Cut a tiny corner from bag; squeeze to pipe chocolate.

  4. Decorate with piped frosting or icing.

  5. Use colored icing in tubes instead of piped frosting.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

839Calories
15 gProtein
21 gFat
143 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  3. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chocolate morsels
Melted chocolate adds richness and a glossy, fudgy flavour to the dough and piped decoration.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cut shapes together while baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses and helps the cookies rise and spread slightly.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and flavour, and helps the dough hold its shape.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown and crisp at the edges.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep flavour and a soft, chewy texture to the cookies.

The step that matters

Bake only until the edges are set. Gingerbread keeps baking from residual heat on the tray, so pulling cookies while centers are still slightly soft keeps them tender rather than dry and brittle.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, flour, cinnamon, butter, sugar, molasses, vanilla):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, flour, cinnamon, butter, sugar, molasses, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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