“Something smells good in here,” Mom said, walking into the kitchen in a festive red dress.
We were making gingerbread cookies in preparation for the séance. But they weren’t the normal gingerbread men. Lo had brought over ninja cookie cutters so we were making gingerbread ninjas, which were just about the coolest thing ever.
“You look pretty, Mom,” Katie said.
“Uh-huh!” I concurred, my mouth stuffed with cookies.
“Thanks,” she said with a smile and smoothed her dress. “Duncan! Hurry up! We’re going to be late!” she yelled. “Money for pizza is under the cookie jar. We should be home by eleven at the latest. Duncan!”
“I’m right here, my dear.” Dad had on a green tie lit up like a Christmas tree and a burgundy sports coat.
“Sorry,” Mom said.
I swallowed my mouthful of cookie. “Nice tie.”
Dad grinned and looked down at all the lights. “It is pretty snazzy.”
“We need to get a move on,” Mom said, putting on her coat.
“No wild parties while we’re gone now,” Dad said with a wink. Katie rolled her eyes.
“Have fun,” Lo said.
In A Seymour Christmas: A Christmas Story, the ghost of Philomena Seymour makes her love of gingerbread well known--cookbooks mysteriously find themselves opening to gingerbread recipes and the house always smells like baking gingerbread cookies. When the kids decide to hold a séance, they make a batch of gingerbread ninjas to entice Philomena to show. (If your in the mood for a Christmas ghost story, you can read the first three chapters here).
My friend Kat read my book and immediately knew she had to get me ninja cookie cutters for Yule. Years ago, I did a lot of research to find the perfect gingerbread cookie recipe. It had to be more spice than sugar, and it had to hold its shape while remaining soft and chewy--I do not like hard, crunchy gingerbread (unless they're for ornament making). So here is my Seymour gingerbread ninja recipe.
Ingredients:
3 cups flour 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into approximately 12 pieces and slightly softened 3/4 cup unsulphured molasses 2 tablespoons milk
Directions:
Pour flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda into the bowl of a mixer and combined. Place the butter pieces on top of the flour mixture and process until the mixture is sand-like. With the mixer running, slowly add the molasses and milk. Don't stop the machine until the dough is evenly moist and soft.
Remove the dough from the mixer and divide it in half. Roll one half between two large pieces of parchment paper (dough will be very sticky) to 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat with the other half. Without removing the parchment paper, stack the dough on a cookie sheet and place in the freeze for 15 to 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Remove one dough sheet from the freezer and pull off the top piece of parchment paper. Cut dough into gingerbread ninjas (or any other shape you desire) and place them on cookie sheet, spacing them about an inch apart. Repeat with remaining dough. If the dough becomes too sticky, place it back in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes.
Bake for 8 minutes or until the center of the cookies set. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack.
Once the cookies have cooled to room temperature, decorate with royal icing if desired.
Store in an airtight container.
Happy Holidays!
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