Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

We've all had problems with this conundrum and until now, the best solution has been mixing dark brown sugar with corn syrup to approximate molasses. I think I've found a solution.

When I was making Christmas cookies I needed more corn syrup. While I was browsing the shelves, I ran across Korean Rice Syrup, a darkish golden brown stuff that looked like it was as thick as molasses. So I bought a bottle and tried it in my gingerbread man cookies (actually, gingerbread teddy bears because that's the only cookie cutter I found). It worked just fine--I think changing the recipe to dark brown sugar is necessary for both flavor and color)!

I decided I should try the recipe again, just to make sure. So last night I mixed up a batch of gingerbread cookie dough, left it out on the back porch all night, and baked it up this morning. I was right. It worked just fine.

I'm rewarding my 'boys' this morning with home-made cookies warm from the oven, just because.

Here's the recipe if anyone wants it...the cool part is the ORANGE ZEST. It really does add a nice extra layer of flavor.

INGREDIENTS
� 1 cup butter, softened
� 1 1/2 cups white sugar (dark brown sugar))
� 1 egg
� 1 1/2 tablespoons orange zest (or more)
� 3 tablespoons dark corn syrup (Korean rice syrup)
� 3 cups all-purpose flour
� 2 teaspoons baking soda
� 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
� 1 teaspoon ground ginger
� 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
� 1/2 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
1. Cream the butter and the sugar together. Add the egg and mix well. Mix in the orange peel and dark corn syrup. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves and salt, mixing until well combined. Chill dough for at least 2 hours, I like to chill overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are firm and lightly toasted on the edges. (Check at 8 minutes.)

The rice syrup is about as close to the consistency of molasses as we'll get here.

I also put a smidgeon more of each spice since I like my gingerbread spicy.