Easy Gingerbread Cookies
Sweet and spiced holiday ginger cookies with a simple icing that make wonderful gifts. The dough can be made ahead and baked thin and crisp or thick and chewy.
Servings 40 medium
Ingredients
For the spiced cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ cup light molasses
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the sugar icing:
- ⅔ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons milk
Instructions
For the spiced cookies:
- Beat ½ cup unsalted butter and ½ cup sugar in a large bowl until creamy.
- Add 1 egg and mix until well integrated. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add ½ cup light molassesthe spices (1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice and ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves) and mix well.
- Sift together 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ¼ teaspoon salt and add to the butter (it's important to sift the baking soda as it might clump during storage). Mix everything well with a spatula. After the flour is fully integrated (no dry spots), you don't want to beat anymore, as it will make the cookies tougher.
- Wrap in plastic, pressing to make a disc, or press a piece of plastic directly to the bowl, and refrigerate for a few hours, until firm enough to roll. At this point, you can leave it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or in the freezer for a month, always well wrapped.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line cookie trays with parchment paper.
- Roll half of the dough at a time and keep the rest refrigerated. Lightly flour the surface and the rolling pin, and roll the cookie dough, making sure it does not stick. To ensure this, make quarter turns frequently and flip over several times while rolling.
- Cut cookies with the cookie cutter of choice, and place on the prepared sheets.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until dry and slightly soft to the touch.
- Cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
For the icing:
- Mix ⅔ cups powdered sugar with 1 teaspoon of the milk in a small bowl until creamy.
- Test it. If it's too thick to drizzle, add ½ teaspoon more of milk, and eventually half more again until it's of the desired consistency. Drizzle with a fork over the cookies and let them dry before eating.
Notes
Molasses: depending on the type you buy, sometimes it can be too strong. So I sweeten it down with some corn syrup or honey and use half molasses and half honey/syrup. The balance is magic, strong yet sweet, all those spices exploding with every bite.
Cookie shapes: this is a good, solid dough that can be cut out with almost any shape. The larger ones with less intricate angles usually give the best results, but I've made them with numerous different ones and they all turned out very well.
Soft or crisp? If you roll them thicker and skimp a bit on the cooking time, you get softer, chewier cookies. If you roll them thin and bake them crisp, you can use them as ornaments for the tree or holiday table. Don't forget to make the hole needed to hang them right after you take them out of the oven.
Make ahead: I recommend freezing the cut-out cookie shapes unbaked because freshly baked cookies are always the best; you just pop them frozen into the oven. But if you will not have enough time to bake and ice close to the day you have to serve them, freeze the baked cookies while still barely warm because, as is my experience, they will retain moisture better.
Icing: I love to drizzle a simple powdered sugar glaze as shown in the pictures here. But you can also use this cream cheese frosting recipe and a piping bag.