Gingerbread Cookies (recipe)

Gingerbread Cookies (recipe)

November 24th, 2009

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What’s your favorite holiday cookie? Leave a comment.
Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Soft Gingerbread Cookies with a simple sugar glaze are the cookie of the season! Delicate, spicy-sweet flavors and fun shapes please both kids and adults. Talk about something to be thankful for…

NOTE: This recipe is not suitable for Gingerbread House making. These are soft cookies.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Ingredients for Gingerbread Cookies:
1 cup salted butter
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (6 tablespoons)
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
1 3/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp half n’ half (cream or milk)

sprinkles, chocolates or candies for decorating (if desired)

You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!
Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
In an electric mixer, cream butter and add brown sugar.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Add ginger, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, baking soda and pinch of salt.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Mix well and scrape down sides of mixer bowl to ensure all the spices are incorporated.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Your dough should be fluffy and well combined.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Add egg and molasses.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Crank up the speed on the mixer.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Add flour and mix on low until combined. Dough will be sticky.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Place dough in a container and refrigerate several hours or overnight for best results. The spices will ripen as the dough proofs.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Generously flour a wooden board and rolling pin. You will find this dough to be more delicate and much stickier than a typical sugar cookie dough.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Cut out shapes, place on baking sheet. Bake in a 325 (F) oven for 7-9 minutes. For softer cookies, do not allow to brown. Makes 2 dozen 3 inch cookies. Recipe doubles and freezes well.

NO GLAZE, NO GLORY!
Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Allow baked cookies to cool before glazing. Combine powdered sugar and half n’ half to make glaze. For a thicker glaze use more sugar and less liquid, for a thinner glaze, use more liquid.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
The easiest method is to simply dip each cookie into glaze and carefully lift out. Place on cookie cooling rack and allow excess glaze to drip off. For a thicker, more refined look, spoon glaze over cookie and spread with the back of a spoon.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
To decorate cookies with glaze, fill a plastic bag with glaze and snip the tip. Decorate as desired.

Search terms: gingerbread cookie recipe, ginger, bread, gingersnaps, snaps, holiday cookies, ginger, molasses recipe, molasses cookie recipe, cloves, cinnamon, spiced cookie recipe, gingerbread cookie cutouts, gingerbread man

Link to the The Cookie Confession blog post.
Link to the full Average Betty Archive.

HOLIDAY COOKIE ROUNDUP!
Looking for Holiday cookie ideas? Click an image for the complete recipe!

Peanut Butter Cookies	Sugar Cookies
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies	Gingerbread Cookies
Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares	Double Chocolate Cookies

Link to the The Cookie Confession blog post.
Link to the full Average Betty Archive.

Entry Filed under: Recipes

7 Comments Add your own

1. Farina @ SaltNTurmeric | December 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 pm

that looks yum. I want me some gingerbread cookies!
2. Average Betty | December 4th, 2009 at 11:40 am

Thanks, Farina! I know… it’s a shame we only eat them at this time of year!!
3. maria | December 6th, 2009 at 6:37 pm

I just made these today with my kids. They came out pretty good! I think I may have rolled them out a little too thick though. The thinner ones had just the right “chew”. Good flavor too.
4. Average Betty | December 7th, 2009 at 7:35 am

Alright, maria! What a fun thing to do with your kids… thanks for letting me know about the chew and the flavor. Those are the two most important things in my book when it comes to making -er- eating cookies!
5. Patti | December 7th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

I made these this weekend according to the recipe, chilled overnight, etc. But they were way too sticky for me to cut them out. I ended up rolling them into balls and flattening with some sugar on top- very tasty, but i wonder what I did wrong? Even with flour I couldn’t get them to not stick to everything. I’ve made many a gigerbread men, sugar cookie near expert but I could not get these to cut and unstick to my counter. Too sticky for me to control apparently, but tasty and wonderful, thanks for the recipe.
6. 17 Party Friendly Cookies&hellip | December 8th, 2009 at 4:08 am

[…] Soft Gingerbread Cookies from Average Betty […]
7. Average Betty | December 8th, 2009 at 9:55 am

Oh no, Patti! Gosh, I’ve racked my brain as to why the dough turned out too sticky to control. I’m so sorry…

I know you mentioned you did let the dough chill, was it hard when you took it out of the fridge? Did you roll it cold? I find rolling it while it’s cold, in small batches, cutting like 3 cookies from each rolling works for me…

I use a very generous sprinkling of flour on a wooden board, I flour my rolling pin and dip the cutters in flour too. I don’t go that flour crazy with sugar cookies, but I did use a lot of flour to roll and cut these. (the 12th & 13th pics down the page show the flour and amount of dough I work with)

I’m happy to hear that they tasted good and your solution of making gingerballs (lol!) sounds like what I would have done in your situation.

Thanks for commenting and letting me know your results, it really is helpful to me and others.

Happy holidays!
Cheers,
Betty