My Favorite Gingerbread Cookies
This is by far my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe. The cookies are crisp and crunchy and heavily spiced, which I love! The recipe I’ve had scribbled down in a notebook for years actually just says “4 tsp spices” so feel free to experiment a bit with the spice combination! If you have Chinese 5 spice on hand, that can make for a fantastic addition!
Equipment
- Piping bags to decorate
- Cookie cutters
Ingredients
Ingredients - cookies:
- 100 g butter
- 100 g sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1.5 tsp ginger
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cloves optional
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg optional
- 1/4 tsp cardamom optional
- 250 g flour
- 1 egg yolk Save the egg white for the icing
- 125 ml treacle or molasses
Ingredients - royal icing:
- 100 g icing sugar
- 15 g egg whites
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and the sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer or with hand held electric beaters.
- In a second bowl whisk together the salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices and flour
- Add the dry ingredients, the egg yolk and the molasses to the butter and stir to combine. It’s easiest to start this by hand and then set it on the standing mixer on low speed for about 30 seconds to make sure it’s fully combined.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for half an hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F and make the icing. To make the icing, combine the powdered sugar and egg white in the bowl of a standing mixer or a large bowl and beat with the whisk attachment (or electric beaters) on high speed until white and thick. Add water a tsp at a time until you reach a piping consistency. Spoon the icing into piping bags (you can also color some of it with food coloring if you’d like) and set the bags aside.
- Roll out the dough and cut out your cookies using your favorite cookie cutters or free hand it with a sharp knife.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with a silicon baking mat and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Bake the cookies for 10 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool and then decorate!