Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

I had never made gingerbread cookies from scratch before today. Personally, these types of cookies aren't my favorite, but I thought I might as well give it a try. I'd say the best part is decorating them. You can make your cookies simple, patterned, abstract... the possibilities are endless! And you can't forget to mention the warm and delicious smell wafting out of the oven. Ahhhh. 

Ingredients;
- 4  cups all purpose flour

- 1 tsp Baking soda

- ¼ tsp salt

- 1 ½ tsp ginger

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- ¼ tsp nutmeg

- ¾ tsp ground allspice

- ½ tsp dried cloves

- 1 ½ stick of unsalted butter

- ¾ cup brown sugar

- 1 egg

- ¾ cup molasses

- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.

2. Set aside.

3. Using a mixer beat softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy

4. Add molasses, egg and vanilla; mix well.

5. Gradually beat in flour mixture

6. Divide the dough into 3 pieces

7. Pat each piece into a disk and wrap in plastic

8. Refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours

9. Remove dough from refrigerator and let stand at room temperate until it is just soft enough to roll smoothly. This should take about 10 minutes, depending on how long the dough was chilled. 

10. Heat oven to 350 F

11. On a lightly floured working surface, roll out dough. It should be about 6 cm or ¼ inch thick (the thicker the dough, the softer the cookie)

12. Using cookie cutters of your choice, cut into your desired shapes

13. Place cookies on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart from each other

14. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until they’re firm and edges just begin to darken

15. Cool on baking sheets 2 to 3 minutes.

16. Move them onto wire racks until they cool completely.

17. Decorate cooled cookies as desired.

18. Store cookies in airtight container up to 1 week.

To decorate your cookies with royal icing, check out this recipe: 

Much to my surprise, these cookies were a lot better than I expected them to be! Not only were they cute, but really yummy too. Plus, I think they'd be a great gift to give family, friends, teachers, neighbors and whoever else you want to treat this holiday season. 

What are your favorite holiday baked goods?

XXX

- your friend, Estelle