Gingerbread Cookies

By christoph

Few things make the house smell as good as a pan of gingerbread cookies in the oven. The spicy sweet aroma of brown sugar, molasses, and ginger most certainly bring the season alive.

Ingredients

• Cookies
• ¾ cup unsalted butter
• ¾ cup brown sugar packed
• ¾ cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• Icing
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons meringue powder
• 2-3 drops gel food coloring optional
• 1-1½ tablespoons water as needed for piping consistency

Details

Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 102mins
Adapted from jamesandeverett.com

Preparation

Step 1

Cookies
Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add sugar and molasses. Continue heating until the sugar is completely dissolved stirring often. Add salt and spices and stir to combine. Remove from heat and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature before beating in the egg.
Whisk dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then add to the molasses mixture stirring to completely combine.
Divide the dough in half and form each half into a thick rectangle. Wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for at least an hour to chill. The dough is a bit sticky and needs to be completely chilled to roll.
Heat oven to 350°F and line several baking trays with parchment paper.
Work with one half of the dough at a time, rolling dough out on a floured surface to 1/8” or ¼”. Dip cutters in flour and cut out shapes as close to each other as possible. Roll scraps into a ball and place back in the fridge to chill before rerolling.
Bake cookies for 8 to 12 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Let the cookies cool for several minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to completely cool.
Icing
In a small bowl combine powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add color if desired. Add water a teaspoon at a time until desired constancy for piping. If icing becomes too stiff and a few drops of water.
Allow icing to dry for several hours before storing.

Cooks Notes
Placing plastic wrap over the top of the dough for rolling will keep it from sticking without adding additional flour.



Chill any scraps before re-rolling.