Gingerbread Spiced Sugar Cookies

4.50 from 8 votes
Prep: 40 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 50 minutes
Servings: 15 Cookies
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These yummy spiced sugar cookies are light, buttery, crispy and totally addictive! Plus they are beautiful and easy to make!

top down shot of sugar cookies

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‘Tis the season for baking! I love decorating sugar cookies, but I’ve never been a fan of eating them – chocolate is more my style. This year, I spiced things up by adding gingerbread spices to my sugar cookie dough, creating a Gingerbread Spice Sugar Cookie!

I used Dorie Greenspan’s recipe, which is crisp, buttery, and perfectly spiced. Topped with royal icing, they’re as delicious as they are beautiful. Check out the recipe and decorating how-to below!

shot of spiced sugar cookies being iced

How To Make

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat butter until fluffy.
  • Add sugar and beat for 3 minutes on high.
  • Mix in egg and egg yolk, beating for 2 minutes.
  • Stir in vanilla.
  • Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a bowl.
  • Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients, mixing on low. Finish with a spatula. Chill dough for 1-2 hours.
  • Roll out dough with flour and cut shapes.
  • Bake for 7-10 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Royal Icing Recipe

Beat all of the ingredients above on high for a few minutes.
The goal of this frosting is to to get a consistency that won’t spread when creating an outline, but blends perfectly for filling in the center… sounds easy right?

If it’s too thick add a little more water (like 1 teaspoon at a time) and if it’s too thin add more powdered sugar.

Remove 1 cup of the frosting and set aside to dye red.

The remaining white frosting can be placed in a pipping bag with a small round tip.

Place the red in a piping bag with an even smaller round tip.

side shot of spiced sugar cookie and icing bag

You have to work fast with this design because the frosting dries quickly.

The white frosting needs to be wet in order to create this design. So I decorated one side of the cookie fully before moving to the next.
Outline and fill in one side with white frosting.

Make a zigzag line down the snowflake sides. Then, gently run a knife straight down the middle. That’s it!

montage of cookies being iced with white and red  icing

What Is Royal Icing?

For these spiced sugar cookies I used royal icing for decoration. It’s a simple and versatile icing, that is perfect for creating delicious decorative cookies.
Royal icing is a hard white icing, made from softly beaten egg whites, icing sugar, and sometimes lemon or lime juice.  You can use it to get a lovely smooth covering or sharp peaks.

close up overhead shot of iced spiced sugar cookie

Eden’s Tips For Spiced Sugar Cookies

  • Baking powder can cause your cookies to spread. So Make sure to measure ingredients carefully.
  • Chill the Dough before Baking your Cookies.
  • If you can, invest in some cookie cutters, they really speed up the process.
  • Make sure to preheat your oven before baking
top down shot of copper cookie cutter

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If you have tried this spiced sugar cookie recipe, or any other recipe on my blog, then please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below!

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How to make charming snowflake cookies
4.50 from 8 votes

Gingerbread Spice Sugar Cookies

By: Eden
These sugar cookies are perfect for the festive season!
Prep: 40 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Chilling time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total: 50 minutes
Servings: 15 Cookies
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Ingredients 

Gingerbread Spice Sugar Cookies

  • 10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon all-spice
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Royal Icing Recipe

  • 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons meringue powder
  • 8 tablespoons warm water, more or less depending on consistency

Instructions 

Gingerbread Spice Sugar Cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Beat the butter until soft and fluffy.
  • Add in the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes on high.
  • Add in the egg and egg yolk and beat on high for another 2 minutes.
  • Beat in the vanilla.
  • Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a bowl.
  • With the mixer on low add in the flour mixture. Mix for a minute and then finish with a spatula. You don’t want to overwork the flour.
  • Refrigerate the dough for 1 to 2 hours.
  • Roll the dough out with flour to cut cookie shapes.
  • Bake for 7-10 minutes. Let them cool before you frost.

Royal Icing Recipe

  • Beat all of the ingredients above on high for a few minutes.
  • The goal of this frosting is to to get a consistency that won’t spread when creating an outline, but blends perfectly for filling in the center… sounds easy right? If it’s too thick add a little more water (like 1 teaspoon at a time) and if it’s too thin add more powdered sugar.
  • Remove 1 cup of the frosting and set aside to dye red. The remaining white frosting can be placed in a pipping bag with a small round tip.
  • Place the red in a piping bag with an even smaller round tip.

To Decorate the Cookie

  • You have to work fast with this design because the frosting dries quickly. The white frosting needs to be wet in order to create this design. So I decorated one side of the cookie fully before moving to the next.
  • Outline and fill in one side with white frosting.
  • Make a zigzag line down the snowflake sides. Then, gently run a knife straight down the middle. That’s it!

Notes

Recipe adapted from Dori Greenpan’s book of Baking
 

Nutrition

Calories: 335kcal, Carbohydrates: 63g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 43mg, Sodium: 150mg, Potassium: 35mg, Fiber: 0g, Sugar: 50g, Vitamin A: 265IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 15mg, Iron: 0.9mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!

About Eden

I’m Eden Passante and I develop, create, style and photograph every recipe and party on Sugar and Charm. I’m the author of Entertaining with Charm and have a Bachelor’s Degree in Home Economics and I’m here to help you create simple and easy recipes for entertaining and how to add charm to any gathering!

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4.50 from 8 votes (8 ratings without comment)

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1 Comment

  1. Dawn says:

    Your ingredient list says baking powder but your instructions say baking soda.