Classic Gingerbread Cutout Cookies
Classic gingerbread cutout cookies that hold their shape and take royal icing beautifully. Deeply spiced, not too sweet, with crisp edges and a little bite. Sturdy enough for ornaments and gift tags.
Servings: 24 Cookies
Cost: $10
Equipment
- Electric Mixer
- Rolling Pin
- Parchment Paper
- Cookie Sheet
- Wire rack
- Piping Bags and Tips
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and baking soda together until the mixture is smooth.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the flour. Continue mixing until all of the ingredients are blended together.
- Chill the dough for 1 to 2 hours or overnight. The dough will be sticky and soft, so chilling is essential before you try to roll it.
- Once the dough is chilled, roll it on a floured surface, adding flour to the top of the dough so it won't stick. Roll to 1/8 inch thick for crisp cookies or 1/4 inch for softer ones.
- Use cookie cutters to make your shapes, dipping them in flour between cuts so they release cleanly. Continue rolling the dough and cutting shapes until the dough is gone.
- Place the cookies on a lined baking sheet and bake in a 375 degree oven for 5 to 6 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the sheet before moving them to a cooling rack. They firm up as they cool.
- While the cookies are cooling, make the royal icing to decorate them.
- Decorate once the cookies are completely cool. Warm cookies will melt the icing. For these, I made pink and white royal icing and piped the designs with a small round tip.
Notes
Chill the dough. Not optional. An hour minimum, overnight is easier. If your kitchen is warm, chill the cut shapes another ten minutes before baking for really sharp edges.
For softer, chewier cookies, roll a full 1/4 inch thick, bake at 350°F instead of 375°F, and pull them at about 7 minutes when the centers still look slightly underdone. Same dough, different cookie.
Don't overbake. These bake fast and dark dough is hard to read by eye. Set a timer for 5 minutes and check. When in doubt, pull them early.
Molasses. Use unsulphured, not blackstrap. Blackstrap is much more bitter and it will overwhelm the spices.
Make ahead. The dough keeps 3 days refrigerated or 3 months frozen. Baked undecorated cookies freeze up to 3 months.
Storage. Airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks. Layer parchment between decorated cookies so the icing doesn't stick.
Decorating. Royal icing holds fine detail and dries hard. Buttercream is softer to eat but won't hold designs the same way.
Nutrition
Serving: 24g | Calories: 105kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 78mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 131IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 1mg
