Holiday Gingerbread Cookies

  • Level: Easy
  • Yield: 12 to 16 cookies
  • Total: 1 hr 50 min
  • Prep: 30 min
  • Inactive: 1 hr
  • Cook: 20 min
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Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup mild molasses

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Royal Icing, recipe follows

Royal Icing:

2 egg whites

3 cups confectioners' sugar, whisked to remove lumps

1/2 lemon, juiced

Directions

  1. Combine butter, sugar, and molasses together in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
  2. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in increments, and continue to beat until thoroughly mixed together.
  3. Pour the dough out onto the countertop and divide into 4 pieces. Press each piece into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator and chill for 1 to 2 hours, or up to 3 days.
  4. Adjust the racks to the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line sheet trays with parchment paper.
  5. Spread 2 large pieces of parchment paper out and very lightly flour them. Place a disk of dough between the parchment sheets and roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat with the remaining disks of dough. Rework all scraps into balls and re-chill before reusing. Repeat with all the dough.
  6. Cut out cookies and place on the parchment-lined sheet trays with an offset spatula, leaving 1-inch between each cookie. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on the sheet tray for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack to continue cooling to room temperature before decorating the cookies with Royal Icing.

Royal Icing:

  1. Add ingredients to a large bowl. Beat, using a hand mixer, until glossy and stiff, about 5 to 6 minutes. Place in icing bags with fine tips to decorate cookies.

Let's Get Cooking!

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Annmarie M.

I have tried many gingerbread cookie recipes. Many seem to provide a stiff cookies for decorating and probably hanging. Many do not taste great. Some taste too strongly of cloves. These cookies taste great. I tried Anne Burrell’s recipe too. Best tasting dough ever!! GB cookies themselves were ok, big disappointment after how great dough was! One Xmas eve, I reached for a lemon. It must have been old- it produced no juice. In desperation, I reached for an orange. The orange juice in frosting tastes great with these cookies. I brought them to an event and a stranger hunted me down to compliment them (best gingerbread cookie ever!). I told him it was the Neeley’s, not me. Love this recipe for eating and decorating.

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