Gingerbread Cookies

A delectable recipe for soft-in-the-middle and crisp-on-the-edges gingerbread cookies with just a touch of royal icing. 

Ever since building a gingerbread house a couple of weekends ago, Greer has been asking us if she can eat it. Of course we aren't letting her eat that rock hard creation, so we settled on making homemade gingerbread cookies instead. She was pleased with that compromise, and even more so once she got to sink her teeth into one of these delicious cuties. 

When searching for a recipe, I knew I wanted something that would result in a soft cookie, with firm edges. We didn't want our little gingerbread men to blow up and lose their shaping while cooking. We also wanted something with a scrumptious flavor that would work well with our icing recipe. And this recipe ended up checking ALL of the boxes. I am so pleased with how yummy these gingerbread cookies are. The only thing to keep in mind, you will need to chill your dough for at least 3 hours before baking. So perhaps make the dough the night before you want to bake. Then grab a cup of coffee and relax while decorating!

• What You'll Need
• 10 TBSP unsalted butter, softened 
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 TSP vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 TSP baking soda
• 1/2 TSP salt
• 1 TBSP ground ginger
• 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
• 1/2 TSP ground allspice
• 1/2 TSP cloves

• What You'll Do
• Using a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth. 
• Add the brown sugar and molasses, and beat until mixed and creamy-looking.
• Now beat in the egg and vanilla on high speed for 2 minutes. 
• In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. 
• Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, and on low speed beat until the dough is mixed. It will be sticky.
• Divide the dough in half and place on a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap the dough up tightly and shape into a disc.
• Chill the dough discs for at least 3 hours. 
• Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
• Remove one disc of dough from the fridge and generously flour your work surface. You will need to keep the surface floured as you work because the dough can get sticky. 
• Roll out the disc until 1/4" thick. Use a gingerbread cookie cutter (or any other shape) to cut out the cookies. 
• Bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes and allow to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. 
• You can decorate the cookies once they have completely cooled. You can find my icing recipe HERE. I cut the the recipe in half!

**I recommend storing the dough in the fridge in-between each round of baking. If the dough gets warm, the cookies will not hold their shape. So don't cut the shapes out ahead of time. Do so just before sticking in the oven. 

This recipe has been adapted from this recipe.