Prior to last Christmas, I have never been a fan of gingerbread cookies. I recall one year when, at my request, my mom agreed to let me try my hand at them, even though she was confident I would not enjoy eating them (she was right!). After that one year, I can’t remember ever trying gingerbread again.
Until last year. Last year, despite the fact that I have 1. never constructed a gingerbread house, 2. never baked gingerbread and 3. never been particularly patient/precise/good at baking, I decided to create my own gingerbread house, complete with a gingerbread family, from scratch. By hand. With no cookie cutters. And without creating any type of stencil/template/plan. Basically I made gingerbread, cut it into squares of roughly the same size, and hoped for the best.
Needless to say, my gingerbread house turned out less than perfect. More accurately, after repeated attempts to connect the squares into a structure of some kind, the house caved in and I succumbed to defeat. I was left with nothing but a heap of mangled gingerbread pieces and a tube of cookie icing. But, there was one silver lining. The gingerbread pieces, despite the fact that it was “construction” gingerbread that had been left sitting out overnight to dry out (this is supposed to help with the construction), actually tasted good. Like really good. So good that people wouldn’t stop eating it. So, to dull the sting of defeat, I frosted the ugly gingerbread pieces with my cookie icing and set them out for my family to enjoy.
Next year, I resolved, I will win at gingerbread. Forget houses, which can’t even be eaten anyway, these cookies are equally adorable, impressive, and delicious!
Originally, I intended to make the cookies and the frosting from scratch. BUT, buying frosting in a tube makes it SO. MUCH. EASIER. to decorate. And, this frosting is delicious. So delicious, in fact, that the taste tester complimented my frosting instead of my cookies, saying something along the lines of “these cookies are good but this frosting is amazing.” It is that good. I used Betty Crocker Cookie Icing, which comes pre-packaged with a decorating tip. No mixing, no mess, no funneling frosting into a piping bag. Honestly, I saved half of this dough for closer to Christmas and I fully intended to make my own frosting for that batch. But now, I have second thoughts.
The best I can offer in terms of decorating tips is to start by outlining the cookies, then fill the outline with frosting. If you want to be cheap, like me, and buy only one color of frosting, colored sprinkles work wonderfully. Simply frost the area you want “colored” first, sprinkle with sprinkles, shake off the excess, then frost the remaining area. M&Ms make great buttons, but the chocolate doesn’t taste so good with the gingerbread flavor. My cookbook recommended red hot candies which would likely taste better. Give your cookies plenty of space and let them dry completely before stacking. Betty Crocker recommends at least four hours drying time. Once dry, cookies can be stacked and stored in an airtight container for at least five days.
I have a slab of dough in the freezer now, I will let you know how that turns out.
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 t. ground ginger
- 1 t. ground allspice
- 1 t. ground cinnamon
- 1 t. ground cloves
- 2 t. baking soda
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ t. salt
- Frosting
- Candy decorations (optional)
- In a small saucepan, combine sugars, molasses, and spices (first seven ingredients).
- Heat over medium until sugars melt. When mixture begins to boil, remove from heat and immediately stir in baking soda. The mixture will foam up and become "fluffy."
- Transfer to mixing bowl or base of mixer.
- Add butter and egg. Beat at medium speed until smooth.
- Gradually add flour, then salt, pausing to scrape bowl with spatula when needed. Beat only until flour is just blended.
- Shape dough into a ball and divide in half. Roll each half into a round disk and cover in plastic wrap. Chill at least one hour in refrigerator. Alternatively, if you are freezing dough, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container or freezer bag.
- When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 325. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Line counter-top with parchment paper and dust parchment with flour. Remove one section of dough from the refrigerator. Roll to ¼ inch thickness. Cut shapes using cookie cutters and place on cookie sheets. Roll scraps back into a ball, then roll out and cut more shapes until dough is completely used. As the dough warms to room temperature, it will become more difficult to work with. If it becomes too sticky, simply place it back in the refrigerator (or freezer) until it becomes more agreeable. Repeat process with second ball of dough.
- Bake for 14 minutes, or until cookies are puffed and slightly darker on the edges. Be careful, one extra minute will really dry these out. 14 minutes was spot-on in my oven.
- Cool completely before decorating. See above for decorating tips.