Christmas dinner · adapted traditional recipe
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Cut-out gingerbread cookies with molasses, ginger and cinnamon that bake up soft in the middle with crisp edges. Make the dough up to 3 days ahead and decorate with a simple icing.
An adaptation of a traditional recipe, written in our own words. Ovens vary, so go by the doneness signs as well as the times.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 24 min
- Total
- 3 hr
- Makes
- about 24 cookies (3-inch cutters)
Ingredients
- Dough
- 3 cupsall-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for rolling
- 1 tspbaking soda
- 1 tbspground ginger
- 2 tspground cinnamon
- ½ tspground cloves
- ½ tspsalt
- 1 stickunsalted butter, softened (½ cup)
- ½ cuplight brown sugar, packed
- ½ cupunsulphured molasses
- 1large egg
- 1 tspvanilla extract
- Icing
- 1½ cupspowdered sugar
- 2 tbspmilk, add a teaspoon at a time
- ½ tspvanilla extract
Method
- 1
Whisk the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a bowl.
- 2
Beat the butter and brown sugar for 2 minutes until fluffy. Beat in the molasses, egg and vanilla. The mixture may look a little curdled; that is fine.
- 3
Add the dry ingredients and mix on low just until no dry streaks remain. The dough will be soft and sticky.
- 4
Divide the dough in two, press each half into a disc, wrap and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days.
- 5
Heat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Roll one disc on a floured surface to about ¼ inch thick, working quickly and keeping the other half cold.
- 6
Cut with floured cutters and lift onto the sheets, 1 inch apart. Re-roll the scraps once. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges look set and the centers are still slightly soft.
- 7
Cool 5 minutes on the sheet, then move to a rack and cool completely before icing.
- 8
For the icing, stir the powdered sugar, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of milk, adding more a teaspoon at a time until it is thick but pipeable. Pipe onto the cooled cookies and let the icing set for about 1 hour.
How to know it is done
The edges are firm and slightly darker, the tops look set, and the centers press back lightly when touched. They firm up as they cool, so take them out before they feel hard.
Make ahead
The dough keeps in the fridge up to 3 days, or frozen for 2 to 3 months (thaw overnight in the fridge). Baked, undecorated cookies keep in a sealed container for 1 week, or frozen for 2 months.
Storing and freezing
Keep iced cookies in a single layer or with parchment between layers, at room temperature for up to 5 days. Do not refrigerate iced cookies: the icing gets sticky.
Tips
- Roll to ¼ inch for cookies that are soft in the middle and crisp at the edges; thinner ones come out crisp all the way through.
- If the dough sticks, chill it again for 15 minutes rather than adding a lot of flour, which toughens the cookies.
- A 3-inch cutter gives about 24 cookies; smaller cutters give more and bake 1 to 2 minutes faster.
- For hanging cookies, poke a hole near the top with a straw while the cookies are still warm.
Allergens
- Wheat (flour)
- Eggs
- Milk (butter, and the icing if made with milk)
- Check the molasses and spice labels
Always check the labels of the products you buy.
Questions
How do I keep gingerbread cookies soft?
Roll the dough to about ¼ inch, pull the cookies out while the centers are still slightly soft (8 to 10 minutes) and store them in a sealed container. A slice of bread in the container is an old trick that helps for a day or two.
Do gingerbread cookies need to be chilled?
Yes, at least 2 hours. The dough is sticky until it is cold, and chilling is what lets you cut clean shapes that hold their edges in the oven.
Can I make gingerbread dough ahead of time?
Yes. Wrapped well, the dough keeps in the fridge up to 3 days or in the freezer 2 to 3 months. Thaw frozen dough overnight in the fridge, then roll as usual.
Why did my gingerbread cookies spread?
Usually the butter was too warm, the dough was not chilled enough or the baking sheet was hot from the previous batch. Chill the cut shapes for 10 minutes before baking and let the sheet cool between batches.
How long do gingerbread cookies last?
Undecorated cookies keep about a week in a sealed container at room temperature. Iced cookies keep up to 5 days. Both freeze well for about 2 months.