Do you want sugar cookies with a wonderful gingerbread flavor? Then these gingerbread sugar cookies are for you. While they are delicious on their own they are also the perfect canvas to decorate with royal icing or fondant.
In the bowl, combine the flour and spices - cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and egg
Followed by the flour. Divide the dough into two, wrap in plastic wrap, and let chill until firm enough to roll - about 2 hours or overnight.Tip - the dough is soft and needs to refrigerated, so avoid adding more flour.
Once chilled, roll the dough to about ⅛ inch thick. Use a gingerbread cookie cutter. Re-roll the leftover dough and make more cookies.Tip - I use a rolling pin with spacers so the dough is the same thickness all over
Place the cookies on a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the cookies in the fridge to chill for another 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven at 350 F or 170 C
Decorate the cookies before baking (or after baking). You can add sprinkles or dragees to the cookies just before baking.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden.
Cool - Once baked cool on the cookie sheet for 10 mins then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely
Decorating after baking - Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk until you have a smooth piping consistency.
Add the icing to a piping bag with a small round piping tip like a number 2 or 3. Alternatively, you can also put the icing in a ziplock bag and cut a small snip at the end.
Decorate as desired. Let the icing dry properly before you stack the cookies and store them in an airtight cookie jar.
These cookies will stay good for a week
Recipe Notes
Always have all the ingredients at room temperature so the butter and sugar cream well.
Use fine-grain brown sugar or pulse the sugar in a food processor so it dissolves easily when creaming into the butter
Rest the dough before rolling the cookies. Resting helps the butter firm up again which makes it easier to work and prevents spreading
If the rolled cookie dough is soft, place it in the fridge for 15 minutes before you cut the cookies. Chilled cookie dough will give well-defined shapes.
Preheat the oven for a good 15 minutes making sure the oven is at the right temperature. A cold oven will spread the cookies.
Place cut cookies in the fridge while the oven is preheating to prevent spreading.
When baked leave the cookies on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you