Gingerbread cookies
Gingerbread cookies are a symbol of the Christmas season, dark brown from molasses and fragrant with the warm spice of ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. They have a lightly crisp outside and a slightly chewy center, and they are usually cut into gingerbread people and decorated with playful lines of white icing.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Prep
- 35 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Rising or chilling
- 2 hr
- Total time
- 2 hr 45 min
- Method
- Oven-baked
Ingredients
Instructions
Step 1
Put 375 g all-purpose flour, 4 g baking soda, 8 g ground ginger, 6 g ground cinnamon, 1 g ground cloves, 1 g ground nutmeg and 2 g salt in a bowl and whisk well. The spices are used in very small amounts, so they need to be mixed thoroughly for the warm flavor to reach every cookie. The dry mixture is ready when it is an even light brown with no dark specks of spice.
Step 2
Beat 115 g softened unsalted butter with 100 g brown sugar on medium speed for about two minutes. Brown sugar contains molasses, which adds moisture and a slight chew to the cookies. Stop when the mixture is smooth, a little fluffy and a creamy brown color.
Step 3
Pour 120 g molasses into the butter mixture, add 50 g eggs and beat on low speed until combined. Molasses gives the dark color, the signature bittersweet flavor and reacts with the baking soda for a gentle rise. The mixture is ready when it is glossy and evenly brown, with no streaks of molasses at the bottom of the bowl.
Step 4
Add the spiced flour to the molasses mixture in three additions, mixing on low speed or scraping well with a spatula after each one. Adding the flour in stages lets it absorb the liquid evenly without sending up a cloud of flour. The dough is ready when it is soft, slightly sticky and comes together into a ball.
Step 5
Divide the dough in half, press each half into a flat disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours. Resting firms up the dough so it is easy to roll and gives the spices time to meld. It is ready when it is as firm as cold modeling clay and doesn't stick to the wrap.
Step 6
Turn the oven on to 175°C and line the baking sheets with parchment paper before taking the dough out of the fridge. Gingerbread is so dark that it is hard to tell when it is burning, so your oven needs to be at the right temperature. The oven is ready when it has been preheating for about fifteen minutes.
Step 7
Dust the counter very lightly with flour, roll the dough about five millimeters thick, then cut out people, stars or hearts and set them two centimeters apart on the baking sheets. An even thickness means the cookies bake at the same rate and the edges don't burn. You are done when the shapes are clean and the gingerbread people still have all their arms and legs.
Step 8
Bake at 175°C for 8 to 10 minutes, using the shorter time for soft cookies and the longer time for crisp ones. The cookies are still soft straight out of the oven and firm up as they cool. They are done when the tops look dry, the edges are slightly firm and a gentle press in the center doesn't leave a deep dent.
Step 9
Leave the cookies on the sheet for about five minutes, then move them to a rack and wait about fifteen more minutes before decorating. Completely cool cookies let the icing set firmly without running. They are ready when the undersides are cool and the cookies don't bend when you pick them up.
Equipment
- Oven
- Hand mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Spatula
- Kitchen scale
- Rolling pin
- Cookie cutter
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Wire cooling rack
- Plastic wrap
- Refrigerator
Tips
- If you can't find molasses, you can use golden syrup, but the cookies will be lighter in color and less spicy.
- Gingerbread gets more fragrant after a few days, as the spices mellow and blend into the dough.
- To hang the cookies on the Christmas tree, use a straw to punch a small hole in each piece of dough before baking.
Storage
Store the cookies in a cookie tin or airtight plastic container at room temperature, where they keep their flavor for about two weeks. Tightly wrapped raw dough can be frozen for up to three months; just thaw it in the fridge overnight before rolling.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The dough is too sticky to roll out.
- The dough didn't rest long enough in the fridge. Chill it for another hour, or roll it between two sheets of parchment paper so you don't need much extra flour.
- The cookies taste bitter and the edges are burnt.
- They were baked too long or the edges were rolled too thin. Roll the dough evenly, cut the baking time by one or two minutes and watch the first batch closely.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
