Gingerbread Cookies

These delicious gingerbread cookies are soft in the middle, while crispy on the edges. With just the right amount of spices, these sweet holiday treats are a favourite at Christmas.

 

Gingerbread

These sweet, and a little spicy little men have been loved by many for years. Gingerbread cookies can be wrapped and given as gifts or use the dough to create a gingerbread house or log cabin.

Notes for Making Gingerbread Cookies

• The golden syrup can be subbed for molasses, treacle or even honey. Though, if using honey in these cookies, they will not have the same rich flavour. Maple syrup is a little to thin and runny to use in this recipe.
• Other spices that could be used instead of the mixed spice are ground cinnamon or ground cloves.
• Of course, I have used a gingerbread man cookie cutter for these cookies. You can use any cookie cutter you like!
• At any time when rolling out the dough and cutting out the cookies you find the dough is getting a little too soft to work with, you can roll it up into a ball and place in the fridge to cool down again.
• The amount of cookies that you make will depend on the size of your cookie cutter. The larger it is, the less biscuits you will make.
• Here is Australia, pure icing sugar is the best to use when making royal icing. The other types can be used, though they won’t set as hard as when you use this one.
• The small the biscuits, the shorter the cook time should be, especially if you want a softer cookie.

Ingredients for Making Gingerbread

To make these 20+ gingerbread cookies, you will need:

• 180g Salted Butter – ¾ cup
• 220g Brown Sugar – 1 cup
• ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
• 150g Golden Syrup – 6 TBSP
• 375g Plain Flour – 2 ½ cups
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 5 tsp Ground Ginger
• 2 tsp Mixed Spice

To make the white icing, you will need:

• 200g Pure Icing Sugar, sifted  – 1 ¼ cups
• 1 Egg White
• 2+ tsp Water

Making Gingerbread Men Cookies

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream the salted butter and brown sugar in a large bowl.

Beat in the vanilla extract and the golden syrup.

Gradually add the flour, the bicarbonate of soda, the ground ginger, and mixed spice. Mix together until you have a dough that is soft and a little sticky, though it should hold together when you press it.

Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in cling wrap. 

Place in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up. You could also freeze for up to 3 months if you want to get a head start for Christmas.

When ready, line baking trays with baking paper.

Preheat the oven to 177˚C or 350˚F.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface or between two sheets of baking paper. If you use too much flour, you may find there is a lot of flour on the cookies. You could always flip the cookies onto the side that has the less flour when placing them on the baking tray.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out the shapes. To get a clean cut, make sure to press firmly, all the way through the dough.

Peel off the dough around the cookie, then I use a stainless steel bench scraper to transfer to the prepared baking tray. If you want to tidy up any edges, try using a butter knife.

Gather the scraps of the dough and roll out again. Cut out the shapes and continue to repeat with the remaining dough. If the dough becomes sticky, you can return it to the fridge and let it cool down again before continuing.

Place the baking trays in the preheated oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. 

For a softer cookie, bake for 12 minutes, for a crunchier cookie, bake for 14 to 15 minutes. All cookies will be soft when they first come out of the oven, though they will harden as they cool.

Making the Royal Icing

Beat the egg white in a small bowl with an electric mixer until it is broken up.

Sift the icing sugar and gradually add it to the egg. Beat until firm peaks form.

Start with a small amount of water and beat on low speed before speeding up, until smooth and glossy. Add more water as needed.

For multiple colours, divide the icing into separate bowls and add a couple of drops of food colouring to each bowl, mixing until you achieve the colour you want. 

If you find the icing gets too thin, add a little more icing sugar. If it gets too thick, add a little water.

Spoon the icing into a small piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle.

Decorate the gingerbread with your desired design.

Decorating the Cookies

These cookies can be decorated with royal icing that can be purchased from grocery shops or you can make your own. This type of icing is easy to pipe designs on the cookies before setting hard.

With the decorations, you can do what you want. Get as fancy or just as plain as you want.

You could also melt white chocolate and use that to hold the decorations on the cookies.

Decorations that you could use include:

• M & M’s or the mini ones
• Smarties
• Silver Balls
• Sprinkles
• Currants
• Ribbon or string tied around the neck

Storing Gingerbread Cookies 

Store in an airtight container on the bench for around one week, or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

These cookies can be frozen, though they may taste a little different. To do this, store in a freezer safe container for up to 2 months.

The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Instead of chilling it in the fridge, place it in the freezer until you are ready to use it. Defrost in the fridge overnight.

Just a note, you will find that the crunchier cookies, will still go soft the next day. I’m not sure what can be done to stop this.

More Gingerbread Themed Resources

• Gingerbread House Bookmark
• Gingerbread Counting Mats
• Edible Gingerbread Slime
• Gingerbread Man Printables
• Gingerbread Soap Bars