Recipe for Gingerbread Cookies

I love baking, especially around the holidays. And, gingerbread cookies are one of my favorites. My nieces and nephew helped me and my mom to decorate them with icing. You can watch the TikTok video that we made together here. We used the following recipe from the December 2021 issue of Tops in Lexington.

Ingredients Needed for Gingerbread Cookies

10 T unsalted butter, softened

3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar

2/3 c. molasses

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 T grounded ginger

1 T ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Instructions: Gingerbread Cookies

Use a mixer with a paddle attachment to beat the butter for one (1) minute on medium. Then, add in the brown sugar and molasses; beat until combined and creamy. Next, beat in the egg and vanilla on high for two (2) minutes.

Using a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Next, mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until combined. Now, divide the dough in half. Form the halves into discs and wrap them with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for three (3) hours.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Flour work surface and roll out to 1/3" thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes and place 1" apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies, rotating pan once during cooling time, until edges are set and they begin to brown. For smaller cookie cutters, that will be around 8 minutes. *We used large cookie cutters and it took around 12 minutes to bake them.

Allow to cool for five (5) minutes. Then, transfer to a cooling rack and ice only when completed cooled. Find the icing recipe we used below!

Ingredients Needed for Icing

3 c. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. light corn syrup

room temperature water

gel food coloring

Instructions: Icing

Stir sugar, vanilla, corn syrup and 4 1/2 T water together using a fork. Switch to a whisk and let the icing drizzle from the tip. The ribbon should hold for a few seconds before melting back into the icing. If it's too thick, add an additional 1/2 T water.

Next, divide into separate bowls and add gel coloring. Finally, decorate cookies using squeeze bottles or piping bags.

I hope that you enjoy the cookies as much as we did! Let me know how yours turned out.