This is the very best gingerbread I have ever tasted. It is spicy and flavourful, with a nice chewy texture. The baking cookies will fill your house with a warm, spicy fragrance that will lure passers-by and neighbours to your door. Decorate the cookies any way you like; or leave them bare, to dip in steaming cups of tea. I decorated mine with simple lines of royal icing, sprinkled with sugar crystals sprinkles. Royal icing dries hard, making the cookies easy to stack in a gift box for a unique gift from your kitchen.

You can use this recipe for gingerbread house-building too; bake it a little longer to make it more crispy.

Gingerbread Cookies
Based on a recipe from Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients

Cookies:

1 egg
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fancy molasses

Royal Icing:
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons meringue powder
A tiny bit less than 1/4 cup water

Method

Cookies:

• In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in spices and salt until combined. Add egg and molasses and stir until combined.
• Add flour mixture on low speed. Chill dough for about an hour.
• Pre-heat oven to 350° F.  On a counter or board lightly sprinkled with flour, roll out dough to about 1/8" thick and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. Cool completely before decorating.

Icing:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, blend icing sugar and meringue powder until combined. Slowly add water until combined. Beat for 10 minutes.
• Put icing into piping bag with a small round tip. Pipe designs onto cookies, then sprinkle with decorative sugar or sprinkles.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

This recipe doubles well.

 

by Linda Horn
Blogger at Let Them Eat Cake & Ice Cream and Stimuli Magazine Contributor
Follow Linda on Twitter at @luluhorn