Gingerbread Cookies
These are the most Perfect Gingerbread Cookies ever! Incredibly easy to make and so much fun to decorate any way you want. Soft in the middle and crispy on the outside, these spiced Gingerbread cookies are loaded with lots of great flavors!
Servings: 36
Calories: 92kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup shortening melted and slightly cooled
- ½ cup molasses
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Sift Ingredients: Sift the flour, baking powder, ginger, allspice, cloves, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Make the dough: In the bowl of your mixer, add the melted shortening, molasses, brown sugar, egg, vanilla and water. Using the paddle attachment mix on medium until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl. Start on low, mix everything together until all the dry ingredients are completely incorporated.
- Chill the dough: Divide the dough into two equal portions. Use your hands to form into a ball then flatten into discs. Wrap each disc with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or until the dough is chilled but still pliable. Take the dough discs out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before rolling.
- Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- Roll and cut dough: Unwrap the dough and place it on a floured work surface. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough until it's about ⅛-¼ inch in thickness. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut the dough into cookies. Transfer cut cookies onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cookie dough and re-roll leftover dough until finished.
- Bake: Transfer the baking sheet to the preheated oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies are done when they no longer look dry but still soft to the touch.
- Cool and frost: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. When cool, you can frost or ice your cookies.
Notes
- Recipe should yield about 36 cookies.
- When measuring out the molasses, spray your measuring cup with cooking spray before pouring molasses in it.
- Cool the cookies completely before frosting or icing.
- Chill the dough for at least 1 to 2 hours before rolling out out. It makes it way easier to roll without it sticking to your rolling pin or work surface.
- Bake various Holiday cookies a couple of months in advance, freeze and then when the Holidays arrive, you have all your cookies just waiting to be eaten. Easy peasy!
- Although you can decorate cookies by making your own icing, to save time, purchase pre-mixed icing in tubes ready to use.
- Dip your cookie cutter in flour before cutting out cookies so that your cookies don't stick to the cutter.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 92kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 38mg | Potassium: 111mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 8IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg