Best Gingerbread Cookies Ever
Ingredients
Gingerbread Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus up to 1 more cup if needed
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup or 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 large egg
Royal Icing
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 6 tablespoons warm water and more if needed
Instructions
Gingerbread Dough
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment, blend together 2 cups of the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar, molasses, and egg. Mix well.
- Pour the liquid ingredients over the flour mixture and mix well on medium speed.
- Add tablespoonfuls of the remaining 1 cup of flour, if needed, to make a moist ball of dough. You may not use all of the flour. Divide in half.
- Spray the underside of a large, flat sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out 1 half of the dough to cover most of the sheet pan. The dough should be about 1/4 inch thick.
- Cut out cookies with cookie cutters. Using a sharp knife, remove excess dough around each cookie. Place scraps back with the remaining dough to re-roll.
- Bake off the pieces you have just made. They should take approximately 6-8 minutes depending upon how large they are. They should be lightly brown. Do not allow them to get too dark. The cookies will firm up as they cool.
- Repeat rolling out the remaining dough and bake off the cookies.
- Using a pastry bag, decorate cookies with royal icing.
Royal Icing
- In the bowl of an electric mixer using the whip attachment, blend the sugar, meringue powder, and cream of tartar on low speed until well combined.
- On medium-high speed, add the water and put the mixer on high speed for approximately 6-7 minutes and mix until the icing is light and fluffy.
- Add more water by the teaspoonful to thin the frosting out, if necessary.
- To prevent icing from drying out, cover bowl with a moist paper towel or plastic wrap until ready to use.
Notes
Makes 20 cookies, depending upon their size