The Best Gingerbread Cookies Recipe Simply Delicious Food

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, cloves and salt.
• In a big bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar together with a wooden spoon or a hand mixer. Mix in the molasses and egg until smooth, then add the flour mixture and mix until well combined. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Freeze it flat on a baking sheet for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly spray the paper with cooking spray.
• Use your preferred cookie cutters to stamp out shapes (or use a paring knife and architect the gingerbread home of your dreams), then transfer the shapes to the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the dough no longer looks shiny, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool on the sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the royal icing: Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment, whip most of the powdered sugar with the egg whites and most of the lemon juice. Whip until the icing holds its shape and is bright white (not translucent), 5 to 8 minutes. If it is too soft, add more powdered sugar. If it is too stiff, add a bit more lemon juice, drop by drop. If you are using color, add a few drops of it at this point and keep whipping until you have a shade you want. Pipe the royal icing onto the cooled cookies to decorate.
• To store royal icing: The ideal way is to scrape it out of the bowl and into a plastic, disposable piping bag, then leave it at room temperature. Don't cut the bag until you're ready to use the royal icing and don't overfill the bag--you want enough room to tie the back of the bag off to keep the icing airtight. If any air comes into contact with the icing, it gets hard and that part of the icing is useless. Never attempt to mix hard bits back into the royal icing--you'll ruin the whole batch. The other accepted method of storing the icing is to scrape it into a plastic or ceramic bowl, and cover it with a wet paper towel. This method works, but it wastes both paper towels and royal icing. It's also just annoying. When you're piping small designs, you want to use very small parchment piping bags. It's easy to stick the nose of a large piping bag into a small one and extract exactly how much you need. When the icing is in a bowl, you have to use a spoon to get it out. The spoon is difficult to get into a piping bag, and you keep using spoons and wasting royal icing.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In large bowl, combine first 7 ingredients, and mix well. Set aside.
• In large mixing bowl beat together with electric mixer on medium speed the sugar and shortening until fluffy; add the molasses and water, mixing well. Stir in the flour mixture until just mixed. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.
• Roll about 1/4 of the dough 1/4-inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with a floured gingerbread cutter or other shaped cutters. Place about 2-inches apart on baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Decorate with colored frosting, sugar and candies as desired.

THE MOST WONDERFUL GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
• In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
• Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
• Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
• Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
• Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
• Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
• Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
• Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
• Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
• Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
• Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
• After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
• I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing.

BEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine first 3 ingredients in bowl.
• Cream margarine, add sugar then eggs one at a time.
• Now add the molasses and vinegar.
• Mix in the flour.
• Roll out and use cookie cutters.
• Bake 10-12 minutes at 350°F.
• After they are baked you can decorate the way you like.

THE BEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, allspice and cloves in a large bowl.
• Mix the butter, shortening, brown sugar and molasses in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat in the egg. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two additions. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic and pat to 1/2-inch thick. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece of dough to 1/4-inch thick, dusting with flour if needed. Cut into 3- to 5-inch cookies with a gingerbread man cutter or desired shape. Brush off the excess flour and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
• Bake the cookies in batches until they are golden around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
• For the royal icing: Whisk the confectioners' sugar with the meringue powder in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat in 6 tablespoons of water until well combined and you have stiff glossy peaks, adding 1 tablespoon more water at a time to reach a smooth pipeable consistency. Mix in food coloring as desired. Fill pastry bags fitted with tips. Decorate the gingerbread cookies with the icing.

THE BEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES RECIPE / SIMPLY DELICIOUS

Steps:

• In a medium size mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix well.
• In another bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.
• Add the eggs to the butter mixture and mix well. Slowly add the flour combination and mix well.
• With the mixer running on low speed gradually add the molasses and mix until combined, about 30 seconds.
• Divide the dough in half, forming each into a ball. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, or place in the freezer for about 20 minutes, until firm, if you're in a hurry.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove one ball of dough from the fridge/freezer and place on the counter. Roll out the dough (use a little flour on your rolling pin if needed), until it's about ½ inch thick. Cut gingerbread with cookie cutters and place them on the prepared baking sheets.
• Refrigerate the cut gingerbread for 5 minutes (meanwhile you can roll out the other dough ball).
• Bake the cookies until set in the centers and the dough barely retains and imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 11 minutes (depending on the size of your cookie cutter). Do not overbake!!
• Remove the cookies to a wire rack. Allow to cool to room temperature before frosting.
• Store gingerbread cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper between the layers. Freeze for up to 3 months.
• Add butter, milk, and 1 cup of powdered sugar to a bowl. Mix until smooth. Add additional cup of powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add frosting to piping bag if desired.

GINGERBREAD ROLLED COOKIES

Steps:

• Add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg, salt and pepper to a large bowl. Whisk to aerate and combine.
• Cream the butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the molasses and blend on medium until combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and continue to mix on medium until combined, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl until the mixture comes together. Reduce the speed to low. Add the flour mixture and water, alternating in 3 additions. Mix until the ingredients are combined.
• Mound the dough onto a clean workspace and press into two discs. Wrap each disc in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the dough to hydrate and the butter to firm up.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it to 1/4-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze the cookie cut-outs for 15 minutes so they will retain their shape when baked.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place two racks in the upper and lower third of the oven.
• Bake, switching the baking sheets halfway through, until the cookies have dried out and are baked through, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating. Continue until all of the cookie dough has been used.
• After cooling completely, decorate the cookies using royal icing or glaze.
• To decorate with royal icing: Transfer 1/2 cup of royal icing to a piping bag with a #2 metal piping tip (small round tip). Pipe as desired--the royal icing will need about 1 hour to dry, or overnight if you plan to pack them for shipping. Add additional royal icing to the piping bag as needed.
• To decorate with glaze: Dip the top half of the cookie into the glaze. Sprinkle the cookies with colored sugar as desired. Decorate with various candies if using.
• Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the egg whites and mix on low until combined, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and mix until smooth, about 5 minutes. With the mixer running, add 1 teaspoon of water at a time, if needed, to desired thickness.
• Use immediately, as the royal icing will dry out. Or, store in a closed container in the refrigerator until ready to use (you may need to whisk in a little water again for it to be the desired thickness). Makes about 3 cups icing.
• Add the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Spoon about 1 teaspoon on each cookie and use a small offset spatula or butter knife to spread the glaze on in an even layer. Sprinkle with colored sugar on top, if desired. Makes 1 1/2 cups glaze.

THE BEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Bring molasses, brown sugar, and spices to a boil in a 4- to 5-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, and remove from heat. Stir in baking soda (mixture will foam up), then stir in butter 3 pieces at a time, letting each addition melt before adding next, until all butter is melted. Add egg and stir until combined, then stir in 3¾ cups flour and salt.
• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead, dusting with as much of remaining ¼ cup flour as needed to prevent sticking, until soft and easy to handle, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Divide dough in half, then wrap one half in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature.
• Roll out remaining dough into a 14-inch round (⅛ inch thick) on a lightly floured surface. Cut out as many cookies as possible with cutters and carefully transfer with offset spatula to 2 buttered large baking sheets, arranging them about 1 inch apart.
• Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are slightly darker, 10 to 12 minutes total (watch carefully toward end of baking; cookies can burn easily). Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps (reroll once).
• Put icing in pastry bag (if using) and pipe or spread decoratively onto cookies.