Friends, I don’t know about you, but one tradition I love during the holidays is to make Christmas cookies. It’s funny how these little things we do year after year, end up holding such a special place in our hearts, that I can’t image letting the holiday season go by without making Christmas cookies, and baking gingerbread. Growing up, we made gingerbread houses at my grandmothers house every year. It was quite the event! And now every time the smell of warm gingerbread fills my kitchen, it takes me right back to when I was a little girl, watching my grandmother navigate royal frosting like a true artist. Today I’m sharing a gingerbread cookie recipe with you, that varies a bit from the recipe we used to make the houses with. You could still eat the gingerbread houses we made as kids, but it was pretty hard. However, this recipe will make the softest gingerbread cookies, and honestly you will have a hard time waiting for them to cool to put the icing on them, and I guarantee you will want to share these with your friends too!
This recipe requires a little bit of prep and a little bit of time before you can start baking them, but I promise the wait will be worth it. So make yourself some hot cocoa and put on your favorite Christmas music, because you can’t help but get into the holiday spirit while baking these!
Unlike when I make traditional sugar cookies with the kids, and we bring out all the Christmas cookie cutters, I like to choose just one shape for my gingerbread. There is something about the unison look of gingerbread all in the same shape that makes the designer in my happy, lol.
This year I chose trees! Because well they are my favorite thing to decorate with at Christmas – mercury glass trees, bottle brush trees, little wooden trees. I literally can’t resist them. So I decided to make some gingerbread trees, and allow the frosting to resemble snow covered trees, and christmas tree garland and ornaments.
I chose 4 different designs and repeated them on all of my trees. This gave some variety but kept things feeling a little more simple, and sometimes I feel like when we are sharing gifts with one another, it’s the simple ones that can speak the loudest. I love wrapping these gingerbread tree cookies up and sharing -or swapping- them with friends. And honestly it feels like I’m still carrying a little bit of my grandmother still with me.
Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
3/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup molasses
1 ts salt
2 ts cinnamon
2 ts ground ginger
1/4 ts allspice
1 large egg
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- In a saucepan, over low heat, melt butter, then stir in brown sugar, molasses, salt and spices.
- Transfer mixture to a medium-sized serving bowl, let it cool to room temperature, then beat in the egg.
- Mix baking powder, baking soda and flour together, then slowly add to molasses mixture using an electric mixer.
- Form dough into a disk, and wrap well, and refrigerate for 1 hour, or until dough is completely chilled.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line parchment paper on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Sprinkle flour on a clean, flat workspace and roll out chilled dough to 1/4″ thick. If dough begins to stick, sprinkle more flour on top.
- Using your favorite cookie shape, begin to cut out dough, use a flat butter knife to remove access dough. This leaves your cookie cut outs left to easily scoop up with a spatula and place on your prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until slightly brown on top, and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
I chose to use only white frosting, and tiny pearl like sprinkles for an elegant touch to my gingerbread trees. Even though my grandmother was the queen of making royal frosting, sometimes this busy mom needs a shortcut, so I grabbed a squeeze tube of Betty Crocker pre-made frosting from the grocery store, and my kids are non the wiser 🙂
There are so many tasty treats being shared today, be sure to stop by and see what my friends are baking!
The Perfect Soft Gingerbread Cookies by Ella Claire | Classic Sugar Cookies by Nina Hendrick Design Co. | Plaid Sugar Cookies by Craftberry Bush | Buttery Shortbread Cookies with Icing Sugar by A Burst of Beautiful | German Chocolate Cake Cookies by City Farmhouse
Cranberry Orange Walnut Tassies by Inspired by Charm | Eggnog Gooey Butter Cookies by Julie Blanner | All Natural Orange Almond Cookies by Tidbits | Choco-mallow Peppermint Cookies by Summer Adams Designs | Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies by Love Grows Wild
Paleo Chocolate Cranberry Cookies by Nesting with Grace | Raspberry Gingersnap Sandwiches by anderson + grant | Christmas Tree Cookies by Rooms for Rent | Large Thumbprint Cookies by So Much Better with Age | Rum Balls by Tidy Mom
Countdown to Christmas Cookies by House 214 Design | Ginger Sugar Cookies by Zevy Joy | Salted Caramel Shortbread Cookies by Boxwood Avenue | Double Chocolate Christmas Cookies by Nest of Posies | Almond Sugar Cookies by My Sweet Savannah
M&M Cookies by Sweet C’s | Rustic Granola Cookies by Farmhouse on Boone
Attachments area
These look so good, Bre!
Gonna try this recipe, yum yum!