Classic Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Cookie Dough

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or large bowl and heavy duty handheld electric mixer, add the butter, brown sugar, sugar, and beat on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Scrape the sides down.
2. Add the molasses, egg yolks, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed for another minute to fully incorporate; set aside.
3. To a separate, medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour and the remaining dry ingredients.
4. Once combined, add to the wet ingredients.
5. Mix on medium-low speed to avoid whipping flour everywhere for about 1 minute or until the flour is just incorporated and then mix just until the flour is incorporated. Do not overmix as the cookies will become hard rather than soft and chewy.
6. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and roll into a rough disc-like patty shape, about 3 or 4 inches thick. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for at least one hour, or up to overnight.

Rolling Out The Dough

1. Once the dough has chilled, remove it from the fridge, preheat the oven to 350F, and prep several baking sheet pans by lining them with Silpat liners or parchment paper and spraying them with baking spray; set aside.
2. Place the dough disc onto a lightly floured surface. For the first roll out, you can lightly sprinkle the top of the disc with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out into a rough rectangle about ⅛” thick.
3. Using a 3.75-inch gingerbread cookie cutter, cut as many cookies out of the dough as you can. Be sure not to overlap the cutter onto any of the previously cut out cookies. If you accidentally cut out one cookie on top of another, simply roll them back into the dough after you have removed all of the other good cookies.
4. Once you have cut out all the cookies possible, gently remove all of the remaining dough from around the cookies. Doing this makes it easier to pick the cookies up.
5. Place all of the cut out cookies onto the prepared baking sheets ensuring to space them about ½” apart.
6. Roll the remaining dough back into a ball to roll out again.
7. Cut out as many cookies as possible before repeating the same steps until all of the cookie dough is used. I don't re-roll the dough additionally after this second roll out because there's usually hardly enough left to bother. But do as you see fit for the amount of dough you have leftover.

Baking

1. Place into the oven to bake for 8-9 minutes. The cookies will still be soft and may not be browned around the edges when they are baked, this is fine. The longer you bake these cookies, the harder and crunchier they get. Tip - For optimal results, bake one sheet of cookies at a time, in the center rack, rotating once midway though cooking. If you have the space for it in your fridge, place the cookie sheets in waiting in the fridge; if not that's fine. Cold dough always spreads less than warm dough.
2. Once baked, remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Cool cookies completely before icicng them. While you wait, make the icing.

Royal Icing

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and salt.
2. Add the corn syrup, vanilla, and whisk.
3. Add the milk and whisk extremely well until a smooth frosting has formed. This will take a few minutes so don’t get impatient with it and add milk. The consistency of the frosting should be that of toothpaste. It should be thick enough to have to use some pressure to push it out of a piping bag and should not be thin enough to spill out.
4. Equally divide the icing into 3 bowls.
5. Add a little bit of red food coloring to one bowl and green food coloring to another bowl. Whisk together well to fully and evenly color all of the icing.
6. Once the icing is colored, spoon into 3 separate piping bags. Tip - You can use plastic baggies however they are more fragile and more prone to bursting or rupturing with squeezing pressure so use at your own risk.

Decorating

1. Snip a small hole in the bottom of each piping bag. Tip - The larger the hole you snip into the bag, the more icing will come out. When the hole is large and the icing comes out very thick, it makes it harder to be precise. So start with a small snip before cutting it larger. To make it easier for decorating, place each of the bags of frosting upright into 3 separate cups. Doing this will keep the frosting in the bags and not drizzle or leak out.
2. To ice, hold the piping bag at a slightly tilted angle about ⅛” away from the cookie. Gently squeeze the piping bag to pipe the frosting in whatever design you so desire. See Notes Below for 6 Decorating Ideas.

Storage

1. Gingerbread cookies keep amazing well airtight at room temp for up to one month. If you don’t seal them in an airtight container or ziptop bag, they could actually become too soft to the point of getting soggy. Just seal them well and you will be fine. 
2. I don’t freeze the cookies because they do keep so well at room temp, I’ve never felt the need to freeze them, or the unbaked dough, although both are possible.