Back
Easy Gingerbread Cookies
4.9 from 150 votes

Easy Gingerbread Cookies

These Easy Gingerbread Cookies feature a spiced dough enriched with honey, brown sugar, and butter, flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, star anise, and cocoa powder. The dough is chilled to develop flavor and rolled out to medium thinness before cutting into festive shapes. They bake to firm yet slightly tender cookies, perfect for holiday decoration.

Prep Time
25 mins
Cook Time
8 mins
Additional Time
1 hr
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: International

Ingredients

Ingredients
  • 250 g honey
  • 100 g brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 nutmeg
  • 1 cardamom powder
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 100 g butter
  • 500 g flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
Decoration
  • 1 egg white
  • 250 g powdered sugar
  • 2-3 lemon juice drops
  • Candy colored

Instructions

How to make GINGERBREAD:
    Cup of Yum
  1. Place the sugar and honey on a low heat.
  2. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, aniseed, butter, and cocoa and heat until the mixture is homogeneous, and the sugar and butter are completely melted.
  3. Take the mixture off the heat, remove the aniseed, and set aside for 3-4 minutes.
  4. Beat the egg gently then fold into the honey mixture.
  5. Sift the flour together with the salt and baking powder and make a well in the center.
  6. Pour the liquid mixture into the well and start kneading.
  7. You will get a homogeneous dough that is slightly sticky. But don't worry if it doesn't come off your fingers very easily; just leave it like that.
  8. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill overnight. It can be left in the fridge for 2-3 days.
  9. Divide the dough in two and roll out a sheet of each piece, not too thin - about 0.5-0.7mm thick or 0.02-0.03 inch, then cut the dough into the desired shapes.
  10. I used little hearts, stars, and bells as that's what we had in the house.
  11. Line a baking tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 Fahrenheit).
  12. Place the shapes on the tray and bake for 7-8 minutes, taking out before it changes color.
  13. Remove from the oven, leave on the tray for 2-3 minutes (as it will be quite soft) then carefully transfer to a cooling rack.
  14. For the garnish, mix egg white with a pinch of salt and 2-3 drops of lemon juice.
  15. Add the powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, mixign well after each addition.
  16. You should have a creamy glaze that doesn't lose its shape. Add more sugar if necessary.
  17. Decorate each gingerbread with the icing and colored sugar balls.
  18. Enjoy!

Notes