Easy Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing
User Reviews
4
Easy Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing
Description
This recipe for Easy Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing combines traditional winter spices—including ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and a touch of cocoa powder—to create richly flavored cookies. The dry ingredients are carefully mixed, then blended with creamed butter, brown sugar, egg, and molasses to achieve a smooth dough that is chilled to firm up. Rolling out cold dough and cutting cookies ensures clean shapes that hold during baking.
Baked at a moderate oven temperature, the cookies develop a balanced texture that is soft enough to bite but firm enough to decorate. The accompanying royal icing, prepared from meringue powder, water, and sifted confectioners sugar, dries hard to create clean, detailed decoration.
These cookies make for a festive treat, ideal for holiday celebrations where decorating is part of the fun. They can be stored once decorated or enjoyed plain. Chilling the dough well before rolling prevents spreading, ensuring crisp edges.
Ingredients
dry ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder unsweetened
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg freshly grated
wet ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3/4 cups light brown sugar packed
- 1 egg at room temperature, large
- 1 cup unsulphured molasses
royal icing
- 1/4 cup meringue powder
- 1/2 cup water cold
- 4 cups confectioners sugar sifted
Instructions
- Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl to combine well, and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Beat in egg and molasses and mix until smooth.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients while mixing on low, and blend until the dough comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times times until it becomes smooth. Divide in half and form into two flat disks. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch. (Cold dough may need a few minutes at room temperature to become pliable.) Cut out your cookies and place on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through if your oven cooks unevenly. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool completely before decorating.
make the royal icing
- To make the royal icing, put the egg white powder and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sifted sugar and beat until the frosting is spreadable and glossy. If the frosting gets too thick you can add a bit of cream, milk, or water to thin it down.
- Spoon some of the frosting into a squeeze bottle, pastry bag, or baggie if you would like to pipe it around the outline of each cookie. Otherwise you can spread the frosting with a spreading knife. You will have more frosting than you need with this recipe, but it will come in handy if you are decorating with a group. Note: you can make the frosting up to an hour or so ahead, just keep covered with plastic.
- Decorate your cookies with sprinkles, etc, while the icing is still wet. Let the icing set up before serving or storing.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 24Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories 246 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Serving | 1cookie | |
| Calories | 246kcal | 12% |
| Carbohydrates | 46g | 15% |
| Protein | 3g | 6% |
| Fat | 6g | 9% |
| Saturated Fat | 4g | 20% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 0.4g | 2% |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 2g | 10% |
| Trans Fat | 0.2g | 10% |
| Cholesterol | 22mg | 7% |
| Sodium | 199mg | 8% |
| Potassium | 251mg | 5% |
| Fiber | 1g | 4% |
| Sugar | 27g | 54% |
| Vitamin A | 188IU | 4% |
| Vitamin C | 0.01mg | 0% |
| Calcium | 44mg | 4% |
| Iron | 2mg | 11% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
4
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