Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Soft gingerbread cookies make for a traditional holiday treat.
Servings 36 cookies
Calories 110kcal
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves, salt, and baking soda. Once combined, add the butter to the bowl and mix on low speed for 1 minute or until the mixture resembles sand.
- With mixer speed on low, gradually add the milk and molasses. Mix until the dough is evenly moistened, about 15 seconds.
- Divide the dough in half.
- Wrap each dough disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 2-3 hours or overnight.
- Remove 1 disk of dough from the fridge at a time.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- Gently peel off the plastic wrap from the dough. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. * Roll the dough out until it's 1/4" inch thick.
- Using your desired cookie cutters, cut the cookies from the dough. Carefully transfer the cut shapes to the cookie sheets spacing them 2 inches apart from one another. Gather the scraps, repeat rolling, and cutting until cookie sheets are full and the dough has been used up. The key with this dough is to keep it cold. So you'll want to work fast, or even place the cut out gingerbread men on the baking sheet, and chill for another 15 minutes before baking them.
- Bake the cookies one cookie sheet at a time; bake until set in the centers or when gently touched with your fingertip and it retains a slight imprint; about 10-13 minutes.
- Cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
- Frost with white icing of your choosing. I used a royal icing and colored a small portion of the icing red to use for the buttons.
Notes
This dough is fairly sticky. I had to be fairly generous with my floured counter top
These cookies will spread if the dough isn't kept cold. I will finish filling one baking sheet, place it in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes, while I'm cutting out more gingerbread for the second baking sheet. Once I fill the second baking sheet and all of the dough has been used up, I will then place one baking sheet in the oven.
The key is to keep the dough slightly chilled before placing it in the oven.
Recipe inspired by America's Test Kitchen
Nutrition
Calories: 110kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 60mg | Potassium: 122mg | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 115IU | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 0.9mg