These tender gingerbread cookies sit somewhere in the delightful space between crispy ginger snap and chewy molasses cookies. They’re a perfect holiday baking project. The full recipe can be made in a single afternoon, but breaking it up over a couple of days is easiest.
Consider day one your prep time: Bring the cookie dough together in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it in disks. The next day, grab your rolling pin and cookie cutters—classic gingerbread men or any shape you like. You’ll roll out the dough between two sheets of wax paper (parchment works too) so that you don’t incorporate too much flour. After cutting out the cookies, they’ll need to chill so they hold their shape in the oven. Now comes the part that requires patience: Using a thin metal spatula, carefully transfer each cookie to a cookie sheet—no liner needed. Baking each tray separately in a preheated oven helps the hot air circulate, resulting in evenly baked cookies.
While they finish cooling on a wire rack, make your icing. You can keep your decorations simple or break out the sanding sugar, dragées, and sprinkles. The finished cookies will hold in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Need more holiday or Christmas cookie ideas? Try lime squiggles, sugar cookies with royal icing, sparkly red velvet cookies that come together in just one mixing bowl, and lots more.
Ingredients
Makes about 50
Cookies
5¼
cups (656 g; or more) all-purpose flour, plus more
1
Tbsp. ground cinnamon
2
tsp. ground ginger
1½
tsp. ground cloves
¾
tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt
11
Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
⅔
cup vegetable shortening
1
cup (200 g) granulated sugar
1
cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1½
tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1
large egg
¼
cup buttermilk
1
tsp. baking soda
Icing and Assembly
1–2
batches Easy Sugar Cookie Icing (depending on how icing-happy you are)
Food coloring, sprinkles, and sanding sugar (optional)
Special equipment: 4″–5″ cookie cutters, including gingerbread men, gingerbread women, stars, snowflakes, woodland animals, and more shapes as desired; a 1⁄16″–⅛” plain tip
Preparation
Cookies
Step 1
Whisk 5¼ cups (656 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon, 2 tsp. ground ginger, 1½ tsp. ground cloves, and ¾ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a medium bowl to combine.
Step 2
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat 11 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, and ⅔ cup vegetable shortening in a large bowl to blend. Add 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 1 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses, and 1½ tsp. finely grated lemon zest and beat until mixture is smooth. Beat in 1 large egg and ¼ cup buttermilk until incorporated. Stir together 2 tsp. water and 1 tsp. baking soda in a small cup, then add to wet ingredients; beat to combine. Add dry ingredients in 2 additions, beating just until combined after each. Stir in more flour a ¼-cupful at a time (up to ¾ cup total) if needed until a slightly firm dough forms.
Step 3
Turn out dough onto a work surface; divide dough into 3 equal pieces. Pat each into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours.
Step 4
Working with 1 disk at a time, roll dough between 2 large sheets of wax paper to a 16×12″ rectangle. Using cutters, punch out gingerbread people, stars, or other shapes as desired. Gather dough scraps and pat into a disk; wrap tightly in plastic and chill until firm. Slide a cookie sheet or an inverted baking sheet under wax paper with cookies and chill until firm. Repeat process with scraps.
Step 5
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Using thin metal spatula, transfer cut-out cookies to large rimmed baking sheets, spacing 1″ apart. One baking sheet at a time, bake cookies until slightly darkened around the edges and just firm in the center, about 12 minutes. Let cookies cool on baking sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.
Do ahead: Dough can be made 2 days ahead; keep chilled. Cookies can be baked 1 day ahead; store airtight at room temperature.
Icing and Assembly
Step 6
Divide Easy Sugar Cookie Icing among 3 or 4 small bowls and tint each with food coloring as desired.
Step 7
Spoon icing into pastry bags (or resealable plastic bags with a corner snipped off) fitted with plain tip and pipe onto cookies. Decorate with sprinkles and sanding sugar as desired. Let cookies sit until icing is dry.
Do ahead: Cookies can be iced and decorated 3 days ahead. Stack in airtight containers, separating layers with sheets of parchment paper.
Editor’s note: This gingerbread cookie recipe was first printed in November 2002 as ‘New England Molasses Gingerbread Cookies.’ Head this way for more of our best Christmas cookie recipes →
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