Gingerbread Cookies

29th December, 2009 - Posted by Emily - Comments

My second favorite cookie of the season was these gingerbread cookies, from Martha Stewart (of course). I slightly under-baked them (about a minute) so they’d be a little softer, and they were very good – a little spicy and not too sweet. And they kept for a few weeks in a tightly sealed bag. This batch made so many that I ended up wrapping them up in cute little plastic bags for my coworkers.

Since I tend to go a little overboard with the Christmas baking, I decided to make a few batches of dough the weekend after Thanksgiving and freeze them, knowing that I’d probably be burned out on baking by December 15 or so. Then all I had to do a few weeks later was let the dough thaw and then roll it out, cut out the cookies, and bake them off. I’d highly recommend this strategy if you, like me, tend to “bite off more than you can chew” when it comes to holiday baking! (I also made the dough for Chocolate Butter Cookies and Rugelach ahead of time and froze them – more on those later!)

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Basic Gingerbread Cookies
from Martha Stewart, makes a lot

  • 6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
    1 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
    4 teaspoons ground ginger
    4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    1 1/2 teaspoons ground clove
    1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
    1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    2 large eggs
    1 cup unsulfured molasses
  1. Mix together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
  2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy in a mixer. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Add flour mixture; combine on low speed. Divide dough in thirds; wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour (or freeze for a few weeks like I did).
  3. Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured work surface, roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Let cookies cool on wire racks, then decorate as desired. I used these cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma and made royal icing and put it in a piping bag to decorate.