They are the perfect cookies for all winter long! They're spicy and comforting...you know, I would eat them in a box and I would eat them with a fox. I would eat them in a house and I would eat them with a mouse. I would eat them here and..sorry...
Who's with me? Let me share my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe with you:
Gingerbread Cookies
(modified from Southern Living Incredible Cookies)
1/4 c water
1 & 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c molasses
1 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
5 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 & 1/2 TBSP ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1 & 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Line baking sheets with parchment.
Stir together the water and baking soda until dissolved. Stir in the molasses; set aside.
Beat butter & sugar until fluffy and combined.
Whisk together flour, salt and spices.
Add to the butter mixture, alternating with the molasses mixture. Begin and end with the flour. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with a floured cookie cutter and place on baking sheet. Freeze for 5 minutes before baking.
{They are going to spread.}
Bake 12 minutes (for a large shape). Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, then transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating with royal icing.
To decorate:
- Using a #2 tip, outline the shape of the snowflake in white royal icing.
- Thin the icing with water, stirring until it is the consistency of thick syrup. Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit several minutes.
- Stir gently to pop any bubbles that may have formed and transfer to a squeeze bottle.
- Fill in the outline using a toothpick to guide into corners.
- Let dry at least one hour.
- Again with a #2 tip, pipe a snowflake pattern on each cookie.
- Let dry overnight.
- Mix a little meringue powder with water. (see sanding station here)
- With a small paintbrush, paint the mixture on only the snowflake design.
- Pour on sanding or sparkling sugar and shake of excess.
I also made some mini gingerbread hearts...very dangerous, these little bite-size ones!
I'm so looking forward to seeing YOUR cookies!!! Click below to link up. The linky will be closed on January 3rd to prevent spammers.
OH...and there is a new feature here....to add this post (or any) to twitter, stumble upon, facebook, etc, just click on the button at the end of each post. :)
Flavor-of-the-Month January Edition....BOOZY! :) Maybe you make a mean pina colada cake, or Kahlua tart, or a gingerbread martini (!)...link it up the last day of January! EVERYONE is welcome!!!
Yum! those look DELICIOUS Bridget!!! and beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteBooze?! - I should have save my rum ball recipe for next month! LOL
Thanks for hosting! Can't wait to see all the cookie recipes!
~TidyMom
I am super excited to link up! I can't wait to see all the cookies!!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like fun! It's my first time linking up here. Your cookies are gorgeous and NEVER disappoint! I'm really like the white color with the gingerbread colors.
ReplyDeleteI'm with ya. I haven't made any sort of ginger cookies in such a long time. I wonder if I'll have time within the next month or so before this baby comes. The to-do list just keeps getting longer.
ReplyDeleteThese look so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOh BRIDGET!!!
ReplyDeleteCan you hear me from Bainbridge!!!
WHY OH WHY OH WHY must you finally present your ICED GINGERBREAD cookies when I am vowing to cut out the SWEETS!!!!
I have waited patiently for weeks on your GINGERBREAD!!!
This is my FAVORITE!
Just heavenly!
I must say...
of all the iced gingerbread cookies I have ever had the pleasure of gazing upon...
yours are quite simply the most SPLENDID of all!
Bridget...Bridget!
Can you tell I am obsessed with all things Bridget!!!
XXOOOXXX!
Wonder if I could make these beauties with SPLENDA!!!! :0)
How funny to pop back over here after 3 years and read this comment!
DeleteI popped over to check out these Gingerbread Cookies!
I plan on spending the day with you in the kitchen tomorrow baking Gingerbread Cookies from Decorating Cookies!
Just think.
When you wrote this post 3 years ago you had no idea you'd have a BOOK OUT and be on the local NEWS decorating cookies!
I'm so delighted to be part of your SWEET world my friend.
You bring so much JOY my way each day!
Thank you!
xo
Oh my goodness gracious...lawdy lawdy do they ever look wonderful. I love gingerbread but can't make it. Molassas creeps me out. If I make them I know they have that stuff in it. So you can make them and ship them to me. I will be waiting by the door. LOL Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteThose gingerbread cookies look beautiful and I imagine they taste the same (like all of your creations!)
ReplyDeleteI made your cookies (AGAIN!) today - will decorate them tomorrow - I'm doing the snow-Globe cookies featured in the December issue of Martha Stewart Living - she also did a how-to segment on them during one of her cookie-week shows prior to Christmas. Wish me luck!
Thank you for another wonderful recipe - Happy New Year!
So beautiful too...yum!
ReplyDeleteI need to try this recipe...mine turned out terribly this year - it was my first time trying gingerbread.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this tutorial! :) As ususal, they look like works of art!
Those cookies look amazing! As always! I got some squeeze bottles for Christmas, can hardly wait to use them.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
~Liz
Your gingerbread cookies are gorgeous! I agree with you about loving gingerbread; it should be an all-year-round cookie, not just for Christmas! Can't wait to come up with something boozy for next month! :D
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful. Did you ever hear from PW about the cookies you gave her? Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late since I thought the post would go up today, but I linked! Your cookies look amazing, as usual!!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous Cookies!
ReplyDeleteLike Tracy I thought the Gadget was today not yesterday so I'm late too.
Have a safe and Happy NEW YEAR!
Jenny...no, I didn't. :) I hope she liked them.
ReplyDeleteTracy & Michelle...you weren't late. I always link up just an hour or two before midnight before the last day so it's up and ready at 12:01. :)
Thanks for showing the process of icing those little beauties! They are perfect. And I love gingerbread anytime!
ReplyDeleteRobin
All Things Heart and Home
The white icing on the gingerbread is so gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI love gingerbread cookies too! Yours are so beautiful! I think I could demolish an entire plate of those little hearts!
ReplyDeleteOoooo, booze for next month!!! I may just have to bust of the rum cake!
So beautiful! I can't imagine being able to make something quite so lovely and perfect. Long ago I decided to accept the fact that I am a "free-form" "non-precise" (i.e. "messy") baker, and my life has been so much easier since then!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the Boozy January posts!
They look fantastic, I think I'll have to make gingerbread again, I miss them when they are all gone.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure I did this wrong... I just linked back to a previous post I did on my sugar cookie recipe... was I supposed to make something new??? I am sorry!! I will go back and read the directions more carefully and do better next time, I promise!
ReplyDeleteBe blessed-
Amanda
These look delish and oh, so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThose cookies are beautiful and so delicious! I'm going to have to give that a try.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year
blessings
~*~
Amanda...you did just great! You can link up something new or an older post. I'm happy you linked to this one...I hadn't seen it.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to try these - they look so yum! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi B. ~ Thank you for your nice comments on my Hunks of Gingerbread that I linked up to on this post (#13, I think). I received many nice comments from your readers and I now have new cookie blogs to follow too. :) Have a wonderful new decade!
ReplyDeleteNo need to defend those gingerbread cookies - they're gorgeous! And I love gingerbread and I'm sure they taste wonderful, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for doing this(and everything else you do)! This is my first time linking up! Love your blog, and your cookies look great, as usual! Happy New Year!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for a Great cookie-year! I could not have had ANY of the success baking and decorating cookies without the help of your blog and the kind help you offered in our e-mail chats.
ReplyDeleteHappy 2010!
bonne année !
ReplyDeleteBridget--I've been reading your blog for a while (I LOVE your cookies!) but this is the first time I've linked up--sorry I'm a bit late!
ReplyDeleteWow! Now those are some FANCY cookies! YUM!!!
ReplyDeleteWill next month's flavor of the month be CHOCOLATE???
These were awesome cookies! I had to FIGHT my kids off. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to link up a cookie recipe, but ran out of time on my mini-blogging break. But I can't wait to make some of these!
Thanks for the recipe! I always forget about Gingerbread. Sometimes I buy Gingersnaps, but I'm guessing these would kick Gingersnaps' butt.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous cookies, as always! I love the all-white snowflakes with the sanding sugar. Just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMy family doesn't care for the strong molasses taste in gingerbread, so I substite honey for half of the molasses.
ReplyDeleteI made cookies today so I would have a post to link...but I was a few hours too late. :( The link was still there earlier today. Oh well. Maybe I'll have to try in February since I don't drink. :)
ReplyDelete*sigh* I missed it. So sorry. GOt my post done, finally though.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.waymorehomemade.com/2010/01/chocolate-covered-cherry-and-candy-cane.html
Your snowflakes are awesomely gorgeous!!
I know it's been a long time since the original post, but I was wondering...are these cookies soft or crunchy? Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm just not cut out to be a baker. I followed this recipe, but my dough came out super crumbly, and after it being chilled, the dough is hard as a rock. I think I'm just going to stick to cheesecake, it's the only dessert I can make with confidence, haha. The cookies look great though on your blog, I'm just incompetent as a cookie maker, hahaha.
ReplyDelete