Classic Gingerbread Cookies

I suspect that a great many of us regard the gingerbread contingent of the holiday cookie tray with a healthy amount of suspicion. Will it taste like cardboard? Will that icing crack my teeth? Will the spices make me sneeze? Can I trust this cookie? I’m here today to share a recipe for gingerbread cut-out cookies that you can trust. This is the gingerbread we’re all hoping we get when we reach toward the cookie tray. This is the one that will make you smile.

At our holiday potluck party, Tracy and I passed out bags of these cookies as our guests left for the evening; we heard the next day that most of the cookies were reduced to crumbs long before they ever made it home. Warm with spices, a little bit sweet, they’re perfect with a cup of tea or hot cocoa. Here’s how to make them.

• They’re crisp, yet tender and slightly chewy. These cookies are crisp enough to snap in half, but tender and ever so slightly chewy when you take a bite.
• They’ve got the right amount of warm spices. The spice level is moderate – there’s enough cinnamon and ginger to make you pay attention, but this is still a cookie you’ll be happy to have for dessert.

• All-purpose flour: You’ll need 5 cups of all-purpose flour.
• Butter: Use 2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature.
• Brown sugar: You can use either light or dark brown sugar here.
• Spices: We use a combination of ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. I recommend buying fresh spices if it’s been a while since you replaced the tin.
• Molasses: Use regular molasses (not blackstrap).
• Powdered sugar: You’ll need 2 cups of powdered sugar for the icing.
• Milk: Combine milk and powdered sugar for the icing.

1. Cream the butter and brown sugar. Place the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until it resembles thick frosting and no more streaks of butter remain. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat in the molasses followed by the egg until fully incorporated.
2. Add the flour mixture. Place the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour barely incorporated and just a little flour remains on the sides of the bowl. Stop the mixer and finish mixing in the remaining flour by hand with a stiff spatula. The dough should be very soft and pliable, but workable, like play-dough.
3. Chill the dough. Divide the cookie dough into 3 pieces. Pat each piece into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour or as long as overnight.
4. Roll out the dough. Sprinkle a work surface lightly with flour. Unwrap one disk of dough and place on top (keep the remaining disks in the refrigerator). Sprinkle the dough and a rolling pin with a little more flour. Roll out the dough to 1/4- to 1/8-inch thick.
5. Cut out the cookie dough. Cut out as many cookies as will fit and transfer the cut-out cookies to the baking sheet. Continue rolling and cutting the cookies until both cookie sheets are full.
6. Bake and cool completely. Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until the cookies feel firm at the edges, are puffed in the middle, and are a slightly toastier shade of brown around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely.
7. Make the icing. When ready to decorate the cookies, stir together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract to form a smooth icing. It should be thick but pourable, and a ribbon drizzled over the top of the icing should hold for a few seconds before melting. Transfer the icing to squeeze bottles using a funnel.
8. Decorate the cookies. If you’re adding any candies, place these on while the frosting is still wet. Let the icing dry for several hours. Once dry, the cookies can be stacked between sheets of parchment in an airtight container and kept at room temperature.

• Allow time to chill the dough after mixing it. This makes it easier to roll out the dough and to cut cookies with clean edges. I don’t have any scientific proof, but I also think that letting the dough chill overnight makes them taste better — maybe this just gives the flavors more time to get to know each other, or maybe it’s a similar phenomenon to those famous New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies from a few years ago.
• Use a squeeze bottle for decorating. I recommend using a squeeze bottle when decorating these cookies. I picked up a pack of small 8-ounce bottles at Michaels, though large condiment-sized squeeze bottles will also work just fine.
• Make a thicker icing. When you mix the icing, it should be just barely pourable and a ribbon of it should hold for several seconds before melting back into the icing. It can be tricky to get icing this thick into the bottle, but if you make it much looser, you run the risk of icing that puddles instead of staying in clean lines.
• Use a funnel to transfer the icing to the bottle. To make it easier to get the icing into the bottle, use a funnel; squeezing the bottle will also suction some of the icing into the bottle and start it flowing.

• Piping bags: You can also use a piping bag to decorate the cookies instead of squeeze bottles.

The cookies are best when eaten within a week, but will keep for several weeks in an airtight container.

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