Gingerbread Cookies for Cutting and Decorating

Before you start

Rolled gingerbread is a firm, spiced molasses dough built to keep its shape. Molasses brings color, moisture and a bittersweet depth, and ginger, cinnamon and cloves carry the flavor. Compared with a chewy molasses cookie, this dough has less butter and less leavening and more flour, so the cut shapes bake flat with clean edges for decorating.

The dough is sticky at first and needs at least two hours in the fridge. Roll it to an even thickness, because thin spots darken and turn bitter while thick spots stay soft. Thinner cookies bake crisp and keep well for ornaments and gifts; thicker ones are softer and better for eating.

Ingredients

• Dough375 g (3 cups, spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 115 g (½ cup) unsalted butter — softened
• 100 g (½ cup packed) dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 170 g (½ cup) unsulphured molasses — not blackstrap
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Piping icing240 g (2 cups) powdered sugar — sifted
• 1½ to 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp light corn syrup

Method

1. Whisk the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.
2. Beat the butter and brown sugar on medium for 2 minutes until smooth. Beat in the egg, then the molasses and vanilla. The mixture may look slightly separated; that is fine.
3. Add the dry ingredients on low speed and mix until a soft, sticky dough forms. Divide it in half, flatten each half into a 2 cm (¾ in) disc, wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. Heat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and line the sheets with parchment. Let one disc sit for 5 minutes, then roll it on a lightly floured surface to 5 mm (about ¼ in) thick, turning it often so it does not stick.
5. Cut out shapes and set them 2.5 cm (1 in) apart. Gather and reroll the scraps once; chill them if they become soft.
6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges are firm and the centers no longer look wet. For crisper cookies, bake 1 to 2 minutes longer. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then on a rack.
7. Stir the powdered sugar, milk and corn syrup into a thick, smooth icing that holds a line when piped. Pipe faces, buttons and outlines on the cooled cookies and let the icing set for about 1 hour.

Tips for success

• Spice strength fades with age. If your ground ginger has been open for more than a year, use an extra teaspoon or buy fresh.
• To make ornaments, poke a hole near the top with a straw before baking and roll the dough slightly thinner, about 4 mm.
• Brown edges on gingerbread are hard to see. Go by time and a firm edge rather than color.

Substitutions

Unsulphured molasses

Dark treacle works in the same amount. Blackstrap molasses is much more bitter; if you use it, replace only a quarter of the molasses with it.

Dark brown sugar

Light brown sugar gives slightly paler, milder cookies.

Piping icing

For icing that dries hard enough to stack, use royal icing made with meringue powder instead.

Variations

Gingerbread with orange zest

Add the finely grated zest of 1 orange to the butter and sugar for a brighter flavor.

Black pepper gingerbread

Add ½ tsp finely ground black pepper and ¼ tsp ground cardamom to the spices for extra warmth.

Troubleshooting

Dough is too sticky to roll

It has not chilled long enough. Refrigerate for another hour, and roll between parchment if it still sticks.

Cookies puffed and lost detail

Too much baking soda, overbeaten butter or dough that was too warm. Measure the soda level and chill cut shapes for 10 minutes before baking.

Cookies taste bitter or burnt at the edges

The dough was rolled unevenly or baked too long. Use rolling guides for even thickness and bake similar sizes together.

Storage

Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks; thin cookies keep longer than thick ones. Wrapped dough keeps in the refrigerator for 3 days or the freezer for 3 months. Freeze undecorated baked cookies for up to 3 months.

Safety notes

Do not eat raw dough, which contains raw flour and raw egg. Contains wheat, egg and milk. Cookies used as ornaments and left out for weeks should not be eaten.