I make thes every year at Christmas. Starting December 1, the kitchen turns into All Cookies, All The Time. I fully admit it’s largely an excuse t experiment with royal icing as an art form.
Yield: approx 36 3” cookies
Ingredients
- 1 C butter (227g) (shortening = 191g)
- 1 C sugar (200g)
- 1 C molasses (322g) unsulphured, I use Grandma’s Molasses brand
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 C flour (145g x 4 = 580g)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 Tbs cinnamon
- 1 Tbs cloves, ground
- 1 Tbs ginger, ground
- 1 tsp nutmeg
Directions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, spices
- Cream together butter, sugar. Stir in molasses.
- Stir in flour mixture.
- ** Do not skip this step ** Divide dough in half and flatten into a circle approx 1” thick. Wrap rounds in plastic wrap and press so edges aren’t crumbly. Chill at least 1 hour, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Roll dough to about 1/4” thickness on lightly floured surface and cut out cookies, transfer to parchment-lined sheets. You can re-roll scraps and cut again, but try not to do it more than twice.
- Bake 8-10 min.
Notes:
- These have a very pronounced gingerbread flavor, they’re very molasses-forward. I also go heavy on the spices. Since gingerbread seems to be mildly divisive (people are generally drongly for or against it) I see no profit in being timid with the spices.
- We actually love them without the icing. Thr big, pretty ones are fun, of course, and a showstopper with bragging rights, but I typically take the scraps and use tiny cutters to make a bazillion tiny plain cookies. They’re just right for snacking with coffee or tea.
- Don’t skip the chilling step. The extra time allows the flour hydrate properly and makes the dough easier to deal with.
- You cam make a round of dough 3 days in advance but I wouldn’t freeze as it tends to dry out around the edges.