Gingerbread Cookies For The Win!

Ok, this is the last month of 2017 and I am happy to say that I exceeded my 52 recipe post goal for the year, yessssss. I will probably do the same thing in 2018 with maybe more savory bakes added. It has been challenging at times to keep up with this blog but I did enjoy doing it. I liked how the past couple of months I've been sticking with a theme instead of random bakes, so that will more than likely continue. Speaking of themes, I decided that for this month I would be posting cookie posts. I like baking cookies, but I don't bake them often (unless they are french macarons, I bake those a lot *see past posts) especially during the holidays I don't really bake them. Nisha normally bakes some peanut butter cookies, and if we do bake cookies during the holidays they most likely come from those giant pillsbury tubes of cookie dough. My family loves gingerbread anything but sadly we've never tried making our own. So I hit up Michaels and bought an assortment of cookie cutters and other cute cookie decor and set off to make some beautiful and delicious cookies.

Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread cookie

• ½ c. (1 stick) butter, at room temp
• ¾ c. molasses
• 1 egg
• 3 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. allspice
• ¼ tsp. cloves

Cream butter, brown sugar ,molasses and egg together.

Add remaining dry ingredients and mix well. **I like to sift all of my dry ingredients before adding into the wet mixture**

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

On a floured surface, roll out dough to ¼".

Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

These cookies will continue to firm up as they cool so don't be tempted to put them back in the oven.


To ice these cookies I did go with a royal icing

I used meringue powder instead of egg whites. I used wilton meringue powder (I'm still up in the air about it)

• 4 cups sifted powder
• 3 tablespoons of meringue powder
• 5 tablespoons of warm water.

I just put it in my stand mixer with a paddle attachment on low for for about 10 minutes, until stiff peaks were formed and then diluted with water to get a thick piping consistency and a flood consistency when I started filling the cookies.

And here are some of the cookies, as they are drying.

I did eat the legs of the panda before I remembered to take a picture

Here's some that we painted with food coloring after letting the royal icing sit for a day

I will definitely be baking these again, and I also loved painting these with a little food coloring, some vodka, and some watercolor brushes. They scream holiday and they taste delicious.