Yields:
40 Servings
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 Mins
Cook Time:
12 Mins
Total Time:
22 Mins
Soft Gingerbread Cookies make a festive and delicious treat that perfectly captures the holiday spirit. Moreover, their warm, spicy flavor is the perfect balance to all the sweet treats you might find around the holidays.
Gingerbread cookies have been enjoyed for centuries in Europe, making them a unique and special dessert to share with friends and family. They are made with high-quality ingredients like honey, spices, and real butter, which gives them a rich and authentic flavor.
I especially enjoy pairing them with a hot cup of tea or coffee. For me, this treat is the perfect accompaniment to a cozy evening by the fire.
It is worth mentioning that these cookies make great gifts! Wrap them up in a pretty box or bag and give them to friends and family as a thoughtful and delicious holiday present.
They can be made up to two weeks before Christmas and are perfect rolled thin or thick. They can also be used for hanging on a Christmas tree and will stay fresh, kept in an airtight container. The recipe makes 40-50 gingerbread cookies.
Because they’re versatile, you can enjoy them as a standalone dessert. Bakers often use Soft Gingerbread Cookies to create beautiful holiday displays.
I love that they are soft and chewy on the inside, with a slightly crispy exterior.
They can be enjoyed by people of all ages, making them a perfect choice for holiday gatherings.
To further enrich Christmas celebrations, I am including one more Holiday treat for:
Ingredients
Adjust Servings
- Gingerbread seasoning
- Chocolate glaze
- Lemon icing
Instructions
- Start preparing the dough one day before baking the cookies. Right after mixing all the ingredients, the consistency of the dough will be too wet and soft to carve out the shapes. After resting in the fridge for at least 10 hours (up to a couple of days), the dough will become more elastic. The density should be similar to play dough.
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In a small pan, add butter, honey, cocoa powder and all gingerbread spices. Turn on the heat on low and warm up the mixture until all the butter melts. Stir well and set aside to cool.
- In a small bowl mix sour cream (full fat Greek yogurt could be used instead) and baking soda. Set aside. In a large bowl add flour, egg yolks, sour cream mixture and sugar. Mix well. At the end, add cooled gingerbread spice mixture. Stir well, cover and put it in the fridge. After 10 or more hours the dough will become tougher and will be ideal for rolling.
- Heat the oven to 340F and prepare the baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
- Lightly flour a flat surface to make it ready for rolling out the dough. Take the dough out of the fridge and with our hands shape it into a bowl. You can make several small bowls. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a thin (or thick) sheet. If you roll it thin, the cookies will be crunchy on the sides. Thicker sheet (3mm or more) will result in very soft all-around cookies. Using your favorite cookie cutters cut out the shapes. Move the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10-12 min. Let cook on the cooling rack.
- The cookies are ready to serve right after baking. They do not have to be decorated. There are two quick and simple methods to make them more festive and flavorful. I recommend either simple chocolate glaze or lemon icing. Both take up to 5 min. to prepare. The cookies can only be decorated after being cooled. Chocolate glaze
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In a small pan melt butter and chocolate. Do not boil. Stir well. For decorating use warm. Using a pastry brush, dip it in the glaze and pat it gently all over the cookie. Stripes can be made after the glaze starts to harden (1-2min after applying). Simply brush the cookie with the pastry brush.
Lemon incing
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In a small pan melt powdered sugar and 1 or 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Stir well. To make thick icing, ready for more sculpted glaze (just like on the picture), add only one tbsp of juice. You will have to work fast with the warm icing. The ticker the icing the quicker it hardens. Use a pastry brush to apply.
Notes
The cookies will come out great and will require the same amount of baking no matter how thin or thick they are. The ones on the picture were rolled 3mm thin. To achieve a smooth glaze surface, gently tap the brush on the surface of the cookie. Only glaze or thin icing (two tbsp of juice) will produce smooth cover. I recommend using silicon pastry brush like this one:Pastry brush (paid link).