Make these easy gingerbread cookies part of your family Christmas tradition! An easy and foolproof recipe that requires no chilling.
You can’t have Christmas without a batch (or two) of gingerbread cookies. Am I right? It’s practically mandatory. My kids and I always bake a batch – or three – every year and then they ‘help’ me decorate them by mostly eating about half of them in the process.
And much as I love gingerbread cookies (and cookies of any kind) I am not partial to the whole ‘make the dough then chill for an hour’ business. I am way, way, way too impatient for that.
I want my gingerbread cookies and I want them now… and I have finally found the perfect recipe for gingerbread that requires none of the pesky chilling or waiting around. You make the dough and use it straight away – and what’s more, the cookies keep their shape perfectly and get even better with time.
I have a friend in the States to thank for the recipe – she told me it was foolproof I can I can totally vouch for that. The dough is a dream to work with, the cookies have plenty of snap and the recipe is perfect for building gingerbread houses or edible Christmas ornaments. That’s right, it’s practically magic.
My decorating skills are almost non-existent. If you have a steady hand and lots of patience you can get a lot fancier when decorating these cookies. I actually prefer the pure white royal icing but you could tint it with paste food colouring if you like. If you want to add decorations make sure you stick them on before the icing dries.
This recipe is perfect for gingerbread houses or for making edible Christmas ornaments – simply make a hole (using a straw) on the cookies prior to baking and thread some ribbon or butcher’s string to hang them on the tree.
You can also adapt the recipe to make vegan gingerbread cookies which taste and look identical to these. Or how about making a cookie wreath?
Have you made my easy gingerbread cookies?
Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes. I can’t wait to see your take on it!
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Easiest gingerbread cookies
Ingredients
- For the gingerbread
- 85 g | 3oz soft light brown sugar
- 200 g | 7oz treacle /blackstrap molasses or half treacle, half golden syrup
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- pinch ground white pepper
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 115 g | 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 440 g | 15.5oz | 3 1/2 cups plain flour plus more for dusting and rolling
- For the Royal Icing
- 3 egg whites 90g | 3.1oz
- 500 g | 4 cups icing powdered sugar, shifted (more, or less as needed)
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170C (340F) and line 3 heavy trays with baking paper (you may need to bake the cookies in batches).
- Put the sugar, treacle and all the spices in a medium saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly, until it reaches boiling point. Take care it doesn’t burn.
- Take off the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda – the mix will start to foam up.
- Add the butter and stir until completely melted. Mix in the beaten egg and transfer to a large bowl.
- Gradually add all the flour, stirring it in, until the dough is fairly firm.
- Tip the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and gently knead into a ball. If the dough is too soft, sprinkle with a little flour. It should be the consistency of Play-Doh, pliable but not sticky. Slice in half (or thirds) keeping the dough you aren’t using covered with cling fillm.
- Roll the dough out to about 6mm ( about 1/4 inch) and cut out shapes with floured cookie cutters. Transfer the cookies to the prepared trays and bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through, until the cookies start getting coloured at the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely until firm. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Make the icing. Put the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Start whisking on low speed until frothy.
- Increase the speed and once the egg whites form soft peaks, start adding the icing sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue to whisk until it forms firm peaks. The longer you whisk the stiffer the icing will become. Keep the royal icing covered otherwise it will quickly dry out. If the icing is too thin you can add more icing sugar. If too thick, thin it with a little lemon juice or water. You will want the icing to be quite thick if you are making a gingerbread house.
- Put the royal icing in a piping bag and snip a very small hole at the tip. Use the bag to pipe lines on the cookies – holding the bag a small distance away from the cookies while you are piping. If you wish to fill (flood) the cookies, thin half of the icing with a little water and use it to fill an outlined cookie – pushing the icing to the edges using a toothpick. Leave to dry completely at room temperature.
Andrea says
December 23, 2018 at 2:02 pmMade these yesterday. Recipe was easy to follow, I appreciate accurate weights… I wish USians would get behind weighing out their ingredients by the gram. The cookies are delicious, however I found the baking time to be much too long. I lowered my oven temp in case it was on my end and made cookies thicker but I still found 6 to 8 min produced a firm but still chewy cookie. By 12 min the edges of the cookies tasted almost burnt and the cookies were very crisp.
Thank you for the recipe, another batch to be made today! (and your gingerbread cake).
Lucy Parissi says
December 28, 2018 at 6:27 pmYes oven temperatures are very varied! I think you are right that smaller cookies need less time. And a test batch is always a good idea too. I will update the instructions
Sandra Stardust says
December 2, 2015 at 12:46 amyum
rebecca says
December 22, 2014 at 7:47 amThey look so beautiful Lucy, well done! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Millie | Add A Little says
December 22, 2014 at 6:08 amThese look wonderful and your icing skill puts me to shame haha!
Lucy Parissi says
December 22, 2014 at 10:26 amI have no icing skills Millie… and no patience : )
Kat BakingExplorer says
December 21, 2014 at 9:21 pmThey look great, I make gingerbread biscuits every year as gifts for my family and they always go down well!
Ellie Charmaine says
December 21, 2014 at 8:57 pmThese are so cute!
Ellie | elliecharmaine.blogspot.com
Kerry Cooks says
December 21, 2014 at 8:51 pmThese are just so beautiful – I love the way you've decorated them
Kathryn Liquid Grain says
December 21, 2014 at 8:25 pmI've never given gingerbread biscuits a go but this looks like it could be a go-er!
http://www.liquidgrain.co.uk
Kate Glutenfreealchemist says
December 21, 2014 at 6:53 pmThese are so pretty Lucy…. They would have been perfect in my gingerbread garden. They would absolutely make lovely presents….. Christmassy, pearly prettiness!!!