Here are the recipes that I promised. It made around three dozen cookies and I made gingerbread people, trees, and snowflakes. With the glaze I had to add more milk then it called for. With the cookies I took them out after 10 mins.
Update: 12/20/20 – I updated the gingerbread people recipe, this one made maybe 2 dozen. They actually came out better then the old recipe.
Gingerbread People
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer or electric mixer, combine butter and sugar and beat until well-creamed.
- Add molasses and beat until combined (mixture may look piecey, this is OK).
- Stir in egg and vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- With mixer on low speed, gradually add dry ingredients to wet until completely combined.
- Scrape dough roughly into a ball (it will be sticky, use a spatula), wrap completely in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Once dough has chilled, preheat oven to 375F (175C).
- Generously flour a clean surface and lightly flour the dough as well.
- Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to ¼” thickness, and use a cookie cutter (my cookie cutter for these was about 3.5” long) to cut out shapes. Transfer to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (or an ungreased cookie sheet), transfer to 375F oven, and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Once cookies have cooled, prepare frosting and decorate.
Simple Cookie Glaze
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup or honey
- 1 or 2 tbsp milk
- food coloring, optional
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients together. Stir until smooth; a fork works fine. The glaze should be thick, but soft enough to "settle" when you spread it. If the glaze is too thick, dribble in another teaspoon of milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time.
- Glaze one cookie and set it aside briefly. The glaze won't be perfectly smooth when you apply it, but should settle into a smooth surface within half a minute or so. Has the glaze settled into a smooth surface? If so, it's the right consistency. Remember, it's easier to add more liquid than to stir in more sugar, so start with a glaze that's thicker than you think it should be, then add milk little by little to adjust the consistency.
- Add food color, if you like; gel paste food colors are preferable, as they yield vibrant color, and don't alter the liquid/sugar ratio as regular food colors might.
