Christmas Gingerbread Cookies and How to Decorate Them
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Christmas Gingerbread Cookies and How to Decorate Them. A basic gingerbread cookie recipe plus Royal Icing instructions for easy Holiday decorating.
Originally Published December 2007, Rock Recipes first Christmas online!
One of the Christmas activities our kids always look forward to every year (they've been hounding us for a week already) is making their gingerbread cookies.
They try to make each one differently than the others and earmark one or two to be received by a particular friend.
We all spent the evening yesterday decorating s few dozen of these and stretching our creative design muscles.
A few disposable piping bags, an assortment of colored sugars, candies and silver dragees all helped in creating the designs. There are no bad designs, just 'experiments'.
So, we just leave the kids to their own devices even when minor disasters occur. Things like when a few hundred or so little silver dragees go hurtling across the floor. Right Olivia? 😉
That's what memories are made of, so if you haven't already, make the time to make some cookies and some memories with your own little ones.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
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Christmas Gingerbread Cookies and How to Decorate Them. A basic gingerbread cookie recipe plus Royal Icing instructions for easy Holiday decorating.
Ingredients
For the cookie dough.
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup dark molasses
- ¼ cup cold water
- 2 ½ cups flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2-4 teaspoon powdered ginger (to your taste)
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon allspice
For the Royal Icing
- 1 cup icing sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tarter
- 1 large egg white
Instructions
To prepare the cookie dough.
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Blend in molasses and water.
- Sift together remaining ingredients and blend together until dough forms.
- Chill the dough for 2 to 3 hours.
- Roll out to a thickness of about a quarter inch and cut out with cookie cutters.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.
- Cool completely and decorate as you like using royal icing to attach candy, raisins, nuts...whatever you like.
- Allow the decorated cookies to dry uncovered for several hours or overnight for the royal icing to harden.
To prepare the royal icing.
- Combine all 3 ingredients and beat until fluffy and stiff peaks form.
- You may need to add another tablespoon or two of icing sugar if the icing is too loose.
- Add a couple of drops of water at a time if the icing is too stiff.
- All of this depends on the size of your egg so the icing sugar measurement is just a guide and will vary slightly.
Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 139Total Fat 4gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 18mgSodium 136mgCarbohydrates 24gFiber 0gSugar 14gProtein 2g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
How fun to do this with your children! My children love baking and decorating as well. Do you hang these on the tree or eat them? I thought I'd point out that your "Royal Icing" recipe asks for 1 egg yolk, am I wrong to think it should be egg white?? Have a wonderful Christmas, keep up the great work on the blog!!
Katherine
Looks so fun!
i have a question....
do you need to freeze these or how long can you keep them in a container?
thank you for all the recipes!
I'd keep them for a up to a couple of weeks in a container.
How long could you keep the dough in the refrigerator before baking? Trying to get stuff done ahead of time!
I would think just a few days.
I made this yesterday with my 5 yr old. We had so much fun and the cookies are very easy to make and delicious. Though leaving the icing up to a 5 year old meant that a batch of the royal icing was gone very quickly!
Hi Barry,
Is fancy molassesok to use forthis recipe? I'm not sure if that's the same as dark molasses!
Thanks!
I generally use fancy molasses for most baking. Many people find the darker kinds too intensely flavoured.
Barry .. is egg whilte safe without being cooked?