Easy Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing
My easy foolproof gingerbread cookie recipe with royal icing is the ultimate Christmas cookie!
Servings: 24
Video
Equipment
- baking sheets
- stand mixer or electric beaters
- cookie cutter My bear is 5.75x3.75
Ingredients
dry ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
wet ingredients
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 cup unsulphured molasses
royal icing
- 1/4 cup meringue powder
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Whisk your dry ingredients in a bowl to combine well, and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Beat in egg and molasses and mix until smooth. Scrape down the sides of your bowl as necessary to get everything well incorporated.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients while mixing on low, and blend until the dough comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times times until it becomes smooth. Divide in half and form into two flat disks. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/3 inch. (Cold dough may need a few minutes at room temperature to become pliable.) Cut out your cookies and place on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through if your oven cooks unevenly. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool completely before decorating. Note: if your cookies are smaller than mine your baking time will vary.
make the royal icing
- To make the royal icing, put the egg white powder and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sifted sugar and beat until the frosting is spreadable and glossy. If the frosting gets too thick you can add a bit of cream, milk, or water to thin it down.
- Spoon some of the frosting into a squeeze bottle, pastry bag, or baggie if you would like to pipe it around the outline of each cookie. Otherwise you can spread the frosting with a spreading knife. You will have more frosting than you need with this recipe, but it will come in handy if you are decorating with a group. Note: you can make the frosting up to an hour or so ahead, just keep covered with plastic.
- Decorate your cookies with sprinkles, etc, while the icing is still wet. Let the icing set up before serving or storing.
Notes
My bear cookie cutter measures 5.75x3.75 for reference.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 cookie · Calories: 246 kcal · Carbohydrates: 46 g · Protein: 3 g · Fat: 6 g · Saturated Fat: 4 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 2 g · Trans Fat: 0.2 g · Cholesterol: 22 mg · Sodium: 199 mg · Potassium: 251 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 27 g · Vitamin A: 188 IU · Vitamin C: 0.01 mg · Calcium: 44 mg · Iron: 2 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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